Kurland Bridgehead / March 1945 (GWA Site / Newville, PA)

For this event we are portraying the members of Nr. 5 Kompanie, Gren. Regt. 2 / 11th Infantrie Division during the sixth battle of Kurland.  

The 11th Division was formed in October 1934 in Allenstein.  It was mainly of Prussian and Rhineland personnel.  It took part in the Polish campaign in 1939 & played a minor role in the French campaign of 1940. The 11th was also part of the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The division took part in the siege of Leningrad & played a major part in holding the Soviet offensive of 1943, in which the division took heavy casualties.  Relieved from front line duty for refitting in Greece in late 1943, the newly refitted 11.Infanterie-Division was posted once again to the Leningrad sector where it fought in the Battle of Narva, and was subseqently involved in the general withdrawl from this salient to western Latvia. It became one of the encircled units of Heeresgruppe Nord when the Red Army penetrated to the Baltic sea north of Memel on 10 October 1944.   The "Kurland bridgehead" that was formed on that day could only be reached via the harbors of Libau, Windau, and Riga.

On 16 October, Hitler permitted the pulling back of the front.  With this came the evacuation of Riga and the transfer of 100,000 tons of material to the Kurland.  This just left two ports of supply, Libau at the southern edge of the Kurland pocket and Windau in the northern half.  Due to the build up of forces for the Ardennes Offensive, Kurland did not receive reenforcments.  What resulted is the combatant force ratio of 11:1 to the disadvantage of the German forces.  The force ratio for armored vehicles was 7:1 in favor of the Russians; for artillery, it was 20:1.  The situation of the Luftwaffe was of course similar.  By order of Heeresgruppe Nord, it was forbidden to use the phrase "Kurland pocket."  Since the defeat at Stalingrad, the word "pocket" carried connotations of impending disaster.  The term "bridgehead" was thought to be better suited since it was viewed as jumping off point for offensives.  So "Kurland bridgehead" became the official name.  There were a total of six battles of Kurland.  It was during these battles the 11th Division would become known as a staple "fire-brigade" of the Kurland front.  

The sixth battle began on 18 March 1945 when the Red Army artillery opened up on the front between Dangas and Skutini.  The Soviet 10th Guards Army concentrated their attack on the positions in the middle of this barrage with armored formations & support of the Red Air Force which was used to cripple German supply lines and communication.  The Russian onslaught broke through at several locations.  Some German strong points were cut off and these troops had to fight their way back to the new German positions.  In spite of the local Russian successes, the Germans were able to hold a defensive line and denied the Russians a victory.  It was reported that 92 enemy armored vehicles were knocked out in this fighting.ving.