Ashtray with panther head from German fortification lines

The last fortification lines of the army group "Kurzeme", which were held by the German troops until their surrender on 8 May 1945, are located on the banks of the Vārtāja River in the vicinity of Krotė.

The front line reached the banks of the Vārtāja in February 1945, although cages had been prepared on the important road from Priekule to the Ilmāja railway station before that. During the last phase of the fighting, units of the 87th Infantry Division of the 2nd Army Corps of the German 18th Army took up defensive positions at this location. In order to protect the road to the Liepāja - Saldus railway line, the 18th Army Reserve 14th Panzer Division was deployed in the vicinity of Berzkrog, with the 1st Battalion of the 36th Panzer Regiment armed with 28 Pzkpfw. V (Panther) tanks. At the end of the war, it was the only unit in the whole of Courland to be equipped with this type of fighting vehicle.

Today, Krotė houses the private collection of Maris Ūtēna and offers the opportunity to see German trenches and bunker sites in the forests along the Vārtāja River. There are camping, a fireplace, a small cottage and carp fishing.

Explosive objects are still present in the forests of Kurzeme! 

The Ezere Customs House is located in Ezere near the Saldus-Mažeikiai highway at the Latvian-Lithuanian border. The act of surrender of the German Army units ‘Kurzeme’ (Kurland) surrounded in the so-called ‘Courland Pocket’ was signed in this building on 8 May 1945. It is believed that World War II actually ended in Ezere. The customs house has an exhibit covering the events of the end of World War II and exhibits detailing the history of Ezere parish from ancient to modern days. In the morning of 7 May 1945, the commander of the Leningrad Front, Marshal L. Govorov, sent an ultimatum to the command of the army group ‘Kurzeme’ to lay down arms. The act of surrender was signed by the involved parties on May 8 and it detailed the procedure of surrender, weapons collection points, documents and information to be submitted and other practical measures.

Saldus German Soldiers' Cemetery is located near the Saldus-Ezere highway. More than 25,000 German soldiers have been reburied here. From May 1 to October 1 an exhibit about the six grand battles of the Kurzeme Fortress will be available in the memorial room. Tours can be booked on Saturdays and Sundays. Registers of soldiers buried in the Saldus German Soldiers' Cemetery and German soldiers who have fallen throughout Latvia are also available. The exhibit has photographs, items and memorabilia donated to the museum by relatives of the fallen soldiers. Military burial site research and reburial of soldiers is being conducted since 1997. Work is still ongoing and all soldier burial sites have not yet been explored. The names of the reburied soldiers suggest that along with Germans and Austrians also Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Norwegians, Danes and soldiers of other nationalities had been drafted into the German Army.