The Latvian Legion () was a formation of the Nazi German Waffen-SS during World War II. Created in 1943, it consisted primarily of ethnic Latvian personnel. The legion consisted of two divisions of the Waffen-SS: the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian), and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian). The 15th Division was administratively subordinated to the VI SS Corps, but operationally it was in reserve or at the disposal of the XXXXIII Army Corps, 16th Army, Army Group North. The 19th Division held out in the Courland Pocket until May 1945, the close of World War II, when it was among the last of Nazi Germany's forces to surrender.
Creation
The Latvian Legion was created in January 1943 on the orders of Adolf Hitler following a request by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. The initial core of the force was populated by Latvian Police Battalions, which were formed starting in 1941 earlier for security duties and already serving on the Eastern Front under Wehrmacht command. While members of Holocaust perpetrator Arajs Kommando were subsequently joined to the Legion, this was late in the war as the Kommando was demobilized from anti-partisan and anti-Jewish action, with the first former Arajs unit attached to the Legion in December, 1944.
Under the Rosenberg labor decree of December 1941, the Germans had already begun conscripting Latvians in early 1942, giving them a choice of joining the labor service or police battalions. One month after the unit was founded, German occupation authorities in Latvia started conscripting military age men specifically for the Legion. Draftees were given a choice between serving in the Wehrmacht-subordinated Waffen-SS Legion, serving as German Wehrmacht auxiliaries, or being sent to a slave labor camp in Germany. Those who tried to avoid one of those options were arrested and sent to concentration camps. As a result, only 15-20% of the men serving in the legion were actual volunteers. Unlike in Lithuania, potential legionary recruits in Latvia did not organize an official boycott of conscription; some Latvians deserted however rather than serving the Nazi war effort.
With Nazi Germany losing the war, conscription was extended to larger and larger numbers of Latvians. The first conscription, in 1943, applied to all Latvian men born from 1919 to 1924. Subsequent conscriptions eventually extended to Latvians born between 1906 and 1928. The division commanders and most of the staff were German SS officers. The individual combat regiments were typically commanded by Latvian officers.
After the Red Army broke through German lines at Nevel along the 1st Baltic Front in November 1943, advancing on Latvia, the Latvian Self-Administration took over mobilization from the Germans on November 13. By June 26 there were 7,671 ethnic Russians from Latvia's Latgale, representing ten percent of men from the region, serving in various units of the Latvian Legion. On July 1, 1944, the Latvian Legion had 87,550 men. Another 23,000 Latvians were serving as Wehrmacht "auxiliaries".
Operational history
The first Latvian Legion unit was the 2nd Latvian SS Brigade, created in February 1943. It fought its first battle in the Siege of Leningrad, opposite the Pulkovo observatory on 18 March 1943. It continued fighting around Leningrad until the German forces retreated in January 1944.
The 15th Waffen-SS Division was formed and sent to the front in November 1943. Originally, it was sent to the Ostrov and Novosokolniki districts of Pskov Oblast, but after the German Army suffered setbacks there, was moved to positions in the Belebelka district of Novgorod Oblast in January 1944. It retreated from there a month later. At the end of February 1944, both units took joint defensive positions on the Sorota and Velikaya rivers. At that time, the 2nd Brigade was renamed the 19th Waffen-SS division. Over the next two months, these positions saw intense fighting.
In April 1944, the Legion was replaced by other units and moved to less active positions in Bardovo-Kudever, 50 km east of Opochka. It came under attack there in June 1944 and started to retreat on July 10, 1944, crossing the Latvian-Russian border on July 17.