75 years ago, Soviet troops launched an offensive against the Nazis in the Baltic states. The purpose of the military operation was the defeat of the Nazis on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea and the creation of a bridgehead for entry into German territory.
As a result, the Red Army managed to expel the Army Group "North" from almost the entire territory of the Baltic. Germany lost an important industrial and food base, as well as a profitable strategic region, which provided its fleet with freedom of action in the eastern Baltic Sea.
Internal confrontation
In the 1930s, among the Baltic political elites, pro-German and pro-Nazi sentiments began to grow stronger, military historian Yuri Knutov told RT.
“This caused acute internal contradictions. Workers and poor peasants were sympathetic to the Soviet Union and did not want their republics to be turned by wealthier fellow citizens into a German bridgehead for an attack on the USSR, ”the expert noted.
Large Baltic capital worked closely with industrialists and financiers of Nazi Germany. In June 1939, Estonia and Latvia concluded non-aggression treaties with the Reich. The Soviet leadership tried to convince France and England to take the Baltic States under their military-political guardianship, but could not achieve this. Left alone with Berlin, Moscow was forced in August 1939 to sign a non-aggression treaty with Germany.
Recognizing the inevitability of Hitler aggression, the leadership of the USSR convinced the political elites of the Baltic states of the advisability of deploying Soviet military bases on their territory. In 1940, pro-Soviet governments came to power in the Baltic republics, initiating their accession to the Soviet Union.
“These events in the republics themselves were assessed ambiguously - the local left strongly supported them, the right, on the contrary, condemned and linked their hopes with Nazism,” Knutov said.
Therefore, according to the historian, after the Nazi invasion in 1941, a split took place among the local population in the Baltic region, resulting in internal confrontation. One part of the locals joined the Red Army to fight Nazism, while the other supported Hitler.
Baltic States in World War II
In the summer of 1941, most of the Baltic states were captured by Nazi troops. The Nazis, relying on local collaborators, established a harsh occupational regime and began the massacre of Jews, Communists, Soviet officials and intellectuals.
“The Baltic nationalists were active in the police and punitive units, giving freedom of action to the German divisions, which are necessary at the forefront,” Boris Sokolov, Methodist of the Victory Museum, said in an interview with RT.
In Latvia and Estonia, units of SS troops were formed on the basis of punitive battalions of auxiliary police. In Lithuania, the Nazis limited themselves to the creation of 22 jutsmanshaft battalions (auxiliary units), in which about 13 thousand people served.
Baltic collaborators were widely used by the Nazis to carry out punitive operations, executions and guard concentration camps in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. According to historians, they, along with Ukrainian nationalists, played an important role in the mass extermination of Jews in Eastern Europe - in the German Einsatzgruppen (special task forces ) physically lacked personnel to kill millions of civilians.
During the war years in Latvia, the Nazis and their accomplices killed over 300 thousand civilians and about the same number of prisoners of war, in Estonia - about 61 thousand civilians and 64 thousand captured Soviet soldiers, in Lithuania - 150 thousand civilians and 230 thousand. prisoners of war.
- Latvian volunteer SS legion
- © Wikimedia commons
According to Sokolov, in the Third Reich they considered the Baltic States "a vital space."
“This region covered East Prussia from the north-east, control over it allowed the German fleet to feel at ease on the Baltic Sea and provide communication with Scandinavia,” he emphasized.
In addition, according to the historian, the Baltic States itself was the supply base of the Reich.
“In Estonia, oil shale processing plants operated, which gave Germany about 500 thousand tons of oil products per year. Germans received a significant amount of agricultural raw materials and food from the Baltic states, ”Sokolov said.
Baltic operation
The Nazis turned the Baltic into one large fortified area, said Yuri Knutov.
“The depth of well-trained defense lines was tens of kilometers. The main cities, according to Hitler, were turned into fortresses. The Nazis tried to effectively use the natural factor - the region’s defense was facilitated by the abundance of rivers, lakes and other natural obstacles, ”said the historian.
According to him, the Germans were especially actively preparing for the defense of Latvia, having transferred a number of combat-ready units to the territory of the republic. Hitler's command planned to detain the Soviet troops for a long time. And Nazi propaganda even convinced the German population that a new turning point in the war should occur on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.
The Soviet command allocated the units that were part of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Baltic, Leningrad, and 3rd Belorussian fronts to liberate the Baltic states. The operation involved 900 thousand troops, about 17.5 thousand guns and mortars, more than 3 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery, more than 2.6 thousand combat aircraft. The coordination of the Baltic fronts was carried out by Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky.
In the Baltic states, the Red Army was opposed by units of the Army Group North, reinforced by units hastily transferred from the Army Group Center. The total number of Nazi troops reached 730 thousand people, at the disposal of which were 7 thousand guns and mortars, over 1.2 thousand tanks and assault guns, up to 400 combat aircraft.
“The Hitler group in the Baltic was one of the strongest and most combat-ready on the entire length of the front line,” Knutov emphasized.
On September 14, troops of the Baltic fronts launched an offensive in the direction of Riga. With the support of dense artillery fire, the Soviet military created an advantage in specific sections of the front line and broke through the enemy’s defenses. The Nazis stubbornly resisted, counterattacked, transferred fresh forces to the most difficult sectors, but could not restrain the Red Army.
Part of the forces of the Leningrad Front launched an offensive on Tallinn. At the same time, the command of the 2nd shock army managed to secretly transport about 100 thousand people across Lake Peipsi and enter the Tartu region. The German task force "Narva", in order not to get into the environment, was forced to hastily retreat. By September 26, most of Estonia was cleared of Nazi occupiers. At the same time, Soviet troops defeated four infantry divisions, five artillery regiments, destroyed about 30 thousand enemy soldiers and officers, captured about 16 thousand prisoners.
The Nazis managed to divert part of their forces from Estonia to Latvia, concentrating 33 divisions in the Riga area, including four tank divisions. The Soviet command decided to temporarily shift the main efforts to the memel direction. The blow delivered by units of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts was successful.
Already on October 10, most of the Baltic Nazi group was cut off by land from the main forces of the Wehrmacht. Soon, the Red Army cleared the Nazis of most of the northern bank of the Neman River and wedged into the territory of East Prussia.
In parallel, units of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts resumed their offensive in the Riga sector. On October 15, Riga was completely liberated from the Nazi invaders.
- The liberation of Riga
- © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
On the territory of Latvia in mid-October, the so-called Kurland boiler appeared. In the western part of the republic on an area of about 15 thousand square meters. km were blocked, according to various estimates, from 250 to 400 thousand Nazi troops. They were finally defeated only in 1945.
In September and November, the forces of the Leningrad Front and the Baltic Fleet drove the Nazis from most of the strategically important Moonsund archipelago off the coast of Estonia.
“According to the results of the Baltic offensive operation, the Hitler Army Group“ North ”was defeated and almost the entire Baltic was liberated. Of the 59 divisions, 26 were defeated, and three were completely destroyed, ”said Boris Sokolov.
According to him, the remnants of the Nazi troops were pressed to the sea, and the front line in the Baltic states was reduced from 1 thousand to 250 km.
“Success was achieved thanks to the effective interaction of the army and the navy, the hidden regrouping of forces, the skillful use of artillery, armored vehicles and aviation in the areas of the main offensive,” Sokolov emphasized.
- Monument to the Soviet Bronze Soldier Liberator at the Tallinn Military Cemetery
- RIA News
- © Ilya Matusihis
According to Knutov, “the Nazi command hoped that it would be able to deter Soviet troops in the Baltic region for at least six months, but these plans failed.
“By November 24, the time of the completion of the Baltic operation, almost the entire territory of the region, with the exception of the Courland boiler and the Memel region, was liberated from the Nazis. Soviet troops began to create a bridgehead for the expulsion of Nazi troops from East Prussia, which was a serious moral victory for the Soviet Union. This was the beginning of the collapse of the Reich, ”summed up Knutov.