Soviet advances on the Eastern Front (WWII), 1943-08-01 to 1944-12-31

In 1944 some 200,000 German soldiers were trapped in the Courland Pocket by the Red Army of the Soviet Union. They were besieged with their backs to the Baltic Sea until the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945. Download high resolution version (1201x921, 283 KB)Soviet advances on the Eastern Front (WWII), 1943-08-01 to 1944-12-31 Drawn by User:Gdr File links The following pages link to this file: Siege of Leningrad Operation Bagration Eastern Front (World War II) Talk:Eastern Front (World War II... Download high resolution version (1201x921, 283 KB)Soviet advances on the Eastern Front (WWII), 1943-08-01 to 1944-12-31 Drawn by User:Gdr File links The following pages link to this file: Siege of Leningrad Operation Bagration Eastern Front (World War II) Talk:Eastern Front (World War II... The Eastern Front was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ... The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II and the German surrender took place in late April and early May 1945. ...

At the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Courland, along with the rest of the Baltic eastern coast, was overrun by Army Group North headed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb. In 1944, the Red Army lifted the siege of Leningrad and in Operation Bagration re-conquered the Baltic area along with much of Ukraine and Belarus. Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Supreme commander: Adolf Hitler Supreme commander: Josef Stalin Strength ~ 3. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... coat of arms of Courland Courland (Latvian: Kurzeme, German: Kurland, Polish: Kurlandia, Latin: Curonia / Couronia) is a historical Baltic province now part of Latvia. ... The Baltic Sea The Baltic region (sometimes briefly The Baltics) is an ambiguous term used to denominate an arbitrary region connected to the Baltic Sea (also called The Baltics). ... Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord in German) was a high level command grouping of military units operating for Germany during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached army corps, reserve formations, and direct-reporting units. ... Note: This article is about the military usage of the word marshal. For other usages, see the end of this article. ... Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb (September 5, 1876 - April 29, 1956) was a German field marshal during World War II. Born in Landsberg am Lech, he joined the Bavarian Army in 1895 as an officer cadet. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... Siege of Leningrad Conflict World War II Date September 8, 1941 - January 18, 1944 Place Leningrad, USSR Result Soviet victory The Siege of Leningrad (today Saint Petersburg), during World War II, lasted from September 8, 1941, to January 18, 1944. ... Combatants Axis Soviet Union Commanders Ernst Busch Konstantin Rokossovski Georgy Zhukov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength 800,000 1,700,000 Casualties (Soviet est. ...

Towards the end of Operation Bagration, on Tuesday 10 October 1944 the Red Army reached the Baltic near Memel and cut off Army Group North (26 divisions, some 200,000 men) for the rest of the war in the Courland Pocket^[1]. The besieged German Army Group on the Courland promontory were senselessly stuck there; the Red Army naturally did not pay much attention while concentrating its men and weapons on the attacks on East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, and ultimately Berlin. Colonel-General Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German General Staff, insisted to Adolf Hitler that the troops in Courland should be evacuated by sea and used for the defense of the Third Reich. However, Hitler refused and ordered the German forces in Courland to hold out. He believed them necessary to protect German submarine bases along the Baltic coast. Combatants Axis Soviet Union Commanders Ernst Busch Konstantin Rokossovski Georgy Zhukov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength 800,000 1,700,000 Casualties (Soviet est. ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in Leap years). ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The Battle of Memel[1] was fought on the Eastern Front of World War II in late 1944 and early 1945. ... Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord in German) was a high level command grouping of military units operating for Germany during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached army corps, reserve formations, and direct-reporting units. ... East Prussia (German: Ostpreu en; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie; Russian: Восточная Пруссия — Vostochnaya Prussiya) was a province of Kingdom of Prussia, situated on the territory of former Ducal Prussia. ... Prussian Silesia, 1871, outlined in yellow; Silesia at the close of the Seven Years War in 1763, outlined in cyan (areas now in the Czech Republic were Austrian-ruled at that time) Silesia (Czech: ; German: ; Polish: ) is a historical region in central Europe. ... Historic Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders. ... For other uses, see Berlin (disambiguation). ... Colonel General is a senior military rank which is used in some of the world’s militaries. ... Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (17 June 1888 - 14 May 1954) was a military theorist and innovative General of the German Army during the Second World War. ... The German General Staff or Großer Generalstab was the most important German weapon for nearly two centuries. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

On January 15, 1945, Army Group North was renamed Army Group Courland (Heeresgruppe Kurland) under Colonel-General Dr. Lothar Rendulic. Until the end of the war, Army Group Courland (including divisions such as the Latvian Freiwilligen SS Legion) successfully defended the Latvian peninsula. It held out until May 9, 1945, when it surrendered under Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, the army group's last commander. He surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov, the commander of opposing Soviet forces on the Courland perimeter. At this time the group still consisted of some 31 divisions of varying strength. After May 9 1945 approximately 203,000 troops of Army Group Courland began moving to Soviet prison camps in the East. The majority of them never returned to Germany^{[citation needed]}. January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Army Group Courland (German: Heeresgruppe Kurland) On the 25 January 1945 Hitler renamed three army groups. ... Colonel General is a senior military rank which is used in some of the world’s militaries. ... Lothar Rendulic (November 23, 1887 – January 18, 1971) was a Colonel General in the Wehrmacht during WWII. Rendulic was born on in Wiener Neustadt, Austria to a Croatian family (Croatian spelling of the surname is Rendulić). He entered the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1910 and served during World War I... May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Colonel General is a senior military rank which is used in some of the world’s militaries. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov (Russian Леонид Александрович Говоров) (February 22, 1897 - March 19, 1955), Soviet military commander, was born in the village of Butyrki in central Russia (now in Kirov Oblast). ... May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). ...

A number of German, Estonian and Latvian soldiers evaded capture and joined the Forest Brothers resistance that waged unsuccesful guerilla warfare against the Soviets for several years after the war. The Forest Brothers (also: Brothers of the Forest, Forest Brethren; in Estonian: metsavennad, in Latvian meža brāļi) were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian guerillas who fought against the Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic nations during, and after, World War II. At the...

Footnotes

1. ^ World War II Eastern Front, Time Line (1944)