Between Giants (55 page)

In damp conditions, occasionally broken by a night of frost, both sides continued low-level combat while preparing for the next major battle. These preparations took a variety of forms – raids, nuisance bombardments and, in the case of the Soviet forces, repeated air attacks against German shipping using the ports of Liepāja and Ventspils. In mid-November, another tactic was used in 4th Panzer Division’s sector:

During one of the nights, the enemy slipped two German soldiers, who had been prisoners for a while, into the front line. They brought with them letters from the notorious
Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland
[‘National Committee for a Free Germany’] to the commanders of the Army Group and the [18th] Army. Bearing the signatures of senior German officers, it called for immediate capitulation and promised excellent treatment and an immediate return home at the end of the war. For the soldiers of the division, the proposal was incomprehensible. What pressure could have compelled the signatures of the officers who had – really? – signed this? But even then! Or were the reports or rumours of betrayal by senior officers true, however unbelievable?
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As soon as German prisoners started to fall into Soviet hands in 1941, the Soviet authorities tried to create a pro-communist movement that could be used to undermine Hitler’s control over the Wehrmacht, and might one day provide a nucleus for a pro-Soviet administration, both military and civilian. At first, there was little success, as even those who were taken prisoner by the Soviet Union remained convinced of ultimate German victory, and it was not until the disaster that befell the German 6th Army at Stalingrad that the mood changed. A large number of senior officers were captured at the end of the battle, many of them deeply embittered at what they perceived as Hitler’s abandonment of their troops, and German communists who had fled to the Soviet Union to escape arrest in Germany began to promote the concept of patriotic German officers opposed to Hitler in much the same way that a previous generation of Prussian officers had refused to cooperate with Napoleon. At first, many senior German officers, from the ultra-conservative Prussian tradition, refused to be part of any organisation that included communists, and shunned the
Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland
or NKFD. To improve recruitment, a parallel organisation, the
Bund Deutscher Offiziere
(‘League of German Officers’ or BDO) was therefore created, with General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach as its first leader. Other senior officers, including Seydlitz’s former commander from Stalingrad, Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, soon joined the BDO, which ultimately merged with the NKFD.

Propaganda material produced by the NKFD was often dropped on German positions, particularly when troops were isolated or cut off. Whilst some soldiers may have believed the promises of good treatment and a swift homeward journey at the end of the war, most men serving on the Eastern Front can have had few illusions about what awaited them if they were to surrender; neither side had shown any inclination to treat prisoners well during the bitter conflict, and there was nothing to suggest that Soviet attitudes would change as victory over Germany drew nearer. Some of the numerous groups of soldiers sent back to German lines bearing messages from the NKFD were arrested by the Germans, and on occasion executed; other groups simply rejoined their comrades and resumed the fight against the Red Army. The fate of the two soldiers who returned to 4th Panzer Division in November 1944 is not recorded.

As the intention of the Germans to continue to hold Courland became clear, it seems that the mood of Germany’s Latvian allies improved. The desertions of October came to an end, and many Latvians who had either fled to Courland as refugees, or were part of the local population, now volunteered for service. Included in their number were several who had previously deserted; in the main, they were allowed to rejoin their units without too many questions being asked. All along the front, Germans and Latvians laboured to improve their defences, creating a deep system of interlocking positions. The last line of defence, about three miles from the front line, was formed by fortified artillery positions, where the gunners deployed their weapons and prepared detailed fire plans. During the previous Soviet attack, a new artillery tactic had been used by the Red Army, with diagonal ‘free lanes’ left in the artillery barrage, allowing Soviet units to approach the German positions during the initial bombardment. To prevent any recurrence, German artillery planning now attempted to identify the probable locations of such ‘free lanes’, so that they could be subjected to a detailed counter-bombardment.

Bagramian’s first failed attempt to break into the Courland Bridgehead was an operation intended to precipitate the collapse of the German defences; the second attempt, which began on 19 November, was explicitly intended to ensure that the divisions of Army Group North remained tied to their defensive positions, and could not be moved elsewhere. The Germans, too, wished to bind their Soviet opponents to this battlefield:

An order of the day from the commander of the army group on the obligations of the soldiers in Courland was particularly effective: their mission in their remote positions was to bring relief to their hard-pressed comrades in East Prussia, to tie down the enemy with the utmost exertions and thus to help them overcome the Bolshevik assault against the Fatherland.
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On the eve of the second battle of Courland, the German High Command advised that a major Soviet attack was imminent, and would most likely be directed against X Corps, specifically 30th and 263rd Infantry Divisions. 4th Panzer Division was therefore ordered to prepare a powerful battlegroup behind the left flank of X Corps in preparation of the attack. On 19 November, the day dawned with frost, but temperatures rose rapidly during the day, reducing the roads and landscape to a swampy morass. In mid-morning, heavy artillery fire began to fall on the German lines, across a broad front. In addition to the positions of X Corps, shells also fell on the divisions of II Corps, further east. As the Soviet artillery attack lifted, the ground troops moved forward, across ground that was increasingly difficult to traverse. 103rd Rifle Division laboured through woodland in the sector held by the German 30th Infantry Division, to the east of Krote, and by dusk, 4th Panzer Division was ordered to dispatch a battlegroup to the area, consisting of one of its panzergrenadier regiments and a battalion of artillery. Overnight, the weather deteriorated further with more rain, greatly delaying the arrival of 4th Panzer Division’s battlegroup in 30th Infantry Division’s sector. Finally, in mid-morning, a counter-attack began, hindered as much by the terrain as by Soviet resistance. By the end of the day, most of the previous day’s Soviet gains had been reversed.

Betzel and his commanders grew increasingly unhappy about the state of 4th Panzer Division. Elements of the division had already been detached and assigned to other formations, or were being held as corps- or army-level reserves, and Betzel protested that he had been left with too small a remnant to be able to intervene meaningfully on the battlefield. He need not have worried. The roads remained little more than rivers of mud, and although seven Soviet rifle divisions from 54th and 11th Guards Rifle Corps managed to push into the lines of II Corps, somewhat to the east of the original Soviet assault of 19 November, these new attacks gained little ground. Counter-attacks rapidly restored the front, with 4th Panzer Division being inserted into the front line between 32nd Infantry Division and 31st Volksgrenadier Division. Tanks became bogged down in deep mud, often requiring the combined power of three tractor vehicles to pull them free. 14th Panzer Division was also committed to the battle, shoring up the western flank of II Corps, though as was the case with 4th Panzer Division, the division commander, Oskar Munzel, complained bitterly that too much of his division was subordinated to other formations, leaving him with inadequate forces for the division to function effectively. Nevertheless, 14th Panzer Division succeeded in holding a three-mile sector of the front, repeatedly beating back attacks by the Soviet 311th Rifle Division.

Fighting gradually died down on 26 November; although Bagramian’s divisions had made very little headway, they had succeeded in moving the front line forward just far enough to allow them to bring the vital railway line running east from Liepāja under artillery fire. Losses had been severe on both sides. The German 32nd Infantry Division reported that its 4th and 94th Grenadier Regiments could only muster 225 combatants between them.
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Even if a Soviet breakthrough had been prevented, the cost was high.

Martin Unrein, who had commanded 14th Panzer Division until he was forced to return to Germany due to illness, resumed command of his division in the last days of the battle. In the lull that followed, together with 4th Panzer Division’s Clemens Betzel, he made the opinions of the panzer officers about the fragmentation of their divisions very clear to the commander of 18th Army, Ehrenfried Boege. There was clearly a conflict between the need to respond rapidly to Soviet attacks at different points of the front line, especially as the German infantry divisions were, by the standards of their enemies, relatively weak in anti-tank firepower, and the desire of the panzer commanders to retain sufficient striking power to be able to mount decisive counter-attacks. Given the terrain, which made any such attack en masse almost impossible, and the increasing frailty of unsupported German infantry in the face of combined attacks by Soviet tanks and infantry, the dispersal of German armoured forces was probably inevitable, though the unhappiness of the panzer commanders with this arrangement is understandable.

Throughout December, both sides attempted to reorganise their positions and rest their major units. Bagramian maintained pressure on the Germans by ordering constant air operations whenever the weather permitted. One of the heroes of the Soviet air effort was Nelson Gevorgi Stepanyan, an Armenian fighter-bomber pilot, whose 47th Fighter Division was in the forefront of the air effort. As was the case with leading personalities of all sides, his fame was enhanced by official propaganda efforts, and he was known as the ‘Storm Petrel of the Baltic’ by Soviet troops in the area. He had already been awarded the title ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ when he flew his final mission on 14 December. His Il2 aircraft was hit by ground fire and badly damaged, and crashed into a ship in Liepāja harbour; the official Soviet report stated that he selflessly steered his plane into its target, but it is possible that the crippled plane merely continued along its attack path, and was unable to pull up due to damage. He was once more awarded the title of ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ after his death. Unlike other air forces, the Soviet Air Force allowed women to fly combat missions, and another prominent figure in the air campaign over the Baltic was Lidia Shulaikina, who flew some 36 missions, mainly attacks against shipping. She was credited with sinking three transport ships, a patrol boat and a barge.

On 20 December, Betzel left for Germany, intending to combine a visit to Berlin for discussions with higher commands with some well-earned leave at home. Unlike on previous occasions, it seems that the Germans had not detected Soviet preparations for renewed fighting, at least not on any significant scale. On 21 December, heavy artillery fire fell on the lines of the German I Corps. By mid-morning, reports reached I Corps and 18th Army of pressure particularly on 218th, 132nd and 225th Infantry Divisions, around the villages of Laci, Stedini, Cubas and Zanenieki. The attacking forces were from 4th Shock Army, which deployed 15 rifle divisions in the assault, with substantial armoured support. At the same time, VI SS Corps came under heavy attack, where a shortage of reserves allowed the Soviet forces to penetrate right into the depths of the defenders’ positions. In I Corps’ sector, an immediate counter-attack at Laci eased the situation, and 4th Panzer Division was ordered to restore the front line at Stedini. For the moment, VI SS Corps would have to fend for itself.

In the absence of Clemens Betzel, 4th Panzer Division was under the command of Oberst Hans Christern, the commander of the division’s 35th Panzer Regiment. He had served with armoured units throughout the war, including a time organising the training of tank crews when the Tiger tank was introduced in 1942. An ebullient, energetic leader, he was popular amongst his men, and constantly led from the front in the traditional style of all good panzer commanders. When he reached the headquarters of I Corps at 1150hrs, he was ordered to move an armoured battlegroup to a preparation area near Labdomas. Christern raised doubts about this plan:

Oberst Christern objected that based on reconnaissance the previous day, the approach to the armoured battlegroup’s preparation area would be most difficult and time-consuming. The terrain was mainly low-lying swamp with sandy ridges. The roads were partly dykes. He suggested that the entire division except for 33rd Panzergrenadier Regiment’s commander’s battlegroup [which had already been detached from the division] should assemble in the reconnoitred area north of Zanenieki, from where deployment in any direction had been reconnoitred. This was turned down.
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