Latvian Legion

Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS
Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS
	Arm Shield
Active	January 1943 – 1945
Country	Latvia
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Branch	Waffen SS VI SS Army Corps (Latvian) 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian); 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian); ; ;
Type	Infantry
Size	87,550 men as of July 1, 1944; with another 23,000 men as Wehrmacht auxiliaries
Motto(s)	Dievs, svētī Latviju! ("God bless Latvia!")
Colors	Latvian national colors
March	Zem mūsu kājām lielceļš balts ("White Road under our feet"), ; Trīnīte
Engagements	Eastern Front (World War II) Siege of Leningrad; East Pomeranian Offensive; Courland Pocket; Battle of Berlin; Battle of More Parish; Battle of Tannenberg Line; Battle of ''Hill 93.4'';
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch; Hinrich Schuldt; Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock; Carl Friedrich von Pückler-Burghauss; Rūdolfs Bangerskis; Kārlis Lobe; Voldemārs Veiss; Arvīds Krīpens; Voldemārs Skaistlauks; Augusts Apsītis-Apse; Vilis Janums

The Latvian Legion (Latvian: Latviešu leģions) was a formation of the Nazi German Waffen-SS during World War II. Created in 1943, it consisted primarily of ethnic Latvians.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] The legion consisted of two divisions of the Waffen-SS: the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian), and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian). The 15th Division was administratively subordinated to the VI SS Corps, but operationally it was in reserve or at the disposal of the XXXXIII Army Corps, 16th Army, Army Group North.^[7] The 19th Division held out in the Courland Pocket until May 1945, the close of World War II, when it was among the last of Nazi Germany's forces to surrender.^[8]

^ Gerhard P. Bassler, Alfred Valdmanis and the politics of survival, 2000, p150 ISBN 0-8020-4413-1
^ Ieva Zake, American Latvians: Politics of a Refugee Community, 2010, p92
^ Andrew Ezergailis, Latvian Legion: heroes, Nazis, or victims? : a collection of documents from OSS war-crimes investigation files, 1945-1950, 1997, p38
^ Valdis O. Lumans, Latvia in World War II, 2006, p286
^ Mirdza Kate Baltais, The Latvian Legion in documents, 1999, p14
^ Cite error: The named reference legion3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Page Taylor, Hugh; Bender, Roger James (1982). Uniforms, Organization and History of the Waffen-SS. Vol. 5. San Jose, CA: R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 978-0-912138-25-1. OCLC 60070022.
^ Neiburgs, Uldis (16 March 2018). "Aftermath: What happened to the Latvian Legionnaires after the war?". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 27 May 2018.