15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian)

The 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) was a Waffen-SS infantry division of Nazi Germany that was active from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. The division was formed in February 1943, and it was one of the components of the Latvian Legion. In 1943, Latvian citizens born between 1919 and 1924 were subjected to compulsory recruitment, leading to the formation of the 15th Waffen SS. The division lost much of its manpower fighting in the Ostrov, Novosokolniki, and Novgorod Oblast districts around Leningrad during the Siege of Leningrad in 1944, and it fought on the Pomeranian Wall defenses before retreating into Germany. On 27 April 1945, 824 troops from the division surrendered to the US Army at Gutergluck near the Elbe River, while 4,500 more men surrendered to the Americans near Schwerin on 2 May 1945.