Battle for Narva Bridgehead 1944
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 2 February 1944 – 26 July 1944 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1944 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Russia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle for Narva | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 59.3833, 28.2000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Narva Bridgehead (Estonian: Narva lahingud, German: Schlacht um den Brückenkopf von Narva, Russian: Битва за плацдарм Нарва; 2 February – 26 July 1944) was the campaign that stalled the Soviet Estonian operation in the surroundings of the town of Narva for six months. It was the first phase of the Battle of Narva campaign fought at the Eastern Front during World War II, the second phase being the Battle of Tannenberg Line.
A number of volunteer Waffen SS units from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium fought on the German side. Several Western authors dealing with the foreign national units nickname the campaign as the "Battle of the European SS". The Estonian conscripts fought to defend their country against the looming Soviet reoccupation.
The Soviet Estonian offensive was a follow-on of the Leningrad–Novgorod offensive. Its aim was to reconquer Estonia, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. Although Narva was not the main direction of the Soviet offensives on the Eastern Front in 1944, the Baltic Sea seemed the quickest way to Joseph Stalin for taking the battles to the German ground and seizing control of Finland.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle for Narva Bridgehead (revision 1373375781), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Narva offensive (1–4 March 1944) 1944 · 0 km
- Battle of Narva (1944) 1944 · 0 km
- Narva offensive (18–24 March 1944) 1944 · 0 km
- Narva offensive (15–28 February 1944) 1944 · 0 km
- Siege of Narva (1581) 1581 · 0 km
- Siege of Narva (1704) 1704 · 0 km
Other battles of the Battle for Narva
- Battle of Auvere 1944
- Battle of Tannenberg Line 1944
- Narva offensive (15–28 February 1944) 1944
- Narva offensive (1–4 March 1944) 1944
All 5 battles of the Battle for Narva →
Browse more: battles in Russia · Europe · World War II era battles