Courland Pocket

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Battles of the Courland Bridgehead
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Soviet advances from 1 September 1943 – 31 December 1944, the Courland Pocket is the white area west of the Gulf of Riga
Date 9 October 1944 – 10 May 1945 Location Courland Peninsula, Latvia 57°0′0″N 22°0′0″E Result Soviet victory German forces surrender two days after the German Instrument of Surrender
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union Free Germany[1][2][3] Kurelis group [lt; lv; pl; ru]
Commanders and leaders
Ferdinand Schörner Lothar Rendulic Heinrich von Vietinghoff Carl Hilpert Walter Krüger	Ivan Bagramyan Andrey Yeryomenko Leonid Govorov
Units involved
Army Group North (prior to 25/01/1945) Army Group Courland (from 25/01/1945 onwards until surrender)	1st Baltic Front 2nd Baltic Front
Casualties and losses
October 1944–8 May 1945 117,871 combat casualties (39,537 in February–March 1945)[4] 189,112 captured on 9 May 1945[4]	16 Feb – 8 May 1945 30,501 killed, 130,447 wounded or sick[5] Total: 160,948

The Courland Pocket^[a] was a pocket located on the Courland Peninsula in Latvia on the Eastern Front of World War II from 9 October 1944 to 10 May 1945.

Army Group North of the Wehrmacht were surrounded in western Latvia by the Red Army after the Baltic Offensive, when forces of the 1st Baltic Front reached the Baltic Sea near Memel (Klaipėda) after the collapse of Army Group Centre during Operation Bagration. Army Group North retreated to the Courland Pocket and was renamed Army Group Courland on 25 January, holding off six Red Army offensives until the German Instrument of Surrender was signed on 8 May 1945. Army Group Courland were in a communication "blackout" and did not get the official order until 10 May, becoming one of the last German groups to surrender in Europe.

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