The Latvian Legion and the struggle for Latvia

Still hoping to restore independence, Latvians held out in the Courland Pocket to the bitter end. — New York Times, May 9, 1945, two days after Nazi Germany surrendered. Combat continued until May 15th.

Nazi Germany mobilized some 110–150,000 Latvian men into combat service, including the Latvian Legion, aka Waffen grenadier divisions "der SS" (of the SS), to fight against the Red Army on the Eastern Front.1 By the end of the war, the Germans had illegally ordered every Latvian male born after 1905 conscripted.

Latvian forces held out to the end of the war in Courland2, the only territory on the Eastern Front not re-occupied3 by the Red Army. As circumstances became desperate for Nazi Germany, Berlin had even dangled the return of Latvian civilian authority in exchange for continued Latvian resistance against the Soviet advance. In early 1945, Latvian representatives traveled to Dresden for discussions.4 But as their train arrived at 4:30 in the morning in Freital (the last stop before Dresden), they could see Dresden in flames.56 The Latvians returned home empty-handed. The British disappointed more. The evacuation by sea which they radioed the Latvians in Courland to await never materialized. The Soviets treated captured Latvians as traitors: shot or sent to the Gulag.

Courland front line, October 1944 and at the end of the war, May 1945 (Soviet map)
October 1944 and May 1945 German records shown by solid blue and dotted red lines, respectively. Advancing the front cost the Red Army 394,000 casualties7, and 2,651 tanks, 900 artillery pieces, and 1,440 machine guns lost.8
Latvians achieved independence following World War I after holding far less territory (under de facto German control). (see below)

Courland front line, January 1945 (German map)
The Soviet map overstates territorial gains. Post-Soviet Russian scholarship generally aligns with the Latvian on casualties, indicating 160,948 killed from mid-February to May 1945 alone.9

Efraim Zuroff has maintained that the Latvians' fight against the Red Army was a fight for Nazi victory, and that the only other available — and moral — road to any possible return of sovereignty was through Soviet reoccupation—meaning more mass deportations, more murders, societal and environmental damage,...

The Latvians’ desire to fight against the Soviets and prevent a second Communist occupation was understandable, but their choice of partners was morally and practically deeply flawed. By joining the Latvian Legion, which was part of the Waffen-SS, their service was spent fighting for a victory of the most genocidal regime in human history, and even worse was totally for naught. The Nazis, in fact, had absolutely no intention of granting Latvia, or any of the Baltic countries, independence. Thus ironically, it is only because Germany was defeated in World War II, that Latvian sovereignty could ultimately be restored.10

Latvia was occupied. "Joining" the Legion was at Nazi gunpoint. Regardless, the Germans were the only possibility, not a choice, for arms against the prior invader. Within living memory Latvians had achieved independence holding no territory themselves at the end of WWII. Indeed, on November 18, 1918, the day Latvians declared independence, Latvia was under complete German occupation. The provisional Latvian government wasn't even on dry land, instead, ensconced on the Saratov in Liepāja harbor, protected by two flanking British ships. Following the Bolshevik invasion that December, Russia gained control over the vast majority of Latvia. By January 1919, German control had been reduced to a small corner on the Baltic Sea coast.

Why did Latvians believe they could regain freedom after WWII? Because under the circumstances just described, Latvians had driven both Russians and Germans from their homeland — as enshrined in Legion song.

...
I shall depart to the east ...
You'll not see me again ...
Never again, Never again.

We'll beat the flea-infested ones [Russians] ...
And after, the blue-grey ones [Germans] ...
Again and again, again and again.

May the Latvian sun never set,
Never ever, never ever
May the Latvian saber never rust
Never ever, never ever.

Efraim Zuroff's contention that a rerun of seven centuries of brutal subjugation was the only option, that the only falsely-labeled "choice" lay in either the German or Russian yoke, is ignorant, insulting, and prejudiced. Over 200,000 Latvians fought in the armies of the occupiers in WWII, but for the cause of neither. Half died.

Indicative of the challenge Latvians face in the telling of their history, some scholars have even absurdly contended Latvians chose sides and fought a "civil war" in the midst of WWII. The USSR and Nazi Germany were both invaders, both enemies. Only the Latvian Mercantile Marine served by choice in WWII, in the Allied cause.

The map below shows areas of Russian Bolshevik and German control, November, 1918 through and as of January, 1919.

To the north, the Russians proclaimed the "Commune of the Working People of Estonia", over most of Latvia, the "Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic" (December 17, 1918), to the south, the "Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic." The Republic of Latvia and Republic of Lithuania are in the bottom corner at left in blue with yellow stripes, both under de facto German control. At the very bottom left corner is Germany (Vācija) proper.11