Baltic Offensive

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Baltic Offensive (1944)
Baltic Strategic Offensive Operation
Part of Soviet-German War, World War II

Advance of the Red Army 1943 - 1944
Date 14 September 1944 - 24 November 1944
Location Baltic States, East Prussia, Poland
Result Soviet Victory
Belligerents
Soviet Union Germany
Commanders
Soviet STAVKA German OKW
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
260,000 all causes Unknown
v • d • e
Eastern Front
 
Leningrad and Baltics 1941 - 1944
Toropets-Kholm – Demyansk Pocket – Spark – Polar Star – Krasny Bor – Lenino– Leningrad Approaches – Narva – Vilnius – Baltic

The Baltic Offensive, also formally referred to as the Baltic Strategic Offensive Operation[1][2][3][4] as it was called by the Red Army who undertook it, denotes the campaign between the German Wehrmacht and the Red Army in the Baltic region during late summer and autumn of 1944.

The Red Army's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts engaged German Army Group Centre and Army Group North. The result of the series of battles was a permanent loss of contact between Army Groups North and Centre, and the creation of the Courland Pocket in Latvia.

Soviet historians divide the offensive into four operations:

Contents

[edit] Setting the stage

During 1944, the Wehrmacht was pressed back along its entire frontline in the east. In February 1944 it had to retreat from the approaches to Leningrad to the prepared Panther Line in Estonia. In June and July, Army Group Centre was thrown back from the Belorussian SSR into Poland by Operation Bagration. This created the opportunity for the Red Army to attack towards the Baltic Sea, thereby splitting the land connection between the German Army Groups.

By 5 July 1944, the Shyaulyay Offensive Operation commenced, as a follow-on from Operation Bagration. The Soviet 43rd, 51st, and 2nd Guards Armies attacked towards Riga on the Baltic coast with 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps in the van. By 31 July 1944 the coast on the Gulf of Riga had been reached; 6th Guards Army covered Riga and the extended flank of the penetration towards the north.

The German reaction was rapid, and initially successful. An attack, code-named Operation Doppelkopf, was attempted from 16 August 1944 by XXXX and XXXIX Panzer Corps under the command of Third Panzer Army, Army Group Centre. Acting in coordination with armoured formations from Army Group North, they initially cut off the Soviet troops on the coast, and re-established a tenous 30-km wide corridor connecting Army Groups Centre and North. The main objective of the attack was to re-take the key road-junction of Šiauliai (German: Schaulen), but the German tanks ran head-on into an in-depth defensive by the 1st Baltic Front, and by 20 August the German advance had stalled with heavy losses. A follow-on attack, code-named Operation Cäsar, failed in the same manner. After a brief period of respite, STAVKA issued orders for the Baltic Strategic Offensive, which lasted from 14 September to 24 November 1944.

[edit] Baltic Offensive - constituent battles

In common with other Soviet strategic offensives, the Baltic Offensive covers a number of operational level operations and individual Front offensive operations. From the German (defensive) perspective, the period included the later phases of the Battle of the Tannenbergstellung (1944), as well as Operation Cäsar in mid-September, which was aimed at the restoration of contact between Army Groups Centre and North, the early stages of the Siege of Memel, and the early part of the siege of the Courland Pocket.

From the Soviet perspective, the Baltic Offensive included the following separate operations[5]:

[edit] Consequences

The Soviet fronts involved in the battle lost a total of ca. 260,000 men to all causes (killed, missing, wounded, sick). The Baltic Offensive operation resulted in the expulsion of German forces from Estonia and Lithuania.

Army Group North land lines of communication were permanently severed from Army Group Centre, and it was relegated to an occupied Baltic seashore area in Latvia. On the 25 January Hitler renamed Army Group North to Army Group Courland implicitly recognising that there was no possibility of restoring a new land corridor between Courland and East Prussia.[6] The Red Army commenced the encirclement and reduction of the Courland cauldron which retained a possibility of being a major threat, but were able to focus on operations on its northern flank that were now aiming at East Prussia. Operations by the Red Army against the Courland Pocket continued until the surrender of the Army Group Courland on 9 May 1945, when close to 200,000 Germans were taken prisoner there.

The German command released thousands of native conscripts from military service. However the Soviet command began conscripting Baltic natives as areas were brought under Soviet control.[4] While some ended up serving on both sides, many hid in the woods to avoid conscription. (See also Forest Brothers)

[edit] Formations and units involved

[edit] Soviet

[edit] German

[edit] References

  • Duncan Anderson, Stephen Walsh, Lloyd Clark. The Eastern Front, Zenith Imprint (2001), ISBN 076030923X
  • D. Muriyev. Preparations, Conduct of 1944 Baltic Operation Described, Military History Journal (USSR Report, Military affairs), 1984-9
  • Alexander Stilwell, Max Hastings. The Second World War: A World in Flames, Osprey (2004}, ISBN 1841768308

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Duncan Anderson, Stephen Walsh, Lloyd Clark, "The Eastern Front", Zenith Imprint (2001), ISBN 076030923X, p. 203
  2. ^ Alexander Stilwell, Max Hastings, Sir (FRW), "The Second World War: A World in Flames", Osprey (2004}, ISBN 1841768308, p. 343
  3. ^ Д. M. Проэктор, "Агрессия и катастрофа. Высшее военное руководство фашистской Германии во второй мировой войне", Глава восьмая. "Катастрофа", М.: Наука, 1972.
  4. ^ a b Д. Муриев, Описание подготовки и проведения балтийской операции 1944 года, Военно-исторический журнал, сентябрь 1984. Translation available, D. Muriyev, Preparations, Conduct of 1944 Baltic Operation Described, Military History Journal (USSR Report, Military affairs), 1984-9, pp. 22-28
  5. ^ See soldat.ru for a breakdown of the strategic offensive
  6. ^ On the 25 January Hitler renamed three army groups: Army Group North became Army Group Courland; Army Group Centre became Army Group North and Army Group A became Army Group Centre