to the Army Group, in the following order of battle: III SS (Germanic) Panzer Corps – SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland" 4th SS Panzergrenadier Brigade "Nederland" 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) XXVI Army Corps – General Anton Grasser 11th Infantry Division 58th Infantry Division 214th Infantry Division 225th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) 3rd Estonian Border Guard Regiment (as of 15 April) XXXXIII Army Corps – General der Infanterie Karl von Oven 61st Infantry Division 170th Infantry Division 227th Infantry Division Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadier Division Gnesen Grenadier Regiment Separate units: Eastern sector, coastal defence (the staff of the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division as the HQ) – Lieutenant General Alfons Luczny Estonian Regiment "Reval" 3 Estonian police battalions 2 Estonian eastern battalions Other military units: Artillery Command No. 113 High Pioneer Command No. 32 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion 752nd Anti-Tank Battalion 540th Special Infantry (Training) Battalion In the summer of 1944, the Panzergrenadier Division Feldherrnhalle, and seven infantry divisions, were removed from the Narva Front, leaving 22,250 troops at the location. Combat activity Formation of bridgeheads Launching the Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive on 1 February, the Soviet 2nd Shock Army's 109th Rifle Corps captured the town of Kingisepp on the first day. The German 18th Army was forced into new positions on the eastern bank of the Narva River. Forward units of the 2nd Shock Army crossed the river and established several bridgeheads on the west bank to the north and south of the city of Narva on 2 February. The 2nd Shock Army expanded the bridgehead in the Krivasoo Swamp south of Narva five days later, temporarily cutting the Narva–Tallinn Railway behind the III SS Panzer Corps. Govorov was unable to encircle the smaller German Army Group, which called in reinforcements. These came mostly from the newly mobilised Estonians, motivated to resist the looming Soviet return. At the same time, the Soviet 108th Rifle Corps landed units across Lake Peipus 120 kilometres south of Narva and established a bridgehead around the village of Meerapalu. By a coincidence, the I.Battalion, SS Volunteer Grenadier Regiment 45 (1st Estonian), which was headed for Narva, reached the same area. A battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment (consisting of personnel from East Prussia), the I.Battalion, 1st Estonian and an air squadron destroyed the Soviet bridgehead on 15–16 February. The Mereküla Landing Operation was conducted as the 517-strong 260th Independent Naval Infantry Brigade landed at