Kurland boiler

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Major military operations during the German-Soviet War

1941: Białystok-Minsk  - Dubno-Lutsk-Rivne  - Smolensk  - Uman  - Kiev  - Odessa  - Leningrad blockade  - Vyazma-Bryansk  - Kharkov  - Rostov  - Moscow  - Tula
1942: Rzhev  - Kharkiv  - Company Blue  - companies Braunschweig  - company Edelweiss  - Stalingrad  - Operation Mars
1943: Voronezh-Kharkov  - Operation Iskra  - North Caucasus  - Kharkov  - Citadel Company  - Oryol  - Donets-Mius  - Donbass  - Belgorod-Kharkov  - Smolensk  - Dnepr
1944: Dnepr-Carpathians  - Leningrad-Novgorod  - Crimea  - Vyborg-Petrozavodsk  - Operation Bagration  - Lviv-Sandomierz  - Jassy-Kishinew  - Belgrade  - Petsamo-Kirkenes  - Baltic States  - Carpathians  - Hungary
1945: Courland  - Vistula-Oder  - East Prussia  - West Carpathians  - Lower Silesia  - East Pomerania  - Lake Balaton  - Upper Silesia  - Vienna  - Oder  -  Berlin  - Prague

In the Kesselschlacht von Kurland , the German Army Group North (later renamed Army Group Kurland ) as well as air force and naval units in Kurland were included from October 1944.

As a result of the breakdown of the Soviet troops on the Neman to the Baltic Sea on 10 October 1944, on which was Dvina regressed on Kurland Army Group of the over Poland separated declining and East Prussia to the frontier army associations and formed a bridgehead . Six major attacks by the Soviet armed forces brought them only a small gain in territory, so that the Wehrmacht troops only had to reduce their positions a little until the unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 .

Development on the Eastern Front from August 1943 to December 1944

The six battles of Courland

In October 1944, around 14,200 km², Kurland, in addition to the 230,000 inhabitants, crowded around 150,000 refugees who were heading for the Baltic ports. About 500,000 soldiers from all branches of the armed forces were deployed on the German side, facing the Soviet 4th Shock Army ( Malyshev ), the 6th Guard Army ( Tschistjakow ) and the 51st Army ( Kreiser ). The German main battle line (HKL) ran along the line Tukkum - Moscheiken - east of Libau .

First battle of Courland

Evacuation from Windau (Latvian Ventspils), October 19, 1944

Shortly after the start of the blockade, three days after the Red Army had captured Riga and the great Daugava Bridge had been blown up, 29 Soviet divisions, a tank corps with heavy tanks of the Josef Stalin type , joined forces on October 16, 1944 as part of the 1st Battle of Courland and four motorized brigades attacked with the aim of pushing through to Libau and Windau , taking the sea ports important for supply and finally cutting off the way back by sea for the army group. Parts of the 61st and the 11th Infantry Division , which was quickly created , were supported locally by smoke cannons and anti-aircraft batteries, but succeeded in repelling the attacks, but the counter-attack by Army Group North, which was already underway, remained to join the last Wehrmacht units standing near Memel however lie below losses.

Hitler now ordered the "Fortress Kurland" to be held at all costs and forbade the losing army group, which had been commanded by Colonel General Ferdinand Schörner , a staunch National Socialist , from July 23, 1944 , all further attempts to break out in the direction of East Prussia .

Second battle of Courland

On October 27th, after fierce Soviet artillery preparation, Soviet divisions with 2000 guns of all caliber 60 took up against the German positions. The aim was again Libau. In the focus of the 2nd Battle of Courland , the 5th Guards Panzer Army attacked with around 400 tanks and made several break-ins into the German lines. Counter-attacks brought only limited success, but the heavy rain and the resulting muddy roads slowed the attack, so that the hastily brought in reserves managed to shoot down numerous tanks. Around 1150 Soviet armored vehicles were destroyed, but at the cost of high losses. The German X. Army Corps alone recorded almost 50% failures, a regiment of the SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Brigade "Nederland" was crushed to 25 men. In total, the Army Group lost 68,000 men dead and wounded by the end of November, and several units had to be disbanded or regrouped. In addition, there were losses of material and weapons. Despite all the losses, further violent attacks were carried out on Frauenburg , until heavy rains at the end of November made further movements almost impossible. Libau was developed as a fortress-like supply port, with a supply planned for three months. The supply by ship became essential for survival; only a few transport aircraft Ju 52 were available.

Third Battle of Courland

In December, frost set in, the muddy ground froze and allowed renewed attack operations. On December 21, at 7:20 a.m., an artillery strike with 170,000 shells opened the attack of the 3rd and 4th Thrust Army, the 10th Guard Army and the 42nd Army over a width of 35 km. The 3rd Battle of Courland developed at the juncture between 16th and 18th Army with the aim of dividing the pocket and advancing towards Libau. The main defense was the 329th , 225th , 205th and 132nd Infantry Divisions . Counterattacks by the 12th Panzer and 227th Infantry Divisions were unsuccessful; the 132nd Infantry Division could no longer hold their positions and evaded. On December 23, 1944, the Soviet offensive was halted with the loss of 27,144 dead, wounded and missing. The guns were silent for two days over Christmas; on December 26th the Soviets continued their offensive, first south of Tukkum, then also before Libau. At Džūkste, the positions of the 19th Latvian SS Division and the 227th Infantry Division were overrun, hastily drawn reserves managed to stabilize the situation on December 27th.

At the beginning of 1945 around 400,000 men were under the command of the Army Group. The front now ran about 20 km south of Libau to the east to hard south of Durbe and Schrunden , from there past Frauenburg towards Tukkum to the Gulf of Riga . The 4th Panzer Division , 32nd Infantry Division , the worn-out 227th , 218th and 389th Infantry Division and the Latvian 15th SS Division were loaded and evacuated via Libau.

On January 15, 1945 Colonel General Schörner handed over the command of the Army Group to Colonel General Lothar Rendulic ; However, this was replaced only ten days later by Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff .

Fourth Battle of Courland

On January 24, 1945, the Red Army opened the 4th Battle of Courland with eleven divisions . The attacks on both sides of Prekuln , followed by further attacks between Frauenburg and Tukkum, showed the new tactic of attacking in several places at the same time and thereby wasting the opponent's reserves. The main focus of the defense was the 30th Infantry Division and the 11th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Nordland" . The positions on the Vartaja had to be given up. After intervention reserves were on the way, further attacks broke out against the 205th and 215th Infantry Divisions near Frauenburg and the 122nd Infantry Division . The violent attacks choked in snow and mud after casualties on both sides.

On January 25, 1945, the Army Group was named " Heeresgruppe Kurland ".

Fifth Battle of Courland

An encrypted radio telex sent from Berlin to Army Group Kurland on February 14, 1945 using the Lorenz key machine , which was deciphered and evaluated as a Tunny message in Bletchley Park, England , and thus became part of the Allied Ultra information.
Appeal by Marshal Leonid Govorov on May 7, 1945

On February 20, 1945, the Army Group still numbered 352,000 Army soldiers, 21,000 men in the Air Force, 12,000 men in the Waffen SS, as well as around 12,600 men in the Reich Labor Service and around 2,400 men in the higher staff. Group I of Jagdgeschwader 54 flew support missions for the ground troops with their Focke-Wulf Fw 190 . Its most successful fighter pilot, Oberleutnant Otto Kittel , fell on February 16, 1945 after 267 victories in the air. The 5th Battle of the Courland , which began on February 20, 1945 with drumfire and attack aircraft , brought the attacking 21 Soviet rifle divisions and 16 tank brigades losses of 70,000 men, without success. Only the hard-fought Džūkste was conquered. The thaw on March 11th turned all unpaved roads into mud and impeded any movement.

At the beginning of March the German civil administration in Courland was dissolved and the independent "Republic of Latvia" was proclaimed.

Sixth Battle of Courland

On March 10, 1945, Colonel General Rendulic took over the Army Group again, but five days later he handed over command to General Hilpert , the commander of the 16th Army, who led the Army Group until the surrender. On March 18, 1945, the Soviet troops took part in the 6th Battle of Courland to take Frauenburg and Libau. This battle was also broken off on March 31st with no result.

On March 12, 1945, the soldiers of the Army Group were awarded the Kurland cuff as a combat award.

Cuff "Kurland"

surrender

When Army Group Kurland laid down its arms on May 8, 1945 as part of the total surrender of the German armed forces , the last five ship convoyages also left the port of Libau, accompanied by the last fighter aircraft of JG 54. With these last transports, about 27,700 arrived despite Soviet air raids Man to Germany. Shortly before, each division had been able to report 125 men for the last transport to Germany, and the battered 14th Panzer Division and the 11th Infantry Division were almost completely evacuated.

42 generals, 8038 officers, 181,032 NCOs and soldiers were taken prisoner by the Soviets. The approximately 14,000 Latvian volunteers were punished as "traitors"; some of them continued the armed struggle until 1953 as " forest brothers ".

Opposing forces

Red Army

1st Baltic Front (Army General Hovhannes Baghramjan )

51st Army (Army General Jakow Grigoryevich Kreiser )

10th Rifle Corps - Major General Konstantin Pawlowitsch Newerow

  • 91st Rifle Division - Colonel Yevgeny K. Sobyanin
  • 279th Rifle Division - Colonel AI Sivankov
  • 347th Rifle Division - Major General A. Ch. Yukhimchuk

1st Rifle Corps Lieutenant General IF Fedjukin

  • 257th Rifle Division - Major General FA Safronov
  • 267th Rifle Division - Major General NM Mischenko
  • 346th Rifle Division - Major General KF Schein

63rd Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General TK Kolomnetz

  • 77th Rifle Division - Major General AP Radionov
  • 87th Rifle Division - Major General GP Kuljako
  • 417th Rifle Division - Major General FM Bobrakov

6th Guard Army (Colonel General Ivan Michailowitsch Tschistjakow )

2nd Guards Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General AI Baksow

  • 71st Rifle Division - Colonel Nikolai Sakharovich Belyaev
  • 29th Rifle Division - Colonel Nikolai Alexsandrovich Rusakov

22nd Guards Rifle Corps - Major General AI Rutschkin

  • 46th Guards Rifle Division - Major General Valeri Ivanovich Savchuk
  • 90th Guards Rifle Division - Major General Vasili Efimovich Vlasov

23rd Guards Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General AN Yermakov

  • 51st Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Ivan Fedorowitsch Prjachin
  • 67th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Lev Illarionowitsch Puzanow
  • 270th Rifle Division - Major General IP Beljaev

3rd Guards Mechanical Corps - Lieutenant General Viktor Timofejewitsch Obuchow

  • 7th Guards Mechanical Brigade
  • 8th Guards Mechanical Brigade
  • 9th Guards Mechanical Brigade
  • 35th Guards Tank Brigade

4th Shock Army (Army General Pyotr Fyodorovich Malyshev )

84th Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General JM Prokofiev

  • 47th Guards Rifle Division - Major General Vasili Minajewitsch Shugayev
  • 164th Rifle Division - Colonel Grigory Ivanovich Sinitzin
  • 332nd Rifle Division - Colonel Sergei Sergeyevich Ivanov

92nd Rifle Corps Lieutenant General - Nikolai Boleslavowitsch Ibjansksi

  • 156th Rifle Division - Major General Fyodor Ivanovich Gryuzlov
  • 16th Rifle Division - Major General Adolf Ionowitsch Urbshas
  • 179th Rifle Division - General Mikhail Shkurin

19th Rifle Corps - Major General Dmitri Ivanovich Samarov

  • 344th Rifle Division - Colonel Georgi Druzhinin
  • 70th Rifle Division - Colonel Seraphim Andrianovich Krasnowski
  • 32nd Rifle Division - Colonel Jakow Werbow

42nd Army Lieutenant General Vladimir Petrovich Sviridov

83rd Rifle Corps - Major General NL Soldatow

  • 239th Rifle Division - Major General Vladimir Stepanovich Potapenko
  • 119th Rifle Division - Colonel MI Dudarenko
  • 360th Rifle Division - Colonel Efimov Alexandrovich Parsenko

110th Rifle Corps

  • 168th Rifle Division
  • 256th Rifle Division
  • 268th Rifle Division
  • 11th Rifle Division

Front reserve

  • 145th Rifle Division - Major General Vladimir Konstantinovich Gorbachev
  • 306th Rifle Division - Major General Mihail Ivanovich Kucheryavenko
  • 357th Rifle Division - Major General Alexander Georgjewitsch Kudryavshev

1st Shock Army (Lieutenant General Vladimir Nikolayevich Rasuwajew )

112th Rifle Corps

  • 123rd Rifle Division
  • 377th Rifle Division

119th Rifle Corps

  • 44th Rifle Division
  • 360th Rifle Division
  • 374th Rifle Division

123rd Rifle Corps

  • 21st Guards Rifle Division
  • 37th Rifle Division
  • 376th Rifle Division
  • 155th Rifle Division

14th Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General PA Stepanenko

  • 158th Rifle Division - Colonel Demjan Ilyich Goncharov
  • 378th Rifle Division - Colonel Vasily Vlasowitsch Skwortzkow

10. Guard Army Lieutenant General Mikhail Ilyich Kazakov

7th Guards Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General JT Tscherevichenko

  • 7th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Mihail Emmanuilowitsch Moskalik
  • 8th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Georgi Ilyich Panischew

15th Guards Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General MA Isajew

  • 29th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Benja Michailowitsch Lasarew
  • 30th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Nikolai Nikolayevich Vlasov
  • 85th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Pyotr Ivanovich Kulikov

19th Guards Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General IW Gribow

  • 22nd Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Vasili Ivanovich Morozov
  • 56th Guards Rifle Division Colonel Ivan Filatowitsch Krobjakow
  • 65th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Sergei Michailowitsch Pankow
  • 198th Rifle Division - Colonel Nikolai Ivanovich Fominschew

Wehrmacht (March 1945)

Postage stamp with Kurland overprint

16th Army - General of the Infantry Carl Hilpert

from March 10, 1945 General of the Infantry Ernst-Anton von Krosigk, from March 16, General of the Mountain Troops Friedrich Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach

18th Army - General of the Infantry Ehrenfried Boege

air force

marine

literature

  • Bönninghausen, C., Freiherr von: Kampf und Ende Rhenish-Westphalian Infantry Divisions 1941–45 , Coesfeld undated (self-published).
  • Pape, Klaus: 329th Infantry Division: Cholm – Demjansk – Kurland , Scherzers Militaer-Verlag 2007, ISBN 3-938845-10-4 .
  • Lenz, Siegfried : An End of the War (story that deals with the war in Courland.)

Web links