The Courland Pocket (also the Courland Corral, the Courland Fortress or the blockade of the Courland Group of Forces) took shape in the autumn of 1944, when the western part of Latvia (historically known as Courland) remained under the occupation of German troops (the remnants of Army Group North), but they were sandwiched between two Soviet fronts along the Tukums - Liepaja line. This encirclement was not a complete “cauldron” - the German group was not completely blocked from the sea and therefore had fairly free communication with the main forces of the Wehrmacht.
Until the surrender of Germany on May 9, 1945, fierce battles were fought (some settlements changed hands several times) in order to eliminate the “cauldron,” but it was possible to advance the front line only a few kilometers in depth. The fighting stopped only on May 15, 1945, after the surrender of Berlin.
Formation of the Courland Pocket
By the end of October 10, 1944, units of the Soviet 51st Army reached the Baltic Sea coast north of Palanga. Thus, the German Army Group North (16th and 18th Armies) was finally cut off from Army Group Center.
On the same day, four Soviet armies (1st Shock, 61st, 67th, 10th Guards) tried to take Riga on the move. However, the German 16th Army put up fierce resistance, losing the eastern part of Riga on October 13, and the western part on October 15.
Attempts to liquidate the boiler
First Battle of Courland (October 16-19, 1944). Immediately after the creation of the “cauldron” and the capture of Riga, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts to immediately liquidate the Courland group of German troops. The 1st Shock Army, advancing on the coast of the Gulf of Riga, was more successful than other Soviet armies. On October 18, it crossed the Lielupe River and captured the city of Kemeri, but the next day it was stopped by the Germans on the outskirts of Tukums. The remaining Soviet armies were unable to advance due to the fierce resistance of the Germans, who launched counterattacks.
Second Battle of Courland (October 27-31, 1944). The armies of the two Baltic fronts fought on the line Kemeri - Gardene - Letskava - south of Liepaja. All attempts by the Soviet armies (6 combined arms and 1 tank army) to break through the German defenses and eliminate (or at least dismember) the enemy group (about 30 divisions) were unsuccessful.
Soviet ultimatum.
Fourth Battle of Courland (January 24, 1945). The spearhead of the Soviet attack was on Liepaja. According to reports from the German side, the Soviet side lost 40 thousand soldiers and 541 tanks in Courland in January.
Fifth Battle of Courland (February 16-May 9, 1945). In 1945, Soviet troops (1st and 4th shock troops, 6th and 10th guards, 22nd, 42nd, 51st armies, 15th air army - a total of 429 thousand people) again tried to liquidate the Courland group of Germans (less than 30 incomplete divisions, less than 200 thousand people in total), starting offensive operations on February 16, 1945.
Surrender
Fierce fighting continued, with short breaks, until May 9, 1945, when it became known about Germany's surrender. On no section of the front from Tukums to Liepaja did the Soviet troops manage to advance more than a few kilometers.
Upon learning of the surrender, most of the German soldiers (135 thousand) surrendered, but numerous groups tried to escape, some even tried to break into East Prussia. For example, SS-Obergruppenführer Walter Krueger (commander of the 6th SS Corps) tried with a group of soldiers to leave Courland for Prussia, but on May 22, 1945 he was overtaken by Soviet soldiers and shot himself.
The losses of Soviet troops in the battles in Courland from February 16 to May 9, 1945 amounted to 30.5 thousand killed and 130 thousand wounded.
Literature
- "History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945", volume 4. Military publishing house of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, Moscow, 1962.
- “Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century: Statistical study”. Moscow, 2001.
- Pavel Avtomonov "In the Courland Cauldron"
- Vishnyakov I. "On sharp turns"
- Biederman Gottlob "In mortal combat"
- Wilhelm Lippich Rapid fire! Notes of a German artilleryman 1940-1945
- Dallas, Gregor., 1945: The War That Never Ended, Yale University Press, Yale, 2006
- Bönninghausen, C., Freiherr von: Kampf und Ende rheinisch-westfälischer Infanteriedivisionen 1941–45, Coesfeld o.J. (im Selbstverlag)
- Haupt, Werner: Heeresgruppe Nord, Bad Nauheim 1967
- Haupt, Werner: Kurland 1944/45 – die vergessene Heeresgruppe, Friedberg 1979
- Haupt, Werner: Leningrad, Wolchow, Kurland, 1976
- Pape, Klaus: 329. Infanterie-Division: Cholm–Demjansk–Kurland, Scherzers Militaer-Verlag 2007
- Lenz, Siegfried: Ein Kriegsende (Erzählung, die unter anderem den Krieg in Kurland behandelt.)
- Bridgehead Kurland: The Six Epic Battles of Heeresgruppe Kurland
On May 7, 1945, a preliminary protocol on the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany was signed. But when peace was established throughout Europe, shots were still heard in the western part of Latvia - Courland.
Boiler formation
The German “Courland” Army, the last grouping of German troops on the territory of the USSR, was formed from the 16th and 18th German armies (Army Groups “North”). By October 10, 1944, they, and this was about 400 thousand people, found themselves cut off from Army Group Center and sandwiched between two Soviet fronts along the Tukums-Liepaja line (200 km). They were separated from Germany by hundreds of kilometers.
After the capture of Riga by Soviet troops, the Supreme High Command Headquarters set the task of the 1st and 2nd Baltic fronts to liquidate the “Kurland” group. Two days later, on October 18, the 1st Soviet Shock Army crossed the Lielupe River and captured the city of Kemeri. But she could not advance further - she was stopped by the Germans on the outskirts of the city of Tukums. The offensive resumed only on October 27. Six combined arms and one tank Soviet armies tried to break through the German defenses in order to eliminate the Courland group or at least dismember it. But, suffering heavy losses, on October 31, 1944, they were forced to stop the offensive and, instead of destroying the German army, block it.
Thus began the battle for the Kurland Pocket or, as they wrote in German propaganda sources, the “Kurland Fortress.” When the whole world was already celebrating the victory, bloody battles were still going on here.
30 divisions
It is worth noting that the Courland group was not completely blocked or cut off from Germany. The possibility of communication remained across the Baltic Sea through the ports of Liepaja and Ventspils. That is, the group had constant access to food, ammunition and medical supplies. The wounded were evacuated by sea and, if desired, entire divisions could be transferred to German territory.
In total, before the surrender, troops of about 30 divisions of 10-15 thousand people each were dispersed along the 200-kilometer front line. One division accounted for about 6.6 km of front.
This almost corresponds to the density of German troops during the Battle of Berlin, on the Seelow Heights. But this was a battle for the capital of Germany, and here behind the German soldiers there were two secondary seaports, and several dozen farms and villages in a wooded area.
What did the former army group “North” defend so zealously? Even during the battle for Berlin, when there was nothing to hope for in the Courland Pocket itself, they continued to fight for part of the Baltic territory. Meanwhile, in Berlin, boys who did not know how to hold a weapon in their hands were sent into battle. As, for example, in the case of a detachment of SS special purpose sailors, consisting of sixteen-year-old cadets from the city of Rostock.
"For the last piece of Russia"
According to the memoirs of Colonel General of the German Army Heinz Guderian, the battle for the Courland Pocket should not have happened in principle - troops were ordered to be withdrawn from Latvia in the fall of 1944. The planned retreat failed due to a mistake by the commander, Colonel General Ferdinand Schörner, who “detained his armored forces in the Riga, Mitau area instead of withdrawing them to the area west of Siauliai, thereby allowing the enemy to make a breakthrough near the city of Siauliai. This completely cut off the army group from the main group of troops.”
The defense of Kurzeme (“Courland Pocket”) began with thirty divisions - an impressive number of soldiers who formed the basis of the forces of the Eastern Front. Meanwhile, Guderian visited Adolf Hitler over and over again with a report on the need to withdraw troops from the pocket and transfer divisions to the defense of Germany. As Guderian himself recalled, in February 1945 Hitler almost beat him for this proposal. He completely refused to withdraw troops from the Baltic states.
According to military historian Werner Haupt, Hitler did not calculate his strength and held on to “the last piece of Russia.”
Soviet troops contributed in every possible way to this development of events, not giving the enemy “a moment of peace,” waging a constant offensive, just to prevent the withdrawal of troops to Germany.
In the spring of 1945, Hitler agreed to the transfer of troops, but it was too late. It took at least three months to remove Army Group Kurland by sea. Thus, even despite the incomplete blocking and the presence of communications, Courland turned out to be a cauldron for the German troops.
Death sentence for truth
In the spring of 1945, Hitler still hoped that the end of the war was far away, that the Soviet troops would be repulsed, and then the positions in Courland would become a springboard for a new attack on the USSR. According to the memoirs of the German anti-tank crew commander, Gottlob Biederman, rejecting all the reports of senior officers, Hitler found support in Colonel General Ferdinand Schörner, who promised the impossible - to hold the front at the lines of 1944:
“Hitler again began to build idealistic plans for new offensives, using divisions and people defeated long ago in the vastness of Russia.”
Sticking to his “promise,” Schörner tried in every possible way to deny, including to himself, what the situation was for the German troops on the eastern borders: he ordered the arrest of the aforementioned Biederman when he reported to him the real situation on the front line. The latter wrote:
“There were even rumors that any of the soldiers could be sentenced to death if they heard about our hopeless situation in this “cauldron.”
The official name of the trap was “Courland Bridgehead”. Until the truce of May 9, despite the hopeless state, the troops of “Courland” were ordered to “hold their positions at any cost,” the surrender of which, de facto, was only a matter of time.
The end of the Courland Cauldron
A participant in the battles for Courland, Soviet pilot Ivan Vishnyakov, said in his memoirs that on May 8, 1945, the enemy was still resisting, suffering heavy losses in manpower and equipment: “During the day, more than a dozen enemy aircraft were destroyed. The enemy’s plans to evacuate troops collapsed completely.”
It happened at night. When everyone was asleep, gunfire from machine guns and pistols began. From the memoirs of Ivan Vishnyakov:
“I jumped out into the street and heard jubilant exclamations around me: “Victory!” Hurray! Nazi Germany has capitulated!”
From the next morning, long columns of Germans: soldiers, officers and generals, laying down their weapons and banners, reached the assembly points where they surrendered. This is how the Kurland group ended its existence and the Great Patriotic War ended.
History is biased. There is especially a lot of speculation surrounding the battles of the Great Patriotic War. The party leadership was interested in information being presented in a light favorable to the country. Only today has the ideological veil that hung over events such as the Courland Cauldron been partially lifted.
As part of the USSR
World War II affected every corner of the world. The war came as a surprise to the common people. But senior management not only knew about the changes that were approaching, but even prepared for hostilities.
Dozens of documents today can show that the authorities of the Union and Germany were aware. One of them is the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which hid the true motives under the official name of the “non-aggression pact.” It signed secret protocols according to which Latvia fell under the influence of the USSR.
In October 1939, more than 20,000 Russian troops stood at the borders of this state. The following year, in June, Foreign Commissioner Molotov set his own conditions for Latvia: the board must voluntarily relinquish its powers. The Soviet military had to suppress attempts at resistance. To avoid bloodshed, the terms were accepted. The new regime held “fair” elections with a single candidate for the People's Seimas.
On August 5, 1940, Latvia entered the Among the territories that were annexed was the region where the Courland Pocket subsequently arose.
On the brink of war
Repression followed of those who defended the independence of the state. On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. The fascist invaders also came to these lands. By mid-July the entire republic was occupied. The country remained under the leadership of the new enemy until the summer of 1944.
The course of World War II turned around after the Battle of Since then, the strategic initiative belonged to the Red Army.
In the summer, the Union troops came to the Baltic states. There the decisive stage of liberation began. The western part of Latvia remained occupied until October. The Reds made their way to and stopped near the Lithuanian city of Palanga. The German group "North", consisting of the 16th and 18th armies, was cut off from the rest of the "Center" group. Thus, the first part ended up on the peninsula.
These events created the Courland Pocket. In total, 400,000 Germans were trapped.
The capital is like a trophy
The Nazis were sandwiched between two Soviet fronts. The line stretched for two hundred kilometers from eastern Tukums to western Liepaja.
With great ambitions, the Soviet leadership got down to business. On October 10, 1944, the operation to liberate Riga began. The following took part: 1st Shock, 61st, 67th, 10th Guards Armies. But the Germans fought back. Realizing that it was impossible to hold the city, they carried out an urgent evacuation and moved towards the sea. Three days later, the Soviet military occupied the east of the city. On October 15 they entered its western part.
As soon as the opponents were finally cut off from the Army of the Center, and the capital was retaken, the commanders-in-chief gave the order to eliminate the enemy who occupied the peninsula. The Courland Cauldron was supposed to be an easy and quick trophy with minimal losses.
First attempts at eradication
The USSR leadership launched an offensive operation on October 16. However, the Germans fought. Fierce fighting broke out. Soviet troops remained in their positions and were unable to occupy new territories. The 1st Shock Army showed particular courage. Its soldiers managed to achieve great results.
They managed to occupy the city of Kemeri and approach the walls of Tukums. In total, they walked about 40 km. Then their movement was stopped by the enemy.
The Red Army struck a new blow on October 27. This time the leadership did not want to completely destroy the enemy. The main task was to break through its defenses and split the army into small groups that would not be able to help each other. But the Courland Cauldron did not fall. The battle, which began on the 27th, lasted until October 31, after which the offensive was suspended.
The Foundation of Failure is Inner Guidance
Over the next month, several more attempts were made to dispose of the Nazis, but they successfully counterattacked. In addition, some of the equipment failed. Ammunition partially used. There were heavy losses among the soldiers, many dead and wounded.
In the twentieth of December, the Soviet side resumed the attack. The landmark was the city of Liepaja.
The main reason for the delay in the liberation of the peninsula was the poor leadership of the Red Army marshals. Terrible communication and failure to follow one plan of action led to the long blockade that the Courland Pocket endured. German memoirs, on the contrary, note that Army North worked harmoniously, as a single organism. The commanders established a railway network, which played a decisive role in the development of military operations.
Thus, neighboring troops quickly reached the point where help was needed. And vice versa, they could take out soldiers in a few hours if a threat was imminent. In addition, German territories were well fortified and could provide long-term resistance.
Exorbitant losses and strong resistance
In the fall of 1944, there were 32 divisions and 1 brigade in the peninsula region. In addition to the Germans, Norwegians, Latvians, Dutch and Estonians fought on the side. They were part of the SS. And, although they were not well armed and had not undergone training, they took an active part in the battles.
By the end of the year, the number of troops, according to approximate data, was reduced by 40,000. These were the numbers who died in the Courland Pocket during the first stage of the liquidation attempt. More than five hundred tanks were disabled.
The next, third offensive operation began on January 23. Its goal was to destroy communications that were carried out through the railway tracks. For seven days unsuccessful battles were fought. Then the commanders of the Red Army decided to consolidate the captured territories.
Last attempts
A month later, the fourth wave of attacks on the Courland Pocket began (1945). On February 20, a new task was defined. Its essence is to cross the Vartava River and cut off the Germans from the port of Liepaja.
During the difficult operation, the front line was broken, and Soviet soldiers occupied another 2 km of enemy territory. The Red Army was sorely lacking large-caliber weapons. But, on the other side of the front, the Germans constantly received both material and human assistance.
In March, the last large-scale attempt was made to oust the Germans. Certain groups of Soviet troops achieved success, but were subsequently pushed back.
Losses of domestic troops amounted to more than 30,000 killed and 130,000 wounded.
What did the Germans fight for?
The Courland Cauldron did not calm down for a long time. The last battle of the Great Patriotic War in this region ended literally before half of the troops surrendered on May 9, 1945. The other part tried to hide without any hope.
It is worth noting that they were not driven into a corner. Behind the Nazis stood the Baltic Sea, free from the Soviet military.
The Germans had two small, strategically unimportant ports at their disposal - Liepaja and Ventspils. It was through water spaces that the Nazis could connect with Germany. The military received constant support. They were regularly supplied with food, ammunition and medicine. The wounded were also transported.
Voluntary surrender
The public is increasingly interested in the legends and myths of military history. The Courland Pocket was not an important strategic territory that changed the course of history. It became a unique example of the weakness of the Soviet command in the face of well-tuned enemy actions.
The formation of the Kurland group (this was the name of the Army North since January 1945) was simply a mistake. These troops were supposed to leave Latvia in the fall of 1944. But due to the slowness of General Scherner, the soldiers were cut off from the “Center” and moved back to the sea.
The proposal to send divisions to help Berlin was made more than once. Children who had not seen war were sent under the walls of the Reich, while on the Courland Peninsula thousands of soldiers defended a dozen small villages.
Despite the fact that Hitler was infuriated by the mere mention of the surrender of this territory, several divisions were nevertheless delivered to Germany by sea. But it was already too late. Reducing the enemy's numbers is the main reason for the USSR's offensive operations. The enemy forces were significant, the strategy was clever, so it is unknown how the events described above would have ended if not for the surrender of Berlin.
Unfortunately, the events that took place on this secondary sector of the front in 1945 were not covered widely enough in our press and memoirs. Probably because the main events and the bulk of the participants in the final stage of the war fought on the Oder and Vistula, stormed Berlin and Koenigsberg, and repelled German attacks near Balaton and Budapest.
From the reports of the Sovinformburo of that time it was known that in the so-called Courland Pocket there were only battles of local significance. But the intensity and drama of the fighting in Courland was not much inferior to the battles in the directions of the main strategic attacks.
Interestingly, it had already been a week since Berlin was taken, but the German Wehrmacht troops were still present on the territory of the USSR, and only on May 10, 1945, the last major city of Latvia - Ventspils, on the Baltic Sea coast - was finally liberated by Soviet troops.
What was the group of German troops that lasted the longest on the Eastern Front? Why did she resist so stubbornly?
It is known that the Courland Army Group was formed from the Northern Army Group and received its name “Courland” shortly after the evacuation from Estonia and eastern Latvia, including the mountains. Riga.
Starting from October 1944, on the territory of the Latvian SSR, on its Baltic coast (from Tukums to the port of Liepaja), two German armies (16th and 18th) were pressed to the shore and blocked, i.e. the whole Army Group North “, where there were even more troops than those who were surrounded at Stalingrad, according to various sources, up to 400 thousand soldiers and officers, as of the beginning of October 1944.
The total area of the Courland Cauldron occupied about 15 thousand square meters. km (about a quarter of the territory of Latvia). For comparison, about 400 thousand German troops were blocked in the Ruhr pocket in March 1945, 330 thousand (including Italians) in the Tunisian pocket in March 1943, and about 200 thousand in Stalingrad in December 1942.
It is worth noting that, unlike most of the cauldrons (except for the Tunisian one), the Courland cauldron was not blocked on all sides, thus the surrounded people still had the opportunity to communicate with Germany along the Baltic Sea, through the ports of Liepaja and Ventspils.
Thus, it was possible to supply the group with ammunition, food, medicine, the wounded were evacuated by sea, and even entire divisions from the group were transferred directly to German territory. http://www.volk59.narod.ru/KurlandKessel.htm
According to other sources, there were slightly fewer blocked German troops; as is known, the Courland army group consisted of two shock armies - the 16th and 18th. In the fall of 1944, it consisted of over 28-30 divisions, including about 3 tank divisions.
With an average of 7,000 people in each division, the total strength of the army group was 210,000. Including special units, aviation and logistics, the army group totaled about 250,000 people.
After 10 divisions were evacuated by sea to Germany from the beginning of 1945, the size of the army group at the time of surrender, according to some researchers, was approximately 150-180 thousand people.
All these 30 German divisions defended 200 km of front, that is, one German division (10-15 thousand people) accounted for 6.6 km of front. This density is more typical for divisions in preparation for an offensive. The Germans had such a high density of troops during the Battle of Berlin, on the Seelow Heights.
But behind them was Berlin, the capital of Germany, a large industrial city and transport center. What was behind the 400,000-strong German group in Courland? Two small secondary seaports and a little more than fifty farms and villages in a wooded and marshy area. http://forum.medinskiy.ru/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=6631
And yet, the High Command of Nazi Germany attached special importance to the defense of Courland, defining it as a “Baltic bastion”, “bridgehead”, “breakwater”, “outer eastern fort of Germany”, etc. “The defense of the Baltic states is the best defense of East Prussia ", - said the order of the commander of the group Scherner. Hitler supposedly intended that in the future all the troops blocked in Courland would be used for a decisive blow on the Eastern Front.
Two combat-ready German armies could resist for as long as they wanted. They understood perfectly well that the path to retreat to Northern Germany was cut off for them, which means they were ready to fight with the bitterness of the doomed. 
At the final stage, this entire group was commanded by Infantry General Karl August Gilpert, one of the main characters during the siege of Leningrad. He had colossal experience; suffice it to say that he had been in army service continuously since October 1907, and was appointed to his position after commanding the same 16th Army. By the way, he was awarded the rank of general on April 1, 1939. Karl August hoped that the remnants of 22 German divisions, gathered into an iron fist, could cause great trouble to the Russians.
In the future, this is exactly what happened, the troops under the command of Gilpert really caused a lot of trouble and trouble to the then Soviet command, there are known about five serious attempts at an offensive by Soviet troops with the aim of eliminating the Courland group, and all of them were unsuccessful.
The first attempt to break through the German defense line was made from October 16 to 19, 1944, when immediately after the creation of the “cauldron” and the capture of Riga, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts to immediately liquidate the Courland group of German troops. The 1st Shock Army, advancing on the coast of the Gulf of Riga, was more successful than other Soviet armies. On October 18, it crossed the Lielupe River and captured the village of Kemeri, but the next day it was stopped by the Germans on the approaches to Tukums. The remaining Soviet armies were unable to advance due to the fierce resistance of the Germans, who launched counterattacks.
The second time the battle for Courland took place from October 27 to October 31, 1944. The armies of the two Baltic fronts fought on the line Kemeri - Gardene - Letskava - south of Liepaja. Attempts by the Soviet armies (6 combined arms and 1 tank army) to break through the German defenses brought only tactical successes. By November 1, a crisis had arrived: most of the personnel and offensive equipment were out of action, and the ammunition was spent.
The third attempt to break through the front line was made from December 21 to 25, 1944. The tip of the attack of the Soviet troops fell on the city of Liepaja. According to reports from the German side, the Soviet side lost up to 40 thousand soldiers and 541 tanks in Courland in January.
The fourth combat operation in Courland (Priekul operation) took place from February 20 to 28, 1945.
After strong artillery preparation and bombing by front-line aviation, the front line in the Priekule area was broken through by units of the 6th Guards and 51st armies, which were opposed by the 11th, 12th 121st and 126th infantry divisions of the German 18th th army. On the first day of the breakthrough, we managed to cover no more than 2-3 km with the heaviest fighting. On the morning of February 21, the right-flank units of the 51st Army occupied Priekule, the advance of Soviet troops was no more than 2 kilometers. The basis of the enemy's defense was tanks dug into the ground up to their towers. 
According to the memoirs of General M.I. Kazakov, enemy tanks could only be destroyed by bomb attacks and large-caliber guns, the ammunition for which was sorely lacking. Enemy resistance grew, fresh second- and third-echelon divisions were brought into the battle, including the “Kurland fire brigade” of the 14th Panzer Division, the battered 126th Infantry Division was replaced by the 132nd Infantry Division on February 24, and German troops managed to stop the advance of the Soviets. troops. On February 28, the operation was interrupted.
On the evening of February 28, formations of the 6th Guards and 51st Armies, reinforced by the 19th Tank Corps, expanded the breakthrough in the enemy’s defenses to 25 kilometers and, having advanced 9-12 kilometers in depth, reached the Vartava River. The immediate task was completed by the armies. But there was no strength to develop tactical success into operational success and break through to Liepaja, which was about 30 kilometers away. (from the memoirs of the chief of staff of the 2nd Baltic Front L.M. Sandalov “After the turning point.” - M.: Voenizdat, 1983.)
For the fifth and last time, the battle for Courland took place from March 17 to 28, 1945. This is when, south of the city of Saldus, on the morning of March 17, Soviet troops made their last attempt to break through the German defense line.
By the morning of March 18, the troops were advancing in two ledges, deep into the enemy’s defenses. Despite the fact that some units achieved significant success, some of them were then withdrawn. This happened due to the beginning of their encirclement by the enemy, as happened with the 8th and 29th Guards Rifle Divisions in the area of the village of Dzeni. On March 25, the 8th (Panfilov) division was encircled by the enemy, and then fought the hardest battles for two days.
Only on March 28, the Soviet unit, having broken through the encirclement, reached its units. On April 1, 1945, part of the troops was transferred from the disbanded 2nd Baltic Front to the Leningrad Front (including the 6th Guards Army, 10th Guards Army, 15th Air Army) and was entrusted with the task of continuing blockade of the Courland group of enemy troops. 
On May 9, 1945, Germany surrendered, but Army Group Courland resisted Soviet troops in the Courland Pocket until May 15. (see Sovinformburo reports).
List of units that took part in the battles: (1st and 4th shock, 6th and 10th guards, 22nd, 42nd, 51st armies, 15th air army - a total of 429 thousand people ).
The Courland group of Germans consisted of less than 30 incomplete divisions, about 200 thousand people in total) http://forum.ykt.ru/viewtopic.jsp?id=2801553
According to other sources, by mid-February 1945 the following were sent across the Baltic Sea to Germany: one tank division, a Norwegian-Danish SS division, a Dutch SS brigade, and 8 infantry divisions.
There were 22 divisions left in the cauldron (2 tank divisions, 1 SS division (Latvian), 14 infantry divisions, 2 security divisions, 2 air field divisions, 1 border division (Estonian).
Soviet troops ceased active hostilities in early April 1945.
In a month and a half of fighting, they lost 30 thousand killed and 130 thousand wounded (according to Soviet documentary data). The Germans also suffered losses, the 21st Air Field Division was disbanded due to losses. In April 1945, two more divisions were evacuated from the Courland Pocket to Germany (12th Air Field and 11th Infantry; 14th Tank Division was withdrawn to Liepaja for evacuation). There are up to 200 thousand left in the cauldron (including more than 10 thousand Latvians and Estonians). The exact data on German losses is still not known. Оhttp://www.mywebs.su/blog/history/2244.html
The enemy was so strong that even in a month of fighting after the assault on Königsberg, the Germans were not able to be thrown into the sea, despite all the efforts of the troops of the Leningrad Front and the Baltic Fleet, and this despite all the power and combat experience that the Red Army possessed in 1945. 
Despite the declared capitulation, the Germans from Courland still broke through into Germany. Thus, on the night of May 9, 2 convoys consisting of 27 boats of the 14th security flotilla and 23 ships were sent from the port of Liepaja on the night of May 9, on which 6,620 people were taken out. After some time, the third convoy of 6 ships departed, with 3,780 people on board. Another hour later, the fourth convoy, consisting of 19 torpedo boats with 2,000 people on board, managed to depart from the port of Liepaja.
During the fourth convoy's departure to sea, vanguard units of the Red Army entered Liepaja. From that moment on, the evacuation from Liepaja was stopped.
From the port of Ventspils, the German command also sent two convoys of 15 boats and 45 landing barges, which carried 11,300 soldiers and officers.
In the Latvian forests, in the territory occupied by the Nazis, many Soviet reconnaissance groups operated. On May 8, 1945, they received the strictest order: do not leave the forest! And shots were heard here even after Victory Day; So, on May 10, when the Nazis stumbled upon one of our reconnaissance groups, they completely destroyed it!
The commander of the German group, Karl August Hilpert, had already surrendered by that time. The mass surrender began at 23:00 on May 8th.
By 8 a.m. on May 10, 68,578 German soldiers and non-commissioned officers, 1,982 officers and 13 generals had surrendered.
Among the generals are the commander of the Courland Group of German Armies, Infantry General Gilpert, the commander of the 16th Army, Lieutenant General Volkamer, the commander of the 18th Army, Lieutenant General Bege, the commander of the 2nd Army Corps, Lieutenant General Gausse and others... 
A few words about the further fate of the participants in the events. A native of Nuremberg, Karl August Gilpert, was not on the list of defendants at the Nuremberg trials (he was probably too insignificant a figure for the tribunal).
Gilpert spent the last years of his life in... Moscow, in one of the prisons. Here he died on December 24, 1948 at the age of 61. He was buried in Krasnogorsk.
http://battleminers.5bb.ru/viewtopic.php?id=292
An interesting fact: a small group of German soldiers from the Courland group, about 3 thousand people. they even managed to escape to neutral Sweden, where they were placed in a camp, while the local administration gave guarantees that they would not be sent to the Soviet Union. http://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3608827
Subsequently, the promise made by the Swedes remained unfulfilled, since on November 30, 1945. almost more than 6 months after the end of the war, the Swedish police, skillfully wielding batons, loaded all the captured Germans into a prepared train and sent all the former “Courlanders” to Trilleborg, where a Soviet ship awaited them and a further journey through the vast expanses of the Soviet Union.
· The last shots of the Great Patriotic War:
· Courland Cauldron·
On May 7, 1945, a preliminary protocol on the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany was signed in Reims. May 8 at 22:43 Central European time (in Moscow it was already May 9, 00:43) on the outskirts of Berlin Karlshorst In the building of the former canteen of the military engineering school, the final Act of the unconditional surrender of Germany was signed, the war in Europe was officially over.
However, individual groups of Nazi troops continued to resist. So in the western part of Latvia - Courland, shots continued to be heard.
The Courland Pocket (also known as the Courland Fortress or the blockade of the Courland Group of Forces) was formed in the fall of 1944, when the western part of Latvia (historically known as Courland) remained occupied by the troops of Nazi Germany. In Courland, the remnants of Army Group North were entrenched, which were sandwiched between two Soviet fronts along the Tukums-Liepaja line. This encirclement was not a full “cauldron” - the group of fascist troops was not completely blocked from the sea, so the troops encircled here still had the opportunity to communicate with Germany across the Baltic Sea, using the ports of Liepaja and Ventspils. Thus, it was possible to supply the group with food, ammunition, medicine, the wounded were evacuated by sea, and entire divisions from the group were transferred.
The German "Courland" army became the last group of German troops on the territory of the Soviet Union, it was formed by units of the 16th and 18th German armies from Army Group North, which were cut off from neighboring units from Army Group Center to outcome on October 10, when units of the 51st Soviet Army reached the Baltic coast in the area north of Palanga. At that time, the encircled group had about 30 incomplete divisions, the total number of the group was estimated at approximately 400 thousand people. By the time Germany surrendered, there were still from 150 to 250 thousand soldiers and officers of Hitler’s army there.
All of these 30 German divisions remaining in Courland defended a relatively short front - approximately 200 kilometers, that is, one German division accounted for 6.6 kilometers of front.
This density of troops was more typical for divisions in preparation for an offensive than in defense. The Germans had the same high density of units during the Battle of Berlin at the Seelow Heights. But Berlin was the capital of Germany, a major transport and industrial hub, the political center of the state, and behind the 400,000-strong German group of troops in Courland there were two small seaports and a little more than 50 villages and hamlets located in wooded and swampy areas. Despite this, the High Command of the German Army attached special importance to this area, calling it a “bridgehead”, “Baltic balcony”, “Germany’s outer eastern fort”, “breakwater”. In the order group commander Schörner it was said that "the defense of the Baltic states is the best defense of East Prussia."
Hitler allegedly believed that in the future his troops, which were blocked in the west of Latvia, could still be used for a decisive blow on the Eastern Front.
The two remaining combat-ready German armies could resist for quite a long time. They were well aware of the fact that the route of retreat to Northern Germany was already cut off for them, so they were ready to fight with the bitterness of the doomed. At the final stage, the infantry general took command of the encircled group Karl August Hilpert, who became one of the main characters in the “North” group during the siege of Leningrad.
This German military leader had enormous experience; suffice it to say that he was in army service without interruption since October 1907, and he was appointed to his last position after commanding the 16th Army. He was awarded the rank of general on April 1, 1939. Karl August hoped that the German divisions assembled in Courland would be able to cause great trouble for the Russians. Subsequently, this is exactly what happened. The German units commanded by Hilpert caused a lot of trouble and trouble to the Soviet command. The Red Army launched large-scale offensive operations five times with the aim of defeating and eliminating the Courland group of German troops, but they all ended in failure.
According to the surviving memoirs of a Colonel General of the German army Heinz Guderian, the battle for Courland should not have happened in principle - troops were ordered to be withdrawn from the territory of Latvia in the fall of 1944.
However, the planned German offensive could not be carried out due to a mistake by the commander, Colonel General Ferdinand Schörner, who delayed his armored formations in the area of Riga and Mitau instead of withdrawing them to the area west of Siauliai. With this he gave the Red Army the opportunity to make a breakthrough near Siauliai. This breakthrough finally cut off Army Group North from the rest of the German troops, which marked the beginning of the defense of the Courland Pocket with the forces of the 30 divisions remaining here. Guderian personally visited Hitler several times with reports on the need to withdraw troops from Courland and transfer them to the defense of the German borders, but to no avail.
As Guderian later recalled, in February 1945 Hitler almost beat him for such proposals. Adolf Hitler completely refused to withdraw units from the Baltic states, holding on to this “last piece of Russia.” Many today doubt the psychological health of the Nazi leader and the adequacy of his decisions at the last stage of the war.
One way or another, the Germans failed to completely evacuate the group of troops from Courland to Germany; they also maintained impressive forces in Norway until the end of the war. The transfer of these troops to Germany would hardly change the course of the battle in Europe, but it could delay the fall of the Third Reich.
Units of the Red Army contributed in every possible way to this development of the situation, not giving the Germans a break, conducting offensive operations and preventing the withdrawal of troops to Germany. When Hitler finally decided to transfer troops in the spring of 1945, it was already too late; it would take at least three months to transport Army Group Courland across the Baltic Sea.
The first attempt to break through the defense line of German troops was made by Soviet troops from October 16 to 19, immediately after the capture of Riga and the formation of the pocket itself. The headquarters of the Supreme High Command gave the order to the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts to immediately liquidate the Kurland group of enemy forces. The 1st Shock Army, which advanced along the coast of the Gulf of Riga, operated most successfully during this period. On October 18, the troops of this army crossed the Lielupe River and were able to capture the village of Kemeri, but the next day their advance was stopped near the city of Tukums.
The remaining Soviet armies were unable to move forward, encountering fierce resistance from the enemy, who often launched counterattacks.
The second battle for Courland took place from October 27 to October 31, 1944. The armies of the two Baltic fronts fought stubborn battles on the line Kemeri - Gardene - Letskava - south of Liepaja. An attempt to break through the German defense with 6 combined arms and one tank army brought only tactical successes. By November 1, 1944, there was a crisis in the offensive caused by large losses of equipment, people and depletion of ammunition supplies.
The third attempt to break through the front in this sector was made from December 21 to December 25, 1944. This time the spearhead of the Soviet attack was aimed at the city of Liepaja. However, even now the offensive failed.
The fourth offensive operation in this direction, called the Priekul operation, took place from February 20 to 28, 1945. After carrying out large-scale artillery preparation and delivering strong bombing attacks on the enemy by front-line aviation, Soviet troops managed to break through the front line in the Priekule area.
The offensive included forces of the 6th Guards and 51st Armies, which were opposed by the German 11th, 12th, 121st and 126th Infantry Divisions from the 18th Army. On the first day of the offensive, Soviet troops were able to advance to a depth of 2-3 kilometers with the hardest fighting. On the morning of February 21, the right-flank formations from the 51st Army were able to occupy Priekule, but even here the advance of the Red Army troops did not exceed two kilometers. The main units of the enemy's defense were tanks dug into the ground up to their towers.
Performance characteristics of the StuG III Ausf G
According to the general's memoirs M. I. Kazakova Only large-caliber artillery (for which there was a catastrophic shortage of shells) and air bombing could effectively combat dug-in tanks.
The enemy's resistance increased, he introduced fresh divisions of the second and third echelons into the battle, also involving the “Kurland fire brigade”, which was represented by the 14th Panzer Division. On February 24, the Germans replaced the 126th Infantry Division, seriously battered in battle, with the 132nd Infantry Division, after which they managed to stop the advance of the Soviet troops; by February 28, the offensive operation of the Red Army was interrupted. By the evening of this day, formations of two Soviet armies: the 6th Guards and the 51st, reinforced by the 19th Tank Corps, were able to expand the breakthrough in the German defense to 25 kilometers along the front, advancing 9-12 kilometers deep into the cauldron. The troops managed to reach the Vartava River, completing the immediate task of the armies. However, the Soviet troops were unable to develop tactical success into operational success and make a breakthrough to Liepaja, which was still 30 kilometers away, due to lack of strength.
The fifth attempt to defeat the Courland group of German troops was made in March. From March 17 to March 28, 1945, the last major battle took place here. Soviet troops sought to break through the German defenses south of the city of Saldus. By the morning of March 18, the advance of the Red Army units proceeded in two ledges, directed deep into the German defense. Some of the attacking units were able to achieve serious successes, but were forced to retreat back. This happened due to attempts by the enemy to encircle them. At the same time, the 8th and 29th Guards Rifle Divisions were nevertheless surrounded in the area of the village of Dzeni. On March 25, 1945, the 8th Guards (Panfilov) Division was surrounded by the enemy, after which it was forced to engage in heavy fighting for two days. Only on March 28, the encircled Soviet units managed to break through the encirclement and return to their own. On April 1, 1945, from the disbanded 2nd Baltic Front, part of the troops was transferred to the Leningrad Front under the command of Marshal of the USSR Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov. It was he who was entrusted with the task of further blocking the encircled German troops.
Despite the announcement of Germany's unconditional surrender, the Kurland group continued to resist Soviet troops until May 15. By this date, all major pockets of enemy resistance in the cauldron had apparently been suppressed.
At the same time, the mass surrender of German troops began at 23:00 on May 8. By 8 a.m. on May 10, 1945, 68,578 German soldiers and non-commissioned officers, 1,982 officers and 13 generals, led by the commander of Army Group Kurland, Karl August Hilpert, had laid down their arms and surrendered to the mercy of the victors.
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The commander was captured along with him 18th Army Lieutenant General Bege and commander of the 16th Army Lieutenant General Volkamer. In total, according to various sources, from 135 to 203 thousand soldiers and officers of the German army were captured, including approximately 14 thousand Latvian volunteers.
Despite the announcement of surrender, the Germans continued to evacuate their units from Courland to German territory. On the night of May 9, the Germans sent two convoys consisting of 23 ships and 27 boats of the 14th security flotilla from the port of Liepaja, with a total of 6,620 people. Some time later, a third convoy of 6 ships departed from Liepaja, carrying 3,870 people.
About an hour later, the 4th convoy, consisting of 19 torpedo boats, managed to load another 2 thousand people from the port. When the fourth convoy entered the Baltic Sea, vanguard units of the Soviet troops entered the city. After this, the evacuation from Liepaja was naturally stopped. From the port of Ventspils, the Germans also managed to send two convoys, consisting of 45 landing barges and 15 boats, carrying 11,300 soldiers and officers of the German army.
Those who did not want to surrender and did not manage to get on the last convoys leaving Courland had no choice but to go into the forests and make their way to East Prussia. According to some reports, scattered enemy units wandering through forests and swamps continued to resist Soviet troops until July 1945. Today we can say that the last shots of the Great Patriotic War were fired in Courland. It was mainly the SS soldiers who sought to break out from Courland into East Prussia.
Thus, a large detachment of SS men, numbering about 300 people, was destroyed by the Red Army on May 22, 1945. This detachment, which tried to break into German territory, retreated under the banner of the 6th SS Army Corps, led by its commander Walter Kruger, who was eventually forced to shoot himself.
In this battle, which took place after the official surrender of Nazi troops, the Red Army lost 25 soldiers. Imagine how insulting and bitter it was for their relatives to receive a funeral after the Victory. However, soldiers and officers of the Red Army had to fight with weapons in their hands after May 9, so that the Nazi fanatics, whose hands were elbow-deep in blood, would not escape from retribution. They did not allow them to leave Courland at the cost of their own lives.
