Guided excursion in Priekule “Along the Footsteps of World War II in the "Courland Pocket””
Battle site
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The guided tours feature the battlefields of World War II in the vicinity of the town of Priekule. The duration of the tour can be adjusted to suit the interests of the group: from 10 kilometres in three hours to 40 kilometres in six hours. All year round, the tours are available in Latvian, Russian and English. Tours must be booked in advance. The tours are suitable for travellers from 13 years of age. The most suitable mode of transportation is a car or bus with up to 30 seats. Key stops: Gramzda parish where the Soviet Army initiated its attack on the German Army in Priekule in the autumn of 1944. Priekule Brothers’ Cemetery: the largest Brothers’ Cemetery in the Baltics with more than 23,000 Red Army soldiers resting here. Priekule: a site of strategic importance in the south of the ‘Courland Pocket’ where a particularly heavy and difficult battle was fought. Krote parish where in the February of 1945 the attack of the Soviet Army on the German forces besieged in the ‘Courland Pocket’ stopped on the banks of the Vārtāja river.
Used sources and references:
http://www.dienvidkurzeme.travel/visainfo/item/vesturei-pa-pedam/dazadi/pa-2-pasaules-kara-pedam-priekule-un-tas-apkartne-19441945g/
Related timeline
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The story of 19-year-old Rice Ahmedeyev about the reconnaissance battle on February 14, 1945 near Priekule
Bashkir-born Red Army soldier Rais Ahmadeev's (19 years old) account of the Soviet army's preparations for the attack on Priekule and the reconnaissance battle in Piekule on 14 February 1945.
The story of 19-year-old Alfons Volgemuts about the intelligence battle on February 17, 1945 near Priekule
Alfons Volgemuth was a 19-year-old boy, a radio operator and served in the army of Nazi Germany.
"No one has come back from this operation and it is not known if there are any survivors. I myself took part in that war as a 19-year-old radio operator and I am one of the 2, later 3 survivors who were taken prisoner by the Russians. I want to reflect the events from my own experience."
"Digging is better than burrial!"
The order of the Army Group “Kurland” is: "Build and build!" It is a task for every soldier of the front of the rear services. Which is best marked by the word: "Digging is better than burrial!"
"The war is not over until the last soldier is buried" (Saldus German Soldiers' Cemetery)
Kurzeme emerged as a separate and distinct battlefield on 10 October 1944. Some 500 000 German troops were counted as surrounded. According to reports from the 1st Baltic Front Headquarters, only a "small effort" was needed to completely liberate the entire Baltic coast. However, the fighting in Kurland continued for another seven months and Kurland became a symbol of the end of the Second World War.
During the seven months of fighting until May 1945, German forces in Courland lost 154 108 soldiers killed, wounded and missing. Since 1997, a war cemetery survey and reburial of soldiers near Saldus has been carried out and currently 27,000 names of fallen soldiers can be found here
"The war is not over until the last soldier is buried" (Saldus German Soldiers' Cemetery)
Kurzeme emerged as a separate and distinct battlefield on 10 October 1944. Some 500 000 German troops were counted as surrounded. According to reports from the 1st Baltic Front Headquarters, only a "small effort" was needed to completely liberate the entire Baltic coast. However, the fighting in Kurland continued for another seven months and Kurland became a symbol of the end of the Second World War.
During the seven months of fighting until May 1945, German forces in Courland lost 154 108 soldiers killed, wounded and missing. Since 1997, a war cemetery survey and reburial of soldiers near Saldus has been carried out and currently 27,000 names of fallen soldiers can be found here
"The war is not over until the last soldier is buried" (Priekule Brethren Cemetery)
Kurzeme was established as a separate and isolated battlefield on October 10, 1944. About 500,000 soldiers of the German armed forces were counted as surrounded. According to the reports of the headquarters of the 1st Baltic Front, only a "slight effort" was needed to completely liberate the entire Baltic coast. However, the fighting in Kurzeme continued for another seven months and Kurzeme became a symbol of the end of World War II.
During the seven months of fighting until May 1945, the German armed forces lost 154,108 dead, wounded and missing soldiers in Kurzeme, while the Red Army lost around 400,000 dead, wounded or missing Red Army soldiers.
Jūlij Bērziņš's testimony about the 201st (43rd Guards) Latvian Rifle Division of the Red Army in 1942-1945
In the fall of 2011, I received the memories of Jūlij Bērziņš (1900–after 1963), a Latvian living in Russia, a former soldier of the 201st (43rd Guards) Latvian Rifle Division of the Red Army (hereinafter - 201st Latvian Rifle Division; Division) - in two notebooks with a 189-page handwritten Russian story of a Latvian soldier about his experiences in the German-USSR war (1941-1945). These memories were also not commissioned work.