By noon on April 25, 1945, the Red Army had completed the encirclement of Berlin and begun preparations for a decisive assault on the capital of Nazi Germany. By that time, Soviet forces had already liberated Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, a large part of Yugoslavia, eastern Austria and northern Norway from the enemy. It is amazing that, during this time, part of the territory of the USSR itself was still under the control of the Third Reich.
About 400,000 servicemen of Army Group North found themselves cut off in western Latvia (Courland) when, on October 10, 1944, units of the Soviet 51st Army reached the Baltic coast near the town of Memel (Klaipėda). That is how the Courland Pocket, which existed until the ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany, came into being.
