They were the most reliable and effective military force in the Bolshevik ranks. The Latvian Riflemen not only helped preserve Soviet power in the Russian Civil War, but even saved Lenin himself on more than one occasion. Defending Latvia Although the Russian imperial army opposed the creation of military units based on ethnicity, in 1915 there was no choice. The Germans had already occupied the territory of Courland (Western Latvia), and were advancing on Riga. German soldiers resting on the beach at Skatre in Latvia, en route to Libau (Liepaja) during World War I, circa 1915 Getty Images The order to form a Latvian voluntary corps was signed on Aug. 1 by the commander of the North-Western Front, Mikhail Alekseev, and by the end of the year six battalions were engaged. Their resistance played a decisive role in preventing the Germans from taking Riga and thereby opening the way to the capital, Petrograd. The Riflemen fought the enemy with a self-sacrificial, almost suicidal heroism. For instance, during the Mitau (Jelgava) offensive (also known as the “Christmas battles), the Latvians lost up to 9,000 men in breaking (together with fellow marksmen from Siberia) the enemy’s well-prepared defenses. Guarding the revolution When,… Read full this story
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