German cruisers shell Libau

On 2 August 1914, a day after the declaration of war on Russia, the war reached the Baltic Sea. Two German light cruisers, Augsburg and Magdeburg, appeared off the Russian port of Liepāja, then known by its German name, Libau, on the coast of Courland.

The ships divided the tasks between them. Magdeburg shelled the port, while Augsburg laid a minefield across its entrance. Contemporary chronicles attributed the shelling to Augsburg, and the action itself is regarded as the first shots fired by the German navy against Russia. It was also one of the first naval operations of the entire war.

The military significance of the action proved slight. The Russians had already decided not to defend Libau, which lay too close to the German border, and had moved the main forces of their Baltic Fleet further north, to the area of the Gulf of Finland. The sight of German warships, however, convinced them that a larger operation was coming. So they blew up the ammunition and coal depots themselves and scuttled ships in the harbour entrance to prevent the enemy from using it.

The German mines did not bring the expected benefits either. The minefield was poorly marked and in the following months hampered the operations of the Kaiserliche Marine itself more than those of the Russian fleet. Libau was taken by the German army in 1915.

Magdeburg did not last long. At the end of August 1914 she ran aground off the coast of Estonia, and the German codebooks the Russians captured from the ship reached the British and helped them break German codes throughout the war.