The
Soviet Union reoccupied most of the territory of the Baltic states in its 1944
Baltic Offensive during
World War II. The Red Army regained control over the three Baltic capitals but failed to capture the
Courland Pocket where the retreating Wehrmacht and Latvian forces held out until the final German surrender at the end of the war. The German forces were deported and the Latvian forces were executed as traitors. After the war, the Soviet Union reestablished control over the Baltic territories in line with its forcible annexations as
communist republics in 1940.