In February, 1945, 8th Corps returned to 2nd Baltic Front, now in Lithuania. On Mar. 17 a strength return showed the 249th still with 8,996 officers and men, nearly twice the strength of the average 1945 Red Army rifle division. They spent the last two months of the war helping to keep guard over the German forces trapped in the Kourland Pocket. Nearly two months after V-E Day, on June 28, the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps became the 41st Guards Rifle Corps, and the 249th Estonian Rifle Division was renamed the 122nd Guards Rifle Division.