Army Group Courland

Last updated
Army Group Courland
German: Heeresgruppe Kurland
Armelband Kurland.jpg
Armband
Active25 January – 10 May 1945
CountryFlag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Nazi Germany
Branch Heer - decal for helmet 1942.svg Heer ( Balkenkreuz.svg Wehrmacht)
Type Army group
Commanders
Last commander Carl Hilpert
Chief-of-Staff Friedrich Foertsch
Notable
commanders
Lothar Rendulic

Army Group Courland (German : Heeresgruppe Kurland) was a German Army Group on the Eastern Front. It was created from remnants of the Army Group North, isolated in the Courland Peninsula by the advancing Soviet Army forces during the 1944 Baltic Offensive of the Second World War. The army group remained isolated in the Courland Pocket until the end of World War II in Europe. All units of the Army Group were ordered to surrender by the capitulated Wehrmacht command on 8 May 1945.

Contents

At the time agreed for all German armed forces to end hostilities (see the German Instrument of Surrender, 1945), the Sixteenth and Eighteenth armies of Army Group Courland, commanded by General (of Infantry) Carl Hilpert, ended hostilities at 23:00, on 8 May 1945, surrendering to Leonid Govorov, commander of the Leningrad Front. By the evening of 9 May 1945 189,000 German troops, including 42 officers in the rank of general, in the Courland Pocket had surrendered. [1]

History

Naming

Stamp used in Courland pocket (1945) Kurland6pf20apr1945.jpg
Stamp used in Courland pocket (1945)

The aggregation of troops that became named Army Group Courland was created when the Red Army reached the Baltic Sea near the Memel river on Tuesday, 10 October 1944.

As a result, what was then known as Army Group North was cut off in one section of Latvia from the rest of the German Army, and was to stay cut off for the remainder of the war. Approximately 200,000 German troops in 26 divisions were in what was to become known as the Courland Pocket, pushed against the Baltic Sea in the West, the Irbe Strait in the North and the Gulf of Riga in the East. It covers northwestern Latvia. Army Group Courland remained in existence until the end of the war in Europe.

Army Group Courland was created on 25 January 1945, when German dictator Adolf Hitler renamed Army Group North, Army Group Center, and Army Group A. Hitler's name changes meant that Army Group North became Army Group Courland (Heeresgruppe Kurland), Army Group Center became Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord) and Army Group A became Army Group Center (Heeresgruppe Mitte).

Isolation

German civilians and soldiers of Army Group Courland evacuate via Windau (Ventspils), 19 October 1944. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1985-0531-500, Kurland, Evakuierung aus Windau.jpg
German civilians and soldiers of Army Group Courland evacuate via Windau (Ventspils), 19 October 1944.

Army Group Courland consisted of the German Sixteenth Army and the German Eighteenth Army. The two armies had been sent to Courland partly to protect training grounds for the remaining Nazi U-boat forces. [2]

Bypassed by the main Soviet thrusts, Army Group Courland remained relatively intact. Even towards the end of the war, the army was able to field between twenty-four and thirty-one divisions, with the exact number of divisions depending on how many of the associated or understrength divisions are counted. [2] Even so, with its back to the Baltic Sea, it also remained largely cut off from re-supply, and was unable to break out or evacuate.

Soviet ultimatum Leonid Govorov Ultimatum DE.jpg
Soviet ultimatum

On 7 May 1945, German Head of State (Staatsoberhaupt) and President ( Reichspräsident ) Karl Dönitz ordered Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, to surrender Army Group Courland. Hilpert was the army group's last commander-in-chief. [3] Hilpert surrendered himself, his personal staff, and three divisions of the XXXVIII Corps to Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov. Hilpert sent the following message to his troops: "To all ranks! Marshal Govorod[ sic ] has agreed to a cease-fire beginning at 14:00 hours on 8 May. Troops to be informed immediately. White flags to be displayed. Commander expects loyal implementation of order, on which the fate of all Courland troops depends." [4]

On 8 May, a General Otto Friedrich Rauser (Chief of Logistics of the Army Group) succeeded in obtaining better surrender terms from the Soviets. On 9 May, the Soviet commission in Peilei started to interrogate the captive staff of Army Group Courland. The Soviets began a general round-up of all remaining German troops in the Courland Pocket. [5] By end of the 11 May the troops of the Leningrad Front had secured the Courland peninsula, reaching the coast of the Riga Bay and the Baltic Sea. [6]

From 9 May to 12 May 140,408 men and non-commissioned officers, 5,083 officers and 28 generals in the Courland Pocket, surrendered. The equipment captured in the same period consisted of 75 aircraft; 307 tanks and self-propelled guns; 1,427 guns; 557 mortars; 3,879 machine-guns; 52,887 rifles and submachine-guns; 219 armored personnel carriers; 310 radio stations; 4,281 motor vehicles; 240 tractors, 3,442 carts loaded with military cargoes, 14,056 horses. [7]

On 23 May, the Soviet round-up of the German troops in the Courland Pocket was completed. A total of about 180,000 German troops were taken into captivity. Captive German officers were turned over to the NKVD. The bulk of the captives were taken to camps in Valdai Hills. [5]

Aftermath

After the surrender, some elements of Army Group Courland briefly attempted to reform itself as a Freikorps. This was an act reminiscent of similar actions taken at the end of World War I, but atypical for the end of World War II. The formation of a Freikorps was prevented by the Soviets, who were obviously unwilling to allow such an action by a beaten foe. [2] In addition, the Soviets did not intend for Germans to remain settled in the Courland area after the war.

A number of German, Estonian and, Latvian soldiers evaded Soviet capture. Approximately 4000 Latvian soldiers went to the forests and formed partisan organizations to continue their fight against the Soviets and to gain independence for the Soviet-occupied Latvia. [8]

Commanders

Ultra decrypt of a message from Berlin to Army Group Courland, 14 February 1945 Bletchley decrypt.jpg
Ultra decrypt of a message from Berlin to Army Group Courland, 14 February 1945
No.PortraitCommanderTook officeLeft officeTime in office
1
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1995-027-32A, Lothar Rendulic.jpg
Rendulic, LotharGeneraloberst
Lothar Rendulic
(1887–1971)
15 January 194527 January 194512 days
2
Heinrich von Vietinghoff.jpg
Vietinghoff, HeinrichGeneraloberst
Heinrich von Vietinghoff
(1887–1952)
27 January 194510 March 194542 days
(1)
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1995-027-32A, Lothar Rendulic.jpg
Rendulic, LotharGeneraloberst
Lothar Rendulic
(1887–1971)
10 March 194525 March 194515 days
3
Carl Hilpert.png
Hilpert, CarlGeneraloberst
Carl Hilpert
(1888–1947)
25 March 19458 May 194544 days

Senior officers at capitulation

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Army Group North</span> Military unit

Army Group North was the name of three separate army groups of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Its rear area operations were organized by the Army Group North Rear Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">12th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)</span> German army division during World War II

The 12th Panzer Division was an armoured division in the German Army, established in 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Narva (1944)</span> Battle of World War II in Estonia

The Battle of Narva was a World War II military campaign, lasting from 2 February to 10 August 1944, in which the German Army Detachment "Narwa" and the Soviet Leningrad Front fought for possession of the strategically important Narva Isthmus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16th Army (Wehrmacht)</span> Military unit

The 16th Army was a World War II field army of the Wehrmacht.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltic offensive</span> 1944 military conflicts in Baltic states during WW II

The Baltic offensive, also known as the Baltic strategic offensive, was the military campaign between the northern Fronts of the Red Army and the German Army Group North in the Baltic States during the autumn of 1944. The result of the series of battles was the isolation and encirclement of the Army Group North in the Courland Pocket and Soviet re-occupation of the Baltic States. In Soviet propaganda, this offensive was listed as one of Stalin's ten blows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive</span> 1944 military offensive in Romania

The second Jassy–Kishinev offensive, commonly referred to as the Jassy–Kishinev offensive named after the two major cities, Iași ("Jassy") and Chișinău ("Kishinev"), in the staging area, was a Soviet offensive against Axis forces, which took place in Eastern Romania from 20 to 29 August 1944 during World War II. The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts of the Red Army engaged Army Group South Ukraine, which consisted of combined German and Romanian formations, in an operation to reoccupy Bessarabia and destroy the Axis forces in the region, opening the way into Romania and the Balkans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German occupation of Latvia during World War II</span> Part of the occupation of the Baltic states

The military occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on 10 July 1941, by Germany's armed forces. Initially, the territory of Latvia was under the military administration of Army Group North, but on 25 July 1941, Latvia was incorporated as Generalbezirk Lettland, subordinated to Reichskommissariat Ostland, an administrative subdivision of Nazi Germany. Anyone not racially acceptable or who opposed the German occupation, as well as those who had cooperated with the Soviet Union, was killed or sent to concentration camps in accordance with the Nazi Generalplan Ost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of Latvia during World War II</span>

After the occupation of Latvia by the USSR in June 1940, much of the previous Latvian army was disbanded and many of its soldiers and officers were arrested and imprisoned or executed. The following year Nazi Germany occupied Latvia during the offensive of Army Group North. The German Einsatzgruppen were aided by a group known as Arajs Kommando in the killing of Latvian Jews as part of the Holocaust. Latvian soldiers fought on both sides of the conflict against their will, and in 1943 180,000 Latvian men were drafted into the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS and other German auxiliary forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Breslau</span> 1945 siege of the German city of Breslau during World War II

The Siege of Breslau, also known as the Battle of Breslau, was a three-month-long siege of the city of Breslau in Lower Silesia, Germany, lasting to the end of World War II in Europe. From 13 February 1945 to 6 May 1945, German troops in Breslau were besieged by the Soviet forces which encircled the city as part of the Lower Silesian Offensive Operation. The German garrison's surrender on 6 May was followed by the surrender of all German forces two days after the battle.

The 3rd Panzer Army was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 3rd Panzer Group on 1 January 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courland Pocket</span> Encirclement of Axis forces in the Baltic region

The Courland Pocket was an area of the Courland Peninsula where Army Group North of Nazi Germany and the Reichskommissariat Ostland were cut off and surrounded by the Red Army for almost a year, lasting from July 1944 until 10 May 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heiligenbeil Pocket</span> 1945 encirclement battle on the Eastern Front of WW2

The Heiligenbeil Pocket or Heiligenbeil Cauldron was the site of a major encirclement battle on the Eastern Front during the closing weeks of World War II, in which the Wehrmacht's 4th Army was almost entirely destroyed during the Soviet Braunsberg Offensive Operation. The pocket was located near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia in eastern Germany, and the battle, part of a broader Soviet offensive into the region of East Prussia, lasted from 26 January until 29 March 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Hilpert</span> German WWII general (1888–1947)

Carl Hilpert was a German general during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riga offensive (1944)</span> 1944 Soviet offensive against Nazi Germany during World War II

The Riga offensive was part of the larger Baltic offensive on the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place late in 1944, and drove German forces from the city of Riga.

The 22nd Army was a field army of the Red Army during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944</span> Historical event

The Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 refers to the military occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1944. During World War II Latvia was first occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, then was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941–1944, and after which it was re-occupied by the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">24th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)</span> Military unit

The 24th Infantry Division was a German Army infantry division active in World War II. It served across the Eastern Front in engagements such as the Sieges of Sevastopol and the Leningrad, finally being destroyed in the Courland Pocket in 1945.

The 288th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. Formed in the summer of 1941, the division was sent into combat on the Volkhov Front in the fall of that year. The division served in the area until early 1944 when the siege of Leningrad was ended and the 288th advanced into the Baltic states. The division spent the final months of the war blockading trapped German troops in the Courland Pocket before being disbanded in early 1946.

X Army Corps was a corps in the German Army during World War II. It was formed in mid-May 1935 from the Cavalry Division.

The 111th Rifle Corps was an infantry corps of the Red Army during World War II.

References

  1. May 9th 1945 (From the Soviet Information Bureau) Archived 2007-05-26 at the Wayback Machine part of the RIA Novosti 60 anniversary of surrender project Archived May 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 World War II - Willmott, H.P. et al., Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd, 2004
  3. May 12th, 1945 (From the Soviet Information Bureau Our Victory) Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine part of the RIA Novosti 60 anniversary of surrender project Archived May 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine notes that Hilpert was commander of the XXXVIII Corps, it explains why only three divisions surrendered with him
  4. Hans Dollinger 'The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan -, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047, Page 290
  5. 1 2 The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan - Hans Dollinger, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047, Page 278
  6. 1 2 May 11th, 1945 (From the Soviet Information Bureau Our Victory) Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine part of the RIA Novosti 60 anniversary of surrender project Archived May 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. 1 2 May 12th, 1945 (From the Soviet Information Bureau Our Victory) Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine part of the RIA Novosti 60 anniversary of surrender project Archived May 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. Bleiere, Daina; Ilgvars Butulis; Antonijs Zunda; Aivars Stranga; Inesis Feldmanis (2006). History of Latvia : the 20th century. Riga: Jumava. p. 364. ISBN   9984-38-038-6. OCLC   70240317.
    • SS Obergruppenfuhrer von Pfeffer-Wildenbrauch of the 6th Army Corps
    May 10th, 1945 (From the Soviet Information Bureau Our Victory) Archived 2007-05-30 at the Wayback Machine part of the RIA Novosti 60 anniversary of surrender project Archived May 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

Sources