This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva (1944).
The Narva offensive (15–28 February 1944) was a campaign fought between the German army detachment "Narwa" and the Soviet Leningrad Front for the strategically important Narva Isthmus. At the time of the operation, Stalin was personally interested in taking Estonia, viewing it as a precondition for forcing Finland out of the war. The 2nd Shock Army expanded the bridgehead in the Krivasoo swamp south of Narva, temporally cutting the railway behind the Sponheimer Group. Army General Leonid Govorov was unable to take advantage of the opportunity of encircling the smaller German army group which called in reinforcements. These came mostly from the newly mobilised Estonians who were motivated to resist the looming Soviet re-occupation. The Soviet 30th Guards Rifle Corps and the 124th Rifle Corps, which resumed the Soviet operation, were exhausted by the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps in ferocious battles. The offensive was halted on 20 February. Symbolically coinciding with the Estonian Independence Day on 24 February, the fresh 45th and 46th SS Waffen Grenadier Regiments (1st and 2nd Estonian), destroyed the Soviet Riigiküla bridgehead north of Narva.
1944Feb, 15
World War II: The Narva Offensive begins.
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Events on 1944
- 10Apr
Auschwitz concentration camp
Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from Birkenau death camp. - 13Apr
Soviet Union
Diplomatic relations between New Zealand and the Soviet Union are established. - 26Jun
RAF
World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths. - 26Aug
Charles de Gaulle
World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris. - 31Dec
Nazi Germany
World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.