| Unit Name: | 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) |
| Dates: | 1943–45 |
| Branch: | Waffen-SS |
| Type: | Infantry |
| Size: | Division |
| Command Structure: | VI SS Army Corps (Latvian) |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Armshield of the Latvian legionnaires |
The 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) (German: 15. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr. 1),[1] Latvian: 15. SS grenadieru divīzija (latviešu Nr. 1)), originally called the Latvian SS-Volunteer Division (German: Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Division) was an infantry division of the Waffen-SS during World War II. It was formed in February 1943, and together with its sister unit, the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) formed the Latvian Legion.
During Operation Barbarossa, German Army Group North occupied the Baltic states. Germany began taking heavier manpower losses throughout 1942. To make up for this, the Waffen-SS was expanded, and on 23 January 1943, Adolf Hitler gave his approval to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler to form a Latvian Legion. He wanted to make use of the Latvians, who were strongly opposed to Bolshevism.
After the formation of Latvian Police Battalions in Reichskommissariat Ostland, Heinrich Himmler formed the Latvian SS-Volunteer Legion (Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Legion) in January 1943. It participated in the siege of Leningrad briefly before being withdrawn from the front again. In February 1943 the legion was expanded as the Latvian SS-Volunteer Division (Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Division), which later received the numerical designation, becoming the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian).
Unlawful conscription of Latvians for military service by the Germans was based on Alfred Rosenberg's compulsory labor decree of 19 December 1941. It was carried out by the Department of Labor of the Latvian Self Administration, commencing in early 1943 with the compulsory recruitment of Latvian citizens born between 1919 and 1924. The 15th Waffen SS, together with the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) formed the Latvian Legion.
The 15th Waffen SS was swept up in the chaos of the collapse of the Eastern Front and lost much of its manpower fighting in districts surrounding Leningrad (Ostrov, Novosokolniki and Novgorod Oblast). In September 1944 the surviving elements of the division were sent by boat to Danzig. The division fought on the Pomeranian Wall defences and then retreated through Pomerania and Germany to Berlin.
Part of the division, with a total of 824 men under Waffen-Standartenführer Vilis Janums, surrendered on 27 April 1945 to the advancing Americans at Güterglück near the Elbe River. Other elements of the division, amounting to approximately 4,500 men, surrendered to the Americans south of Schwerin on 2 May 1945.[2]
On 22 January 1945, Red Army soldiers killed over 100 unarmed men of the 5th Battalion of the 1st Construction Regiment in the Dąbrówka Nowa Massacre after mistakenly assuming that they were armed.
The Waffen Füsilier Battalion of SS 15 of the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division (1st Latvian) is notably featured as a playable unit in the game Enlisted[3]