# The Remembrance Day



## CyberWar (Nov 13, 2014)

November 11, celebrated as the Remembrance Day in the West, has a much greater national significance in Latvia, being named after folk hero Lāčplēsis.

In the morning of November 11, 1919, the church bells of Riga announced victory over the West Russian Volunteer Army, also known as the Bermontians, from the name of the nominal force commander, Pavel Bermondt. 

A force of German Freikorps volunteers, mercenaries and adventurers, this army was funded by German monarchists and established supposedly to fight against the Bolsheviks in Russia, but actually held the explicit goal of eradicating the nascent Baltic States and uniting them under the banner of a German-led United Baltic Duchy. For a month now, this army had waged war on the newfounded Latvian state under pretense of being denied passage to Russia, looting and terrorizing the countryside. Having occupied the outskirts of Riga, these cutthroats were separated from conquering the capital only by Daugava River.

Against the Bermontians stood an ill-equipped and poorly-trained Latvian national army, aided by two Estonian armored trains. Many men lacked even boots, let alone proper uniforms, but what they lacked in equipment, they made up for in volumes with courage and determination. 

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The last 5 years had been dark times for Latvian people. Much of the land had been under German occupation since 1915 during the Great War, hundreds of thousands fleeing the land as refugees. What used to be Imperial Russia's most industrialized province now stood empty and evacuated. But this war gave rise to something else - an unprecedented wave of national pride and patriotism. Young Latvian men flocked to the call to arms when the Tsar authorized the formation of Latvian national regiments. Thus were born the legendary Latvian Riflemen, who would later have a role in changing the history of Eastern Europe and perhaps also the world.

Latvian Riflemen, using their home knowledge, would brave the frontlines where even elite Russian divisions would not dare to, proving themselves in the Battle of Death Island and the Christmas Battles. Be it holding a small salient on a peninsula against waves upon waves of German charges, artillery barrages and gas attacks with no way to retreat, or smashing through enemy fortifications in the middle of a swamp, in chilling frost and with no artillery support, the Riflemen were always spearheading the defense of their fatherland. But so too were their losses great, as incompetent Russian generals would habitually order them on suicide missions and later fail to exploit their gains. Of all Latvian Riflemen, one fifth remained forever in battlefield, little being gained by their great sacrifice.

Unsurprisingly, when political turmoil began to stir in Russia during 1917, Bolshevik agitators found very keen listeners in the ranks of Latvian Riflemen. The savage suppression of the 1905 Revolution was still in fresh memory, and with so many battle-brothers lost in vain, few had as many reasons to hate everything that had to do with the Tsarist regime as the Latvian soldiers. In a way, the concerns of some Russian generals over the formation of Latvian national regiments about Latvians having a reputation as dangerous radicals since 1905 were now vindicated, as many Riflemen became ardent Bolsheviks. These veteran soldiers would form the Red Latvian Riflemen, Lenin's elite guard that would save the new Socialist revolution on several occasions and were instrumental in crushing the White resistance and establishing Soviet Russia. Red Latvian officers would later hold prominent positions in the Soviet armed forces, most notably Jukums Vācietis, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Army - only to be devoured by the monster they helped create some 20 years later, meeting ignoble ends in the mass graves of Stalinist purge victims almost to a man.

As Russia fell apart into civil war, the Baltics, Russian part of Poland, Belorussia and Ukraine were signed off to Germany under Brest-Litovsk Treaty. However, this treaty came too late to relieve Germany in the Great War as the red banner of Socialist revolution flared up in it's lands too, forcing the Armistice. With German army withdrawing from occupied lands in the East, much of Eastern Europe fell into anarchy and lawlesness. New states emerged from the ruins of old empires, Latvia being among them, raising the red-white-red banner as a sovereign state in November 18, 1918 for the first time.

The war-torn lands of Latvia would again become a battleground between three governments - a provisional National government with little more than widespread popular support at start, a pro-German government that commanded the loyalty of the German forces still present in Latvia, and a Communist government backed by the Bolshevik hordes that steamrolled into the land from the East in their effort to spread the revolution worldwide.

Pressed back to the farthest Western reaches of Latvia, the national government was hard-pressed to enter an uneasy alliance with the Germans in order to secure arms, supplies and manpower to hold back the Bolsheviks. Meanwhile, the Communists imposed a regime of terror comparable to the genocidal rampage of Khmer Rouge that was only curtailed by their brief stay and simple lack of people to accuse and execute for counter-revolutionary sentiments. Their hardline Communist policies led to quick loss of what popularity they had, serving well the national cause. Disillusioned Red Latvian Riflemen would desert in scores to join the national army.

The battle for Latvia's freedom began on two fronts. From the North came the North Latvian Brigade along with Estonian Army, having driven the Bolsheviks out of Estonia, while Latvian Independent Brigade would begin to reconquer the land from the West alongside with the German Landeswehr. 

While the Communists were soon driven and confined to the region of Latgale, the uneasy alliance with the Landeswehr quickly soured as it switched allegiance to the unpopular pro-German government, and before long, Latvian men and boys were shooting their rifles at Germans again. Great battles were fought and won around the town of Cēsis, the Germans were driven from Riga and out of Latvia. But they yet had one ace left in their sleeve.

Since the Allied powers would wait to see the Eastern Europeans duke it out amongst themselves to support whoever emerged victorious afterwards, the Germans used the same tactic now employed by Russia in Ukraine almost 100 years later - they resorted to a third-party "volunteer" force. Assembling volunteer Russian POWs and emigrees, but mostly jobless German war veterans, they would create the West Russian Volunteer Army. At it's command was nominally placed Pavel Bermondt-Avalov, a Russian nobleman, commander and adventurer, to lend this new formation legitimacy as a pro-White force. De facto, however, this army was led by a German general, Rudiger von der Goltz, with a distinct German monarchist agenda. Among other notable members of this army of mercenaries and wannabe conquistadors was Alfred Rosenberg, one of the founders of the Nazi Party.

After being predictably denied passage through Riga by the national government, the Bermontian forces would begin their attack. For a month, their artillery and aviation would pound Riga, but Latvian government forces, among whom stood many veteran Riflemen, would not budge an inch. Meanwhile, efforts were made to persuade the Allied powers to intervene on Latvian behalf.

Then, on November 3, as the British and French warships stationed near Riga finally received orders to assist the Latvian government forces, the counterattack would begin. Latvian soldiers would launch a diversionary attack across the Iron Bridge, the only bridge in Riga that remained undemolished, under cover of two Estonian armored trains, while the majority of the attack force would cross Daugava further up-river by boat under covering fire from British battleships. For several days, fierce battles raged in the occupied districts of Riga, until finally, in the morning of November 11, 1919, the city's church bells announced victory, heralding the enemy's general retreat. In the following weeks, the surviving Bermontians were chased out of the country, burning and looting in their way, and being given no quarter whenever the pursuing Latvians caught up with them, until the remnants of their army met an ignoble demise at the hands of Lithuanian Army near Radviliškis.

Even though there were still many battles against the Communists in the East to be had, this day once and for all secured Latvia it's righteous place among the nations and international recognition. They who started off as a few companies of patriotic school students, most only in their teens, led by a few Great War veterans and many lacking even shoes to wear, ended up as a victorious army 70 000 strong despite having to fight on several fronts. They whose humble beginnings were a few battalions of volunteers defending their ancestral land had grown to a force whose name put fear in Mother Russia herself and who had finally come to conquering their own homeland for their people.

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So while November 11 may be a day of solemn mourning in the Western nations, where the red poppy from the fields of Flanders symbolizes a generation of men lost to a pointless war, to us it is also a Day of Victory.







Riga Old Town riverside, November 1919





Riga Old Town riverside, November 11, 2014


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## Plasticweld (Nov 14, 2014)

Thanks for sharing, a very nice history lesson...


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## ppsage (Nov 15, 2014)

I liked reading an account with such intimate incidents; could be enlarged to good effect. It's really not fair to leave me hanging on folk hero Lāčplēsis though. Please explain this, perhaps as a concluding bookend.


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## EmmaSohan (Nov 15, 2014)

Thanks, I appreciated this.


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## CyberWar (Nov 15, 2014)

Lāčplēsis (translates as Bearslayer) is the hero of Latvian national heroic epic composed in late 1800's. A man of superhuman strength, he earned his name by slaying bears bare-handed, and by having ears of a bear, in which his superhuman strength would hide. Over the course of the story, he would conquer various monsters until the arrival of German crusaders. When the newcomers turned out to be conquerors, Lāčplēsis would lead the resistance. His greedy best friend Kangars (analogous to Norwegian "Quisling", synonymous to "traitor") would betray his people by first selling land to the Germans, and then by revealing the secret of Lāčplēsis' strength to his enemies. In turn, Lāčplēsis was challenged by the German champion, the Black Knight, who would strike at his ears, removing his strength. Still, they would duel fiercely, until Lāčplēsis cast himself down from a cliff into Daugava River along with the Black Knight, sacrificing himself to defeat the foreign conqueror. According to legend, they still continue their duel in the depths of Daugava, and as long as Lāčplēsis lives in the hearts of Latvian people, they will remain unconquered.

Personally, I think a different hero Kurbads deserves the title of Latvian epic hero, since that is a genuine folk legend rather than one composed by National Romanticist authors of the 19th century. Kurbads would, according to legend, be born of a mare as a gift of gods to a barren wife, possess superhuman strength, and conquer various monsters, such as many-headed giants and their witch-mothers. He would descend down into the underworld, slaying multiple demons, and eventually becoming the king of his people. In the end, the witch-mother of the most fearsome giant would wage war against him, and poison Kurbads even as he fought her demonic son. Poisoned, Kurbads would kill this witch, who had assumed the shape of a serpent, slay the giant, and then fall dead in heroic death. Pagan metal band _Skyforger _has an entire album dedicated to this legend.

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After the Independence War of 1919-1920, Order of Lāčplēsis was established to honour the heroes of the war. To this day, it is the most prestigious order for a Latvian to have, even though it has not been awarded since 1920's.


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