8, 1945, when Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, the army group's last commander, surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov. At this time, the group consisted of some 31 divisions of varying strength. Approximately 200,000 troops of Army Group Courland surrendered, including 14,000 Latvian soldiers. They were deported to Soviet prison camps in the east after surrender on 9 May. Many Latvians fled through this battlefield in fishing boats and ships to Sweden and Germany, from where they emigrated to various parts of the world, mostly Australia and North America. Approximately 150,000 Latvians ended up in exile in the West. Aftermath of the Second World War During World War II more than 200,000 Latvian soldiers ended up in the rank and file of both occupation forces; approximately half of them (100,000) were killed on the battlefield. It is estimated that, as a result of the war, the population of Latvia decreased by between 300,000 and 500,000 (a 25% decrease compared to 1939). The war also heavily damaged the economy: many historic cities were destroyed, as well as industry and infrastructure. As of 1940, most western governments did not recognise the incorporation of Latvia and the other Baltic States into the Soviet Union. The only exception was Sweden, which returned the members of the "Latvian Legion", who had ended up in Sweden at the end of the war, to the USSR, and handed the diplomatic representative offices of the Baltic countries in Stockholm to the USSR. After the war, the United States applied the most persistent pressure on the Soviet Union regarding the Baltic States' wish for independence. Throughout the entire period of occupation, the embassy of independent Latvia continued to function in Washington, D.C. and London. See also Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact Latvian resistance movement Generalbezirk Lettland Reichskommissariat Ostland Rumbula 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) Luftwaffen-Legion Lettland Occupation of Baltic republics by Nazi Germany Occupation of Baltic states (by Nazi Germany and the USSR, 1939–1991) Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 References External links A Soviet civilian about to be executed at Preili, Latvia Konrad Kalejs Saviours and the Saved The Holocaust in German-Occupied Latvia (Link broken. 23-Nov-2013) map of Riga ghetto (Link broken. 23-Nov-2013) "Latvia Under German Occupation in 1943", Latvian Legation, 1944 (Link broken. 23-Nov-2013) . . Jewish Latvian history Generalbezirk Lettland Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic . Latvia Eastern European theatre