The Soviet Baltic offensive, 1944-45: German defense of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

ENIn late 1943, planning began for a Soviet offensive against Army Group North to secure Leningrad and break through the Narva Isthmus. The battle for Narva launched in February 1944, but bogged down in the spring thaw. The launch of Operation Bagration saw German forces scramble to reinforce Army Group Center, enabling the 1st Baltic Front to advance to the frontiers of Latvia and Lithuania. Further Soviet offensives drove Army Group North across the Baltics from Leningrad, fighting a number of isolated battles including the defense of Narva, Memel, and the Courland pocket. Though wholly outnumbered by Soviet forces, Hitler forbade his troops to withdraw, ordering them to follow his "Halt" decree and fight to the death. Exhausted and demoralized by the relentless Soviet assaults, Army Group North was cut off and isolated, fighting fanatically to hold the capital cities of Tallinn, Vilnius, and Riga. German forces then fought to the death in the last few small pockets of land surrounding three ports: Libau in Courland, Pillau in East Prussia, and Danzig at the mouth of the River Vistula. In the Courland the German divisions were surrounded, mounting a bitter defense until May 1945. Drawing on a host of rare and unpublished photographs, accompanied by in-depth captions and text, this book provides an absorbing account of the Red Army's conquest of the Baltics in the final months of World War II.