page_title: Army Group Courland
section_title: Naming
hierarchical_section_title: Army Group Courland / History / Naming
caption_attribution_description: English: Postage stamp for Nazi Germany military forces locked in Courland, Liepaja (Libau), 6 pfennigs, 20 april 1945 Русский: Почтовая марка для нацистских войск, окружённых в Курляндии, Лиепая (Либава), 6 пфеннигов, 20 апреля 1945
context_page_description: Army Group Courland was a German Army Group on the Eastern Front which was created from remnants of the Army Group North, isolated in the Courland Peninsula by the advancing Soviet Army forces during the 1944 Baltic Offensive of the Second World War. The army group remained isolated in the Courland Pocket until the end of World War II in Europe. All units of the Army Group were ordered to surrender by the capitulated Wehrmacht command on 8 May 1945.
  At the time agreed for all German armed forces to end hostilities, the Sixteenth and Eighteenth armies of Army Group Courland, commanded by General Carl Hilpert, ended hostilities at 23:00, on 8 May 1945, surrendering to Leonid Govorov, commander of the Leningrad Front. By the evening of 9 May 1945 189,000 German troops, including 42 officers in the rank of general, in the Courland Pocket had surrendered.
context_section_description: The aggregation of troops that became named Army Group Courland was created when the Red Army reached the Baltic Sea near the Memel river on Tuesday, 10 October 1944.
  As a result, what was then known as Army Group North was cut off in one section of Latvia from the rest of the German Army, and was to stay cut off for the remainder of the war. Approximately 200,000 German troops in 26 divisions were in what was to become known as the Courland Pocket, pushed against the Baltic Sea in the West, the Irbe Strait in the North and the Gulf of Riga in the East. It covers northwestern Latvia. Army Group Courland remained in existence until the end of the war in Europe.
  Army Group Courland was created on 25 January 1945, when German dictator Adolf Hitler renamed Army Group North, Army Group Center, and Army Group A. Hitler's name changes meant that Army Group North became Army Group Courland (Heeresgruppe Kurland), Army Group Center became Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord) and Army Group A became Army Group Center (Heeresgruppe Mitte).
caption: Stamp used in Courland pocket (1945)
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