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47-628: Thiele on-board of Prinz Eugen led the task force on 19 August 1944 in support of the German forces in Courland . Prinz Eugen steamed into the Gulf of Riga and bombarded Tukums from a distance of 25,000 metres (27,000 yd). Prinz Eugen ship fired a total of 265 rounds from its 20.3 cm (8.0 in) SK L/60 guns. In parallel, the destroyers Z25 , Z28 , Z35 and Z36 and the torpedo boats T23 and T28 attacked further targets. The Soviet advance in

94-619: A domestic industry. Iron and limestone were the chief minerals; a little amber was found on the coast. The only seaports were Liepāja, Ventspils and Palanga , there being none on the Courland coast of the Gulf of Riga. In 1870 the population was 619,154; in 1897 it was 674,437 (of whom 345,756 were women); in 1906 it was estimated at 714,200. Of the whole, 79% were Latvians , 8.4% Baltic Germans , about 8% Jews , 1.4% Russians , 1% Lithuanians , 1% Poles , and some Livonians . The chief towns of

141-462: A legendary king of Denmark and Sweden, fought against the invading Curonians and Kvens (Kvænir) in the southern part of what today is Sweden: Sigurd Ring (Sigurðr) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden (Svíþjóð), since Curonians (Kúrir) and Kvænir were raiding there. Curonians are mentioned among other participants of the Battle of Brávellir . Grobin (Grobiņa) was the main centre of

188-505: A low position in the social scale. Agriculture was the chief occupation, with the principal crops being rye , barley , oats , wheat , flax , and potatoes . The large estates conducted agriculture with skill and scientific knowledge. Fruit grew well. Excellent breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs were kept. Liepāja and Jelgava operated as the principal industrial centres, with ironworks , agricultural machinery works, tanneries , glass and soap works. Flax spinning took place mostly as

235-645: A new ethnic group, the so-called Curonised Livonians. The Curonians tightly resisted to the Livonian Crusade for a long time, contrary to the Latgallians who accepted Christianity with a light opposition. There are many sources that mention the Curonians in the 13th century when they were involved in the Northern Crusades . In 1210, the Curonians, with eight ships, were attacked by a German crusader fleet on

282-538: A peace treaty with the Germans, and the lands they inhabited thus became known as Vredecuronia or Peace Courland . The southern Curonians, however, continued to resist the invaders. The Curonians did not lay down their arms at that time. They used the famine as a pretext for claiming economical weakness and actually did not permit the monks to enter the country. Later, the Teutonic Order tried to use Curonian cavalry in

329-578: A population of 292,659 making it the least populous of the provinces. ( occupation ) 1940-1941 The Soviet Army occupied Latvia in conformity with the terms of 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 17 June 1940. On 5 August 1940, the Soviet Union annexed the region along with the rest of Latvia which was made a constituent republic of the USSR , the Latvian SSR . At the start of Operation Barbarossa in

376-459: A separate segment of an army. A heavily armed soldier could have a sword, a helmet, a shield and a wide blade axe. Heavily armed troops would make a cavalry platoon. It is still not known what type of ships Curonians used: there are only guesses that it was similar to drakar . During the late Iron Age , the Curonians started to move from southern Courland to the north, assimilating a Finnic people who lived in northern Courland. They then formed

423-543: Is Liepāja , which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were formerly held by the same duke . The literal meaning of the name is "Land of Curonians ". Situated in western Latvia , Courland roughly corresponds to the former Latvian districts of Kuldīga , Liepāja , Saldus , Talsi , Tukums and Ventspils . When combined with Semigallia and Selonia, Courland's northeastern boundary

470-658: Is fertile and densely inhabited, except in the north, and the eastern side, less fertile and thinly inhabited. Nearly one hundred rivers drain Courland, but only three of these rivers – the Daugava, the Lielupe and the Venta – are navigable. They all flow northwestward and discharge into the Baltic Sea . Owing to its numerous lakes and marshes, Courland has a damp, often foggy, and changeable climate; its winters are severe. In ancient times

517-417: Is made up of lakes. The landscape generally has a low and undulating character, with flat and marshy coastlands. The interior features wooded dunes, covered with pine , spruce , birch , and oak , with swamps and lakes, and fertile patches between. Courland's elevation never rises more than 213 metres (699 ft) above sea level. The Jelgava plain divides Courland into two parts, the western side, which

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564-632: Is the Daugava River, which separates it from the regions of Latgale and Vidzeme . To the north, Courland's coast lies along the Gulf of Riga . On the west it is bordered by the Baltic Sea , and on the south by Lithuania . It lies between 55° 45′ and 57° 45′ North and 21° and 27° East. The name is also found in the Curonian Spit and Lithuanian Karšuvos giria - the Courland wood. The area comprises 27,286 square kilometres (10,535 sq mi), of which 262 square kilometres (101 sq mi)

611-775: The Baltic Sea , they remained trapped in what became known as the Courland Pocket , blockaded by the Red Army and by the Red Baltic Fleet. Colonel-General Heinz Guderian , the Chief of the German General Staff , pleaded with Adolf Hitler to allow evacuation of the troops in Courland by sea for use in the defense of Germany. Hitler refused and ordered the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine forces in Courland to continue

658-428: The Courland (Kurzeme) Planning Region , with an area of 13,596 square kilometres (5,249 sq mi) and a population of 301,621 in 2008, includes much of the traditional region. The remainder of Courland is part of the planning regions of Riga and Semigallia (Zemgale) . Curonians The Curonians or Kurs ( Latvian : kurši ; Lithuanian : kuršiai ) were a medieval Baltic tribe living on

705-549: The Curonians , a pagan tribe, inhabited Courland. The Brethren of the Sword , a German Catholic military order , subdued the Curonians and converted them to Christianity in the first quarter of the 13th century. Thus in 1230, the Curonian king Lammekinus  [ lt ] (Latvian: Lamekins) made peace directly with the papal legate . He accepted baptism , and became a vassal of

752-622: The Livonian crusade , Curonians formed an alliance with the Semigallians , resulting in a joint attack against Riga in 1228. In the same time, according to the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle , Curonians and Samogitians were known as "bad neighbours". In the middle of the 13th century, the Curonian army included lightly armed soldiers who fought with spears, shields, fighting knives and axes, formed into an infantry platoon. Archers constituted

799-534: The Prussian Crusade , but Curonians were reluctant in this forced cooperation and revolted as a result in several cases. In 1260, the Curonians were involved in the Battle of Durbe , one of the biggest battles in Livonia in the 13th century. They were forced to fight on the crusader side. When the battle started, the Curonians abandoned the knights because the knights did not agree to free any Curonians captured from

846-455: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of 3 March 1918, the new Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic formally relinquished control of Courland to Germany. The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was proclaimed on 8 March 1918 by a Baltic German Landesrat , who offered the crown of the duchy to German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm recognised the duchy as a German vassal that same month. However, the duchy

893-701: The Tsardom of Russia during the Livonian War . The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a semi-independent duchy that existed from 1561 until 1795, encompassing the areas of Courland and Semigallia. Although nominally a vassal state of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , the dukes operated autonomously. In the 18th century, Russia acquired great influence over the Duchy; the future Empress Anna of Russia served as regent there from 1711 until her accession to

940-616: The Baltic Sea, near the coast of Gotland . The Curonians were victorious and German sources claim that 30 crusaders were killed. Also in July 1210, the Curonians attacked Riga , the main crusader stronghold in Livonia . A huge Curonian fleet arrived in the mouth of the Daugava and besieged the city. However, after a day of fighting, the Curonians were unable to break through the city walls. They crossed to

987-569: The Baltic continued. The last German convoy left Reval on 23 September. On 29 September Soviet forces landed on Moon , on 2 October on Dagö , and on 5 October on Ösel , where the German troops were cut off on the Sworbe peninsula. Memel was about to fall to the Soviets. Thiele's task force, which included Prinz Eugen , Lützow , four destroyers and four torpedo boats, left Gotenhafen on 10 October to support

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1034-598: The Curonians are Rimbert's Vita Ansgarii , the Livonian Chronicle of Henry , the Livländische Reimchronik , Egils Saga , and Saxo Grammaticus 's Gesta Danorum . In c.  1075 Adam of Bremen described the Curonians in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum ( Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church ) as world-famous pagan diviners: ... gold is very plentiful there, the horses are of

1081-622: The Curonians during the Vendel Age . Chapter 46 of Egils Saga describes one Viking expedition by the Vikings Thorolf and Egill Skallagrímsson in Courland. Curonians established temporary settlements near Riga and in overseas regions including eastern Sweden and the islands of Gotland and Bornholm . Rimbert in his Vita Ansgari described early conflicts between the Curonians and vikings . In 854, Curonians rebelled and refused to pay tribute to Sweden. The rebellious Apuolė fortress

1128-547: The Curonians has been disputed in the past. Some researchers place the Curonians in the eastern Baltic group. Others hold that the Curonians were related to Old Prussians who belonged in the western Baltic group. The historical Curonians were described in contemporary sources as warriors, sailors and pirates. They are on the record having been involved in several wars and alliances with Swedish, Danish and Icelandic Vikings . In c.  750 , according to Norna-Gests þáttr saga from c.  1157 , Sigurd Ring ,

1175-411: The Curonians paid a silver ransom for each man in the fortress, pledged their loyalty to Sweden, and gave 30 hostages to guarantee future payments. The Curonians had a strong warrior culture and are considered to be eastern Baltic by some researchers, while others believe they were related to Old Prussians who belonged in the western Baltic group. Some of the most important written sources about

1222-525: The Latvian SSR within the Soviet Union following World War II. Courland was no longer an administrative unit under the Soviets. Liepājas apgabals (1952-1953), one of three oblasts in Latvia, roughly corresponded to Courland. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union , Courland became part of independent Latvia once more and it remains so to this day. Although Courland is not an administrative entity today,

1269-503: The Latvian side during the Livonian War , the descendants of the Curonian nobility , although downgraded to peasant status, fought the Russians, as Johann Renner's chronicle reports: The Russians protected themselves boldly, and they knocked out a Curonian peasant Fenrich (who, although only a peasant, is called by them the Curonian king) from his horse. The Curonian language became extinct by

1316-627: The Russian throne in 1730. After the last of the ducal line into which she had married died in 1737, she arranged for the Duchy to be given to her lover, Ernst Johann von Biron instead. The Duchy was one of the smallest European nations to colonize overseas territories, establishing short-lived outposts on the Caribbean islands of Tobago and Trinidad and at the mouth of the Gambia River in Africa on what

1363-697: The Samogitian camp. Peter von Dusburg alleged that the Curonians even attacked the Knights from the rear. The Estonians and other local people soon followed the Curonians and abandoned the Knights and that allowed the Samogitians to gain victory over the Livonian Order . It was a heavy defeat for the Order and uprisings against the crusaders soon afterwards broke out in the Curonian and Prussian lands. Curonian resistance

1410-682: The aid of German forces pushed back and took back Courland by April. Throughout the Latvian War of Independence , much of Courland remained a German stronghold. Latvia eventually signed a cease-fire with Germany on 15 July 1920, and the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty of 11 August ended the war. After World War I, Courland became one of five provinces of the newly formed nation of Latvia . These provinces corresponded to Latvia's four traditional regions plus Riga. In 1935, Courland had an area of 13,210 square kilometres (5,099 sq mi) and

1457-441: The best. All the houses are full of pagan soothsayers, diviners, and necromancers, who are even arrayed in a monastic habit. Oracular responses are sought there from all parts of the world, especially by Spaniards and Greeks. It was common for the Curonians to carry out joint raids and campaigns together with Estonians ( Oeselians ). According to some opinions, they took part in attacking Sweden's main city Sigtuna in 1187. During

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1504-459: The commander of the Leningrad Front (reinforced by elements of the 2nd Baltic Front ) on the Courland perimeter. At this time the group consisted of the remnants of some 31 divisions. After May 9, 1945, approximately 203,000 troops of Army Group Courland began to be moved to Soviet prison camps to the east. The majority of them never returned to Germany (Haupt, 1997). Courland remained part of

1551-637: The control of the Imperial German Army 's Ober Ost commander in the person of Paul von Hindenburg , a Prussian military hero. (The Russian authorities of the Courland Governorate were exiled to Tartu , never to return.) With large territories coming under the Ober Ost's administration as a result of military successes on the Eastern Front, General Erich Ludendorff was charged with managing

1598-546: The defense of the area. Germany’s naval capacity to evacuate these forces was restricted as it needed the majority of its transport ships to evacuate troops from East Prussia and maintain vital trade with Sweden. On January 15, 1945, Army Group Courland ( Heeresgruppe Kurland ) formed under Colonel-General Dr. Lothar Rendulic . The blockade by elements of the Leningrad Front remained until May 8, 1945, when Army Group Courland, then under its last commander, Colonel-General Carl Hilpert , surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov ,

1645-522: The defensive land battles . In the timeframe 10–12 and 14–15 October Prinz Eugen bombarded 28 different targets and expended 1,196 20.3 cm rounds. Major warships assigned to Task Force Thiele included: Vizeadmiral August Thiele, 28 July 1944 – 27 April 1945 Vizeadmiral Bernhard Rogge , 10–22 March 1945 (in deputize) Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia . Courland's largest city

1692-454: The large area now under its jurisdiction. Courland District (which included parts of Semigallia) was made one of three districts of the region, which also came to be known as Ober Ost . As Russian rule in the rest of what is now Latvia began collapsing at the end of World War I, Baltic Germans began a process of forming provincial councils between September 1917 and March 1918, competing with ethnic Latvians ' moves toward independence. With

1739-531: The other bank of the Daugava to burn their dead and mourn for three days. Later they lifted the siege and returned to Courland. In 1228, the Curonians together with the Semigallians again attacked Riga. Although they were again unsuccessful in storming the city, they destroyed a monastery in Daugavgriva and killed all the monks there. In 1230, the Curonians in the northern part of Courland, under their ruler ( rex ) Lammekinus  [ lv ; lt ] , signed

1786-528: The pope. In 1237 the area passed into the rule of the Teutonic Order owing to the amalgamation of this order with that of the Brethren of the Sword. The Livonian Confederation was a loosely organized confederation formed by the German-led Livonian Order and various bishoprics that encompassed much of present-day Estonia and Latvia. It existed from 1228 to the 1560s, when it was dismembered by

1833-567: The prevailing denomination, Lutheranism ; the rest belonged to the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. There was a small but vigorous Jewish population. During World War I , Courland formed part of the Eastern Front theatre of operations that saw fighting primarily between forces of the Russian and German Empires . Following Russia's Great Retreat of 1915, Courland came under

1880-482: The shores of the Baltic Sea in the 5th–16th centuries, in what are now western parts of Latvia and Lithuania . They eventually merged with other Baltic tribes contributing to the ethnogenesis of present-day Latvians and Lithuanians . Curonians gave their name to the region of Courland ( Kurzeme ), Kuršėnai town, Curonian spit and many other localities. They spoke the Curonian language . The ethnic origin of

1927-657: The summer of 1941, the German Wehrmacht's Army Group North headed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb overran Courland, along with the rest of the Baltic littoral. During the German occupation Courland was administered as Liepāja County area ( Kreisgebiet Libau ). In 1944 the Red Army lifted the siege of Leningrad and re-conquered the Baltic countries along with much of Ukraine and Belarus . However, some 200,000 German troops held out in Courland. With their backs to

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1974-413: The ten districts were Jelgava (Mitau), Courland's capital (pop. 35,011 in 1897); Liepāja (Libau) (pop. 64,500 in 1897); Bauska (6,543); Jaunjelgava (Friedrichstadt) (5,223); Kuldīga (Goldingen) (9,733); Grobiņa (1,489); Aizpute (Hasenpoth) (3,338); Ilūkste (Illuxt) (2,340); Talsi (Talsen) (6,215); Tukums (Tuckum) (7542); and Ventspils (Windau) (7,132). 75% of the population belonged to

2021-461: The time of the Northern Crusades in the early 13th century, most land was owned by nobles descended from the German invaders. In 1863, the Russian authorities issued laws to enable Latvians, who formed the bulk of the population, to acquire the farms which they held, and special banks were founded to help them. By this means, some occupants bought their farms, but the great mass of the population remained landless, and lived as hired labourers, occupying

2068-523: Was absorbed on 22 September 1918 by the United Baltic Duchy . On 18 November 1918, Latvia proclaimed its independence and on 7 December 1918, the German military handed over authority to the pro-German Latvian Provisional Government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis . By January 1919, much of Courland had been overrun by the Bolsheviks' Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic , but the provisional government with

2115-668: Was finally subdued in 1266 when the whole of Courland was partitioned between the Livonian Order and the Archbishop of Riga . Southern Curonians from Megowa, Pilsaten and Ceclis lands gradually assimilated and ceased to be known as a distinct ethnos by the 16th century. An intense period of Samogitian-Curonian bilingualism is posited because a Curonian linguistic substratum is evident in the Northern Samogitian dialect , an important part of Samogitian ethnic self-identification. On

2162-475: Was first attacked by the Danes, who were hoping to make the town pay tribute to Denmark. The locals were victorious and gained much war loot. After learning of Danish failure, King Olof of Sweden organized a large expedition into Curonian lands. Olof first attacked, captured, and burned Grobiņa before besieging Apuolė. According to Rimbert, 15,000 locals defended themselves for eight days but then agreed to surrender:

2209-648: Was then known as James Island . In 1795, the last Duke, Peter von Biron , ceded the Duchy to the Russian Empire . The former Bishopric of Courland was directly incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as the District of Pilten of the Wenden and later Inflanty Voivodeship . After annexation by the Russian Empire , the territory of the former Duchy formed the Courland Governorate . From

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