[1] Independent Latvia had been occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, then by Nazi Germany in July 1941, forming Generalbezirk Lettland.
Civic circles in Latvia were dissatisfied with the German occupation regime and secretly plotted to reinstate democracy.
The unit was organized on July 28, 1944, by a directive from Veide, the administrator of Rīga township, for the officially avowed purpose of fighting Soviet partisans who had recently been dropped by parachutes in great numbers, and for the formation of German-supported Latvian partisan groups which would operate in Soviet-occupied Latvian regions.
On September 23 the Kurelians retreated through Rīga to northern Courland, leaving behind a group of 150 men to operate in the Soviet rear.
[4] Armed combat behind the German front lines was carried out by the soldiers of the Red Army units: Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions and people guards.
Activity picked up in 1942, one year after the first winter war, but real work by the partisans in Latvia started only in 1943 after the German Army Group B stalled at Stalingrad and Kursk.
On July 7 the regiment reached the Latvian Kārsava region, but there the Germans found and dispersed them with great losses and only several partisans escaped.
[7] From January 1943 the Red Partisans in Latvia were directly subordinated to the central headquarters in Moscow under the leadership of Arturs Sproģis.
[citation needed] The Leningrad partisan brigade, which consisted only of Russians (commander M. Klementyev) fought around Lake Lubāns.