For a long time, the process of studying proper names has been carried out at a professional, scientific level. All names are considered within the discipline called onomastics. Scientists working in this field consider names in terms of their origin, meaning, as well as the process of their transformation, if any. This article discusses the most common Latvian names and surnames, examples of their translation into Russian. Read an overview of Estonian given names and surnames.
Obviously, Latvian surnames are surnames whose carriers are the inhabitants of Latvia. One of the features of Latvian surnames is that they personify any subject, profession, title. Many Latvian surnames originate from Lithuania and the Lithuanian language. As in many languages, the ending of the surname indicates the gender of the owner.
Latvian surnames are divided into several groups according to their origin:
- Native Latvian surnames, which at one time were common nouns (words denoting positions, titles, belonging to a particular nation, animals, natural phenomena, any objects);
- Surnames that consist of two components - Latvian and borrowed;
- Surnames that were borrowed from other countries.
Women's
In order to determine the gender of a person by last name, you need to look at its ending.
Below is a list of the most common female surnames in Latvia:
- Jecabsone;
- Auzina;
- Aluna;
- Apafu;
- Neretniece;
- Lace;
- Podniece;
- Apala;
- eglitise;
- Peterson.
Men's
Endings also play an important role in the formation of male surnames.
Usually, male surnames end with letters such as -s, -š, -is and sometimes -us.
Below is a list of common male surnames in Latvia:
Names
Latvian names, like surnames, are divided into native Latvian names and borrowed ones. Basically, Latvian names personify any human dignity. Christian names are quite popular in Latvia. However, the Christianization of the people occurred relatively late, so a large layer of names is associated with paganism. Latvian names also have endings that indicate the gender of the owner. Read about the peculiarities of Latvian cuisine and where you can try it on this page.
Women's
Most often, native Latvian names end in the letters -e, -a. Below is a list of the most popular female names in Latvia:
- Laima ("goddess of happiness");
- Ilga ("dream");
- League ("gentle");
- Ceriba ("hope");
- Maria ("sad");
- Anna ("favor");
- Kristine ("Christian");
- Inese ("immaculate");
- Eve ("giving life");
- Ilze ("patient").
Men's
Native Latvian male names end in the letters -с, -s, is. Below is a list of the most popular male names in Latvia:
- Dzintars ("amber");
- Peteris ("rock");
- Paulus ("junior");
- Valdis ("powerful");
- Aivars / Ivars ("defender");
- Uldis ("powerful");
- Andris ("warrior");
- Janis ("grace of the Lord");
- Edgars ("rich");
- Zentis ("diligence").
Funny names and surnames
Among the Latvian names, there are those that are unusual for a Russian person.
For example, the following names and surnames were registered in Latvia:
- Illuminati;
- Fortunata;
- Scholasticism;
- Berzins;
- Ozoliņš;
- Yazep;
- Mirdza;
- Krumins;
- Liepinsh;
- Ekabs.
List of surnames of the Red Latvian Riflemen
The Red Latvian Riflemen were eight Latvian Rifle Regiments that were formed during the First World War. During the civil war, the arrows supported the Bolsheviks and acted in hostilities under their command. They often suppressed uprisings in various Russian cities, and were famous for their discipline. Even after the disbandment, many commanders have reached high positions. Read the review of perfumery and cosmetics Dzintars.
Translation into Russian
Even if the Latvian surname is literally translated into Russian, usually they are limited to transcription that obeys the rules of the Russian language.
Below are examples of female Latvian surnames translated into Russian:
- Jecabsone - Jacobson;
- Gžibovska - Gzibovska;
- Eglitise - Eglitis.
Male surnames translated into Russian look like this:
- Pētersons - Peterson;
- Bērziņš - Berzins;
- Kalniņš - Kalnins.
How do they bow?
In Russian, only male surnames are declined. Women's ones do not change their shape and do not obey the rules of declension.
Video
Watch a video clip on how to change the name of Latvia:
To some extent, the names reflect the history of the people. Names can reflect things that people considered or consider important, or events that have affected people and their lives. Latvian names have retained many of their original names, but every year they are less and less common.
Nov 17, 2015 Tatyana Sumo
The Latvian regiments supported the Bolsheviks and became one of the first military units that stood at the base of the Red Army. They were the largest national military formation in the service of the Red Army. They were used as an exceptionally combat-ready force on the side of the Bolsheviks. The total number of about 80 thousand people. Regiments of Latvian riflemen were widely used along the entire front of the Civil War.
Parts of the Latvian riflemen were distinguished by iron discipline, they were used to suppress anti-Bolshevik uprisings in a number of cities (Yaroslavl, Murom, Rybinsk, Kaluga, Saratov, Novgorod, etc.). Many commanders of the Latvian riflemen subsequently, after the disbandment of the units, were able to achieve large leadership positions. So, the first head of the Gulag was the former Latvian shooter F. I. Eichmans. Latvian riflemen also began to occupy significant positions in the Red Army.
World War I
Background, education
Despite the resistance of the Courland and Livland governors, in the conditions of the German offensive, the occupation of Courland and the threat of the capture of Riga, on August 1 (July 19, O.S.), the commander of the North-Western Front, General Alekseev, signed order No. 322 (848-3287) on the formation of Latvian rifle battalions. At the same time, the deputies of the State Duma of Russia J. Goldmanis and J. Zalitis published an appeal to their compatriots in Petrograd: “Get together under the Latvian flags!”. They called for volunteers to serve in the emerging Latvian battalions. It was decided to form 8 rifle battalions, each of which was planned to be based on a certain number of riflemen from the battalions of the Ust-Dvinsk fortress. On August 12, registration of volunteers began in Riga, on the very first day 71 people applied. On September 12, the Germans captured Nei-Mitau, followed by Illukst on October 23. The Russians were able to hold on to a section on the left bank of the Western Dvina near Ikskul, later called the Island of Death due to heavy losses.
1915
In a short time, instead of the planned two, three battalions were created to defend Riga. On October 23, the 1st Ust-Dvinsky Latvian rifle battalion was sent to the front - the first and fourth companies in the Olai region, and the second and third - south of Lake Babit. The first battles took place on October 25 at Mangali, near the Tirel marshes, and on October 29 at Plakantsiems, on the banks of the river. Misa, where the Latvians managed to push the German troops back to Courland. On October 28, a mourning meeting was held in the house of the Latvian Society in Riga, and the funeral of three soldiers who died near the Tirel marshes took place at the new Bratsk cemetery.
On October 26, the 2nd Riga Battalion was also sent to the front line, in the Kekkau region, which was immediately transferred to the vicinity of Shlok, where on October 31 the German offensive was repulsed. On November 5, the 3rd Kurzeme Battalion entered the battles. At the end of these battles, a general mobilization of Latvians was announced, as a result of which 5 more Latvian rifle battalions were created, as well as one reserve battalion.
The main achievement of the actions of the Latvian riflemen in 1915 was the stabilization of the front line near Riga. With the capture of Riga, the Germans would have opened a free path to Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire.
1916
Active hostilities in the Riga area resumed on March 21, 1916, when the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Latvian riflemen broke through the German fortified positions on the Riga-Bausk highway in the vicinity of Kekkau (Kekava), but a larger-scale offensive by the Russian army did not follow this. The battles near Kekkau began again on July 16 - 22, in which for the first time all Latvian battalions participated, with the exception of the 5th Zemgale, operating in the Olai (Olaine) region, and the 3rd Kurzeme, fighting on the Island of Death.
Condition before February 1917
A reserve regiment was added to the brigades united in the division, the main purpose of which was the reception and training of recruits, the completion of free places due to loss of places in division units.
The staff of each Latvian rifle regiment was set at 2497 people (of which 1854 were lower ranks). In the reserve regiment, located at that time in Wolmar, the number of personnel ranged from 10 to 15 thousand people.
In the Latvian division, the number of personnel exceeded the standard infantry division of the Russian army. The headquarters was preparing an offensive in the Mitava region and a large number of losses were expected.
All shooters were armed with American ten-shot 7.62-mm rifles Winchester mod. 1895, made under the Russian cartridge in the USA, with bladed bayonets, in September 1916 they were replaced by Japanese rifles of the Arisaka system, model 1897. A large number of conscripts were put under arms, and everyone already lacked the usual Mosin rifles. The troops of the second and third echelon were almost entirely armed with weapons purchased from the USA and Japan.
Between two revolutions
The troops of the Northern Front, and especially the 12th Army, were the most disorganized of all, and logically, they could not offer the enemy proper resistance ... ... In fact, the depraved Northern Front lost all strength of resistance. His troops rolled back to the limit to which the advance German units were pursuing, and then leaned forward a little only because it was discovered that they had lost contact with the main forces of Gutierre, whose intention was not to advance beyond a certain line.
The Bolsheviks, having mobilized all their forces, helped Kerensky to suppress the Kornilov uprising, propagandizing the troops of General Krymov on the outskirts of Petrograd.
On October 20, 1917, a protege of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) S. M. Nakhimson was elected political commissar of the Latvian rifle regiments (later - the Latvian Corps).
On the instructions of the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks, the Latvian riflemen, having blocked strategically important railway junctions and stations, did not allow the transfer of troops loyal to the Provisional Government during the October Revolution.
Red Latvian arrows
On October 26, 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee of the 12th Army emerged from the underground, taking power into its own hands in the front line. The Military Revolutionary Committee issued an appeal to the army with a manifesto, in which it announced the Petrograd uprising and an appeal to support the revolutionary proletariat. By his order, the 1st Ust-Dvinsky and 3rd Kurzeme regiments left their positions at the front and moved to Wenden, occupying the railway station, the 6th Tukkum and 7th Bauska regiments occupied Wolmar.
On November 22, the 6th Tukkum Regiment (2.5 thousand people) in full force is transferred to Petrograd to protect the Soviet power from a possible attempt to overthrow it. Less than a week later, a consolidated company of Latvian riflemen was sent for him, which, together with revolutionary sailors and a Red Guard detachment, was assigned to guard the Council of People's Commissars. At this time, the riflemen had already completely fallen under the influence of the Bolsheviks, as evidenced by the 96.5% of the votes they received in the regiments of the Latvian riflemen in the elections of the Constituent Assembly held on November 25.
Latvian riflemen ensured the safety of the Bolshevik leaders (including V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) and Ya. M. Sverdlov) from Petrograd to Moscow on March 10-11, 1918 (train No. 4001), when they almost had a skirmish with Baltic sailors at Malaya Vishera station.
As a separate unit, the Latvian riflemen were reduced by order of the Council of People's Commissars to the Latvian Soviet Rifle Division led by I. I. Vatsetis on April 13, 1918. Now the division consisted of 3 brigades, each with three rifle regiments and two artillery battalions. In addition - a cavalry regiment, an engineering battalion, a communications battalion, an aviation detachment (18 airplanes), a heavy howitzer battery (8 English Vickers howitzers), an anti-aircraft battery (4 anti-aircraft guns). Instead of officers who refused to serve the Bolsheviks, the division was understaffed with commanders - Latvians from Russian units.
Deployed to the 9th Latvian Rifle Regiment, the Latvian riflemen become the backbone of the commandant's service in the Kremlin. The activities of the shooters were not limited to guard duty, on the orders of the commandant of the Kremlin P. D. Malkov, the Latvian units were also used during joint punitive operations carried out by the Cheka, as well as in raids against speculators in the Sukharevsky market in Moscow.
In September 1918, the 9th Latvian Rifle Regiment was sent to the front in full strength.
By the autumn of 1918, there were 24 thousand people in the ranks of the Latvian riflemen.
nachdivy
- I. I. Vatsetis (April 13 - July 17)
- A. V. Kosmatov (acting, July 18 - 25, 1918)
- P. Ya. Aven (July 25, 1918 - January 11)
- G. G. Mangul (Mangulis) (January 12 - March 26, 1919)
- A. A. Martusevich (March 27 - October 20, 1919)
- F. K. Kalnin (Kalninsh) (October 20, 1919 - July 4, 1920)
- Ya. Ya. Latsis (4 - 15 July 1920)
- K. A. Stutska July 15 - November 28, 1920)
Seconded at the same time to the south of Russia, the 3rd Kurzeme Regiment fought against the Cossack units of General Kaledin and on February 22, 1918, occupied the abandoned Volunteer Army, which had gone on an “Ice Campaign” to the Kuban, Rostov-on-Don.
Battles for Kazan
In the summer of 1918, during the offensive of the troops of the People's Army under the command of V. O. Kappel and the Czechoslovak Corps, the Red Army was in danger of surrendering Kazan. To organize the defense of the city, on the orders of the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front I. I. Vatsetis, by the end of July, 507 riflemen of the 5th Zemgale Latvian regiment, which became one of the most combat-ready units of the Kazan garrison, arrived in Kazan by the end of July, as well as a certain amount of cavalry and artillery units. The garrison of Kazan was made up of the 1st Latvian division, a sailor detachment of 1000 people, separate Red Army detachments - about 3000 people. The shooters were instructed to guard the headquarters of the Eastern Front, the steamship pier, the State Bank, and warehouses. Despite the numerical superiority of the Reds, as well as the presence of serious fortifications on the defending side, on August 7 Kazan was taken by a Russian-Czech detachment (about 2,000 people, including a cavalry regiment with several guns). Eyewitnesses testified:
The battle for Kazan dragged on because of the stubborn resistance of the Soviet 5th Latvian regiment on the southern outskirts of Kazan, which even began to push the Czechs back to the pier. The decisive factor was the transition to the side of the white 300 fighters of the Serbian battalion of major Blagotich, who were stationed in the Kazan Kremlin and had previously served as red. The day before, the Serbs refused to hand over their officers to the Bolsheviks and left the city. At the decisive moment, the battalion delivered an unexpected flank blow to the Reds. As a result, the resistance of the 5th Latvian regiment was broken. V. A. Zinoviev, an officer of the 5th Lithuanian Lancers Regiment, quartered in Simbirsk, who was an eyewitness and participant in the events, testifies in his memoirs:
According to modern historians, the resistance of the 5th Latvian regiment was broken, and it itself was almost completely destroyed. At the same time, Talgat Nasyrov claims that during the battles for Kazan, out of more than 500 fighters of the regiment's personnel, 40 riflemen died, 137 were captured. Most of the shooters under the command of the former warrant officer Gregor went through Tsarevokokshaysk to Sviyazhsk. After the Reds returned to Kazan on September 10, 120 riflemen who had surrendered returned to their regiment. According to other sources, the regiment lost 350 fighters taken prisoner by the Kappelites, and whom the court-martial sentenced to death.
A significant part of the territory of Latvia in January 1919 was liberated from German troops, whose troops were grouped in Liepaja and its environs. Further offensive attempts by the Red Latvian Riflemen were unsuccessful. In February 1919, the formation of volunteer battalions began in Liepaja, which were then brought together into the army of von der Goltz and numbering over 40 thousand people by spring. From the south to Latvia, the movement of Polish troops began, from the north - Estonian troops came forward. All attempts by the Red Command to resist the offensive of the Iron Division, the Landeswehr and the Estonian national units were unsuccessful. Under the threat of encirclement, the Latvian riflemen left Riga and retreated to Latgale.
After leaving the central regions of Latvia in the summer of 1919, the Latvian riflemen, who suffered heavy losses, were again reduced to the Latvian Rifle Division.
Fight with Denikin
In the autumn of 1919, the Latvian regiments, as the best troops of the Red Army, take part in the hostilities against the All-Union Socialist Republic during the campaign of General Denikin's army against Moscow. Troops were gathered from other fronts under Oryol to form a strike group under the command of the commander of the Latvian division A. A. Martusevich (former Major General of the Imperial Army). The group of about 20 thousand people with almost fifty guns and more than a hundred machine guns included the Estonian Rifle Division, the Latvian Rifle Division, the Red Cossacks brigade from Ukraine and the Pavlov brigade, the basis of which was the Kyiv regiment. On October 11, the first clash of Latvian riflemen with Denikin took place. On October 27, a turning point occurred, after which it became clear that Denikin's campaign against Moscow had been thwarted. On December 19, 1919, the Latvian Riflemen captured Kharkov. Historians believe that the Latvian Riflemen played a decisive role in repelling General Denikin's campaign against Moscow. For this, the Latvian division was awarded the honorary Red Banner.
The memoirs of an officer of the Kornilovsky Shock Regiment, a military unit, whose front during the Oryol-Kromskaya operation opposed the front of the Latvian division, have been preserved. Alexander Trushnovich, the commander of one of the machine-gun teams of the Kornilovites, recalled the act of the Latvians during the fierce battles with them for the village of Verkhopenka, when, immediately after the destruction of an entire battalion of Latvian riflemen by a machine-gun battery, who were going around the flank of the Kornilov division and ran into Trushnovich’s battery and then retreated white units from the street they occupied, they could not take out several of their wounded officers.
A. Trushnovich assessed the described act of the soldiers of the 6th or 7th Soviet Latvian regiment as noble - in the history of the Civil War, this was a rarity. However, most often, the Latvian riflemen acted as cruel punishers, suppressing popular uprisings in the rear of the Bolsheviks. There is a well-known saying from the time of the Civil War: "Do not look for an executioner - look for a Latvian."
disbandment
White Latvian Riflemen
Part of the shooters who retreated from Latvia in February 1918 decided not to fight on the side of the Reds and, if possible, avoid participation in the civil war. Many families that fled from the German occupation were scattered across Ukraine, the Volga region, the Urals, and Siberia. In general, about 9,500 former Latvian riflemen fought in the White movement. Enlisting the support of the commander of the Entente forces in Siberia, General Zhanen, the Latvians began to form military units - the Imantssky Regiment and the Trinity Battalion (together about 2000 bayonets) - to participate in the liberation of the territory of Latvia from the Germans.
On October 1, 1918, by order of the Minister of War, General Galkin, the Latvian Battalion was organized in Troitsk. It included, in addition to former shooters, Latvians - colonists and refugees. At the first stage of formation, they tried not to take those who served in the Red Army and sympathized with the Bolsheviks. If desired, to have 10,000 bayonets, the formation of up to 1,000 people was allowed, plus the opportunity to organize the Latvian Imantsky Rifle Regiment in Vladivostok.
P. Dardzan (former commander of the 1st Ust-Dvinsky regiment) and Ya. Kurelis (former commander of the 5th Zemgalsky regiment) were appointed commanders.
Admiral Kolchak and his entourage did not trust the new Latvian units, and the Japanese, who dominated the region at that time, shot 31 volunteers, recognizing them as Bolsheviks. Later, under pressure, the Japanese government paid compensation to the families of those killed.
Understanding was found only with the Czechoslovaks. Thanks to their support, uniforms and armament of the battalion became possible. British and French military representatives financed this by negotiating payment with the new government of Latvia.
After the mobilization announced by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Admiral A. V. Kolchak, the Latvian units retreated with units of the Eastern Front of the Russian Army and carried out military service.
In the conditions of the Siberian winter of 1919-1920, frosts down to minus forty degrees, through Omsk, Tomsk, Chita and Harbin, the Troitsky battalion reached Vladivostok and, together with the Imantsky regiment on the ships of the allies, was delivered on October 3 to the Latvian port of Liepaja, and a few days later - to Riga. More than a thousand soldiers arrived with civilians and children. For providing the regiments, France later demanded 8.5 million francs from Latvia, and Great Britain - 130 thousand pounds sterling for their transportation to their homeland.
Although the war on the territory of Latvia ended, the battalion was included in the Latvian army, and from the disbanded Imantsky regiment, everyone who expressed a desire was taken to serve.
Arrows in fiction
- Alexander Chaks - a collection of poems about the Latvian shooters "Overshadowed by eternity" (parts 1-2, 1937-1939).
The personality of Jan Fritsevich Fabricius, holder of the Order of the Red Banner No. 4 and the first four times awarded the highest Soviet award, is of little interest in itself. But in connection with it, it makes sense to talk about the role of Latvians in the Civil War, which swept through Russia like a fiery wheel a hundred years ago.
The idea of creating Latvian armed formations as part of the Russian Imperial Army arose among Latvians - deputies of the State Duma in the last days before the First World War, in the conditions of mobilization that had begun in advance. However, the tsarist government at that time looked at such initiatives with disapproval, not without reason considering the Balts an "unreliable element." The riots in Courland and Livonia provinces on the eve and in the days of the 1905 revolution were still fresh in my memory. Therefore, Latvian conscripts and volunteers were first sent to ordinary military units, mainly to the XX Army Corps operating in East Prussia.
Jan Fabricius
The situation changed radically when, having surrounded and captured the heroically fighting XX Corps in the February battles, in the spring of 1915, German troops invaded Courland, and in the middle. summer created an immediate threat to Riga. Under these conditions, the commander of the Northwestern Front, General Mikhail Alekseev, signed order No. 322 (848-3287) on the formation of Latvian rifle battalions. In autumn, these units demonstrated high stability, preventing the fall of Riga.
Latvians in the mass fiercely hated the Germans, their old oppressors, so volunteers for the battalions willingly arrived not only from the unoccupied Latvian regions, but even from such remote outskirts of the Russian Empire as Sakhalin, where a member of the RSDLP since 1903, the son of a farm laborer, lived in exile after serving hard labor Jan Fabricius. He obtained the appropriate permission and was enrolled in the ranks of the 1st battalion, which in November 1916 became the 1st regiment of the Latvian Rifle Division.
At the end of December, the division, together with the Siberian formations of the 12th Army, took part in the Mitav operation. After significant initial successes, not supported by the command of the Northern Front (General Nikolai Ruzsky), the offensive fizzled out and was abandoned. Rumors of betrayal at the highest level spread among the soldiers, which had a foundation. Terrible sacrifices (more than nine thousand Latvians alone were put out of action in a few days) turned out to be in vain. The sympathies of the shooters swung to the left, which was largely facilitated by the senior non-commissioned officer of the Bolshevik Fabricius, holder of the Order of St. Vladimir.
The February events in Petrograd almost led to the immediate collapse of the Russian army (suffice it to recall the infamous “Order No. 1” signed by Alexander Kerensky, which abolished unity of command in the troops). However, the Latvians showed steadfastness here as well. True, they also put red bows on their overcoats and established Iskolastrel (this gloomy neologism was deciphered as the Executive Committee of the Latvian Riflemen), while they did not allow any reprisals against officers (by the way, some of them joined the Bolshevik Party, which was not observed among purely Russian officers), nor desertion, which in the first spring weeks mowed down, like a plague, regiments and divisions along the entire front.
In the autumn of 1917, finally promoted, heeding the promises to end the war, which became doubly meaningless for the Latvians with the loss of Riga, the shooters - mostly former farm laborers or workers - firmly sided with the Soviet government and directly to the defense of its leaders, taking Smolny under guard. It was their units, the only ones that retained strict discipline and high combat readiness, that prevented the campaign of Peter Krasnov and Alexander Kerensky against Petrograd, and then stubbornly held back the Germans, who, in turn, tried to encroach on the "cradle of three revolutions."
However, they still had nowhere to go. If the Russian peasant fled from the front to his village, the Cossack - to the village, and the highlander - to the aul, then the path to the homeland was cut off for the Balts. On the other hand, this situation immediately placed them in a privileged position. The Bolshevik leadership immediately realized that with the beginning of the grandiose reorganization of Russia, no one could be relied upon with such confidence as these new Vikings. The Letts became Praetorians, the life guards of the proletarian revolution.
Not a single major military or domestic political event in the country could do without their participation. The shooters dispersed the legally elected Constituent Assembly in January 1918, ensured the relocation of the Soviet government to Moscow in March, suppressed the rebellion of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries here in July, and subsequently dealt with anti-Soviet uprisings with an iron fist, including the so-called Antonovism - peasant resistance to the surplus appropriation in Tambov province. It is no coincidence that the Latvian national element, along with the Jewish one, dominated the Cheka (it must be emphasized: not numerically).
But, of course, it is impossible to consider Latvians as ordinary punishers. Regiments of the Latvian Rifle Division were also involved in operations at the front. In fact, it was a mobile Soviet special forces, which, through internal communication lines, was constantly being transferred to threatened areas. The Latvians successfully resisted the best parts of Denikin's forces and stormed the Wrangel Crimea. Perhaps the most serious failure for the shooters was the operation to establish Soviet power in their own homeland.
In January 1919, the Army of Soviet Latvia, formed from Latvians and Russians, occupied Riga without much difficulty. However, it was not possible to move further. And soon, under the threat of encirclement by Estonian (from the north) and Polish (from the south) detachments, Soviet troops were forced to completely clear Latvia.
For these unsuccessful battles, Jan Fabricius nevertheless received an award (some believe that in hindsight) - his first Order of the Red Banner. In total, he had four of them: the second - "for the difference in breaking through the defense of the White Poles near Smorgon on July 14, 1920", the third - "for participation in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion" (he personally led his regiment on the ice of the Gulf of Finland), the last - "for the battles during the attack on Warsaw and subsequent rearguard battles" in 1921.
At the end of 1920, the Red Banner Latvian Division was disbanded. 12,000 privates wished to return to their homeland, to bourgeois Latvia. The commanding staff mainly remained in Russia, where many of the Latvians occupied prominent military and administrative posts. For some time.
So, Yakov Alksnis (grandfather of a famous Russian politician) in 1931 became the commander of the Red Army Air Force. Shot in 1938.
Gustav Bokis, head of the mechanized troops of the Red Army. Shot in March 1938.
Joachim Vatsetis, who led the suppression of the Left SR rebellion, and from September 1918 to July 1919, the former commander-in-chief of all the Armed Forces of the RSFSR. Shot in 1938.
Karl Julius Danishevsky, who led the Latvian riflemen together with Vatsetis, in the post-war years was the chairman of the board of the Vneshtorgbank of the USSR and deputy people's commissar of the forest industry of the USSR. Shot in January 1938.
Kirill Stutska, last commander of the Latvian division. Shot in January 1938.
Ivar Smilga, from May 1919 to January 1921, head of the Political Directorate of the RVSR, which led the activities of all commissars in the Red Army. Shot in January 1937.
Fedor Eichmans, Chekist since 1918, commandant of the famous "Trotsky train", then the first commandant of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (SLON). Shot in September 1938.
Martyn Latsis (Yan Friedrichovich Sudrabs) - along with Felix Dzerzhinsky, one of the first Chekists. A quote from his article published in the Red Terror magazine became legendary: “We do not wage wars against individuals. We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class. Do not look at the investigation for materials and evidence that the accused acted in deed or word against the Soviet regime. The first question we must put to him is what class he belongs to, what is his origin, upbringing, education or profession. These questions should determine the fate of the accused. This is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror.”
Shot in March 1938.
Many ordinary Latvians were also repressed. So, in the fall of 1937, the apartment of the arrested NKVD and on November 28, the non-party chief engineer of the machine-building industry department of the State Planning Committee of the USSR Alexander Lavrentiev (the author’s grandfather) in the 3rd Syromyatnichesky Lane, was shot, as it was then expressed, “compacted”. The new tenant Karl Esalnek, as it is clear from the data given on the website mos.memo.ru, was born in 1898, a native of Latvia (“Lifland province, Valka district, village Bozhas, Latvian”), a member of the CPSU (b) from 1917- th to 1920 (interesting dates, isn't it?), an electrical engineer in the design bureau of the Tekhnika bezopasnost trust, barely had time to celebrate a housewarming party. He was shot on March 10, 1938.
In a sense, those shooters who, having remained in the USSR, died a natural death in advance, like the head of the metalworkers' trade union Ivan Lepse, or died in a plane crash, like Jan Fabricius (both lost their lives in 1929), were more fortunate. Their names still bear the streets of Russian cities, and the ashes rest not in mass graves at the Butovo training ground and not near the village of Kommunarka near Moscow.
It would seem that myth and myth - we feel sorry, or what? Does the legend of 300 Spartans, for example, bother anyone? But the problem is that the myth about shooters is built not only on our own, but also on other people's bones and on someone else's reputation - in this case, Russian.
This began back in the years of the First World War, when the exalted glorification of "their own" in the Latvian press was accompanied by complete silence about the actions of the Russian regiments. And so it continues to this day. Those who wish can visit the branch of the Military Museum in Mangali, not far from the Machine Gun Hill, and try to find at least some mention of the Russians.
Only Latvian riflemen fought, and the Russians sat in the trenches - this simple idea sounds like a refrain in most Latvian texts dedicated to the First World War.
Textbooks and books abound with phrases like: "Although the conscious betrayal [of the Russian command] was not proven, the indignation of the shooters was understandable", "I didn't care about your Kurzeme!" (words allegedly uttered by the commander-in-chief of the Russian army), "Use only Latvian rifle regiments" (a telegram allegedly sent from Headquarters).
And all this rubbish has been methodically hammered in for a hundred years - including the Soviet era. Let's figure out who fought there at the Machine Gun Hill.
And there were no Russians?
From the very beginning, Latvian shooters were doubly lucky.
First, they showed up at the right time. 1915 was the year of the Great Retreat of the Russian army, against the backdrop of heavy defeats, military propaganda was desperately looking for heroic examples. And small volunteer, perfectly motivated (of course, to defend their native Kurzeme!) Latvian units looked advantageous against the backdrop of Russian regiments exhausted by continuous battles.
Secondly, the Latvians were very competently "run in": at first they were used in ambushes, pickets, small skirmishes, only gradually drawing them into combat work. If the Latvian battalions had fallen into a large meat grinder, with which the Eastern Front abounded that year, their history would have ended there.
So, by the time the front line near Riga stabilized, the Latvian riflemen became favorites not only of the Riga, but also of the capital's press - "without fish", so to speak. True, in 1916, during the March and then July offensive near Riga, they did not achieve great success. They occupied the first line of trenches, but this is such a standard picture of the positional battles of the First World War - they both took it and surrendered.
"All these" captures of the first-second-third line of trenches "turn out to be a myth; neither we nor the 6th Corps almost budge. Before us is a kind of Verdun!" - wrote about the July battles near Kekava Kravkov, a doctor of the 7th Siberian Corps. The Latvians themselves invariably blamed their neighbors for failures - the Siberian regiments, which did not show much "enthusiasm" during the attacks.
And then the Christmas battles broke out in the area of the famous Machine Gun Hill, and the legend of the invincible Latvians finally soared. That the Latvian regiments showed courage and heroism there - no one argues. Another thing is that the Russians have been completely forgotten. But the same Machine Gun Hill, contrary to popular belief, was not taken by storm at all. It was cleared by the Germans under the threat of an impending attack. The 11th and 12th Siberian regiments from the front, the 16th and 53rd Siberian, 3rd and 7th Latvian regiments from the south were supposed to go on the attack. Four Siberian and two Latvian. So who took the hill?
Or here is an excerpt from the report of the commander of the 2nd Latvian rifle brigade, Colonel Auzan: “When the brigade entrusted to me broke through the enemy’s wire barriers, staff captain Ozols led the battalion of the 10th Siberian rifle regiment into the breakthrough, which subsequently saved the brigade from encirclement, since the enemy led a number of attacks on this particular battalion."
But all these primary sources have long been firmly forgotten, and only the myth of the unsurpassed fighting qualities of the Latvians in comparison with the cowardly Russian soldiers remained.
The Russian regiments in 1916 really did not show the same impulse as at the beginning of the war. Why? Let me explain using the example of the Latvians themselves.
Colonel Bangersky, who after the Christmas battles was given command of the 4th Vidzeme regiment, recalled: “I saw him before these battles. It was the color of the Latvian nation: stately fighters with open, bold looks and excellent bearing. , was a sad fragment of that regiment.
The gunslingers' eyes were full of confusion. It was noticeable that morale was undermined and the prevailing mood was unfavorable for further combat work.
This "reigning mood" after the February Revolution pushed the Latvian riflemen into the arms of the Bolsheviks - the Latvians were the first to go over to their side and became their most faithful adherents. After all, it was the Bolsheviks who offered immediate peace. And there were no more fools to go to the German machine guns "Liberate Kurzeme from German slavery" (the lines from the order by which they were raised to attack in the Christmas battles).
In May 1917, Minister of War Kerensky came to Riga and persuaded the army to launch a new offensive. “Citizen Minister! A Latvian rifleman is not afraid to die for an idea, but, dying on the battlefield, he wants to know why,” the Latvians answered him. “We do not believe that at the moment a bloody offensive along the entire front will save the Russian revolution and freedom ".
That is, as soon as the Latvians suffered the first SERIOUS losses, they became exactly the same skeptics (“we don’t believe!”), Like the Siberians. In the Christmas battles, two Latvian brigades, according to Auzan's calculations, out of 12,159 people lost 4950 killed and wounded. Almost 41% of the personnel - yes, that's a lot. But compared to the Russian regiments, these are still very sparing figures.
Let's take, for example, the 17th Siberian Rifle Regiment, which lost 3,216 people in the summer battles of 1916 near Kekava alone - 80% of the personnel! And by the beginning of the Christmas battles, his total losses since the beginning of the war amounted to 11,300 people. This means that with a standard staff of 4,000, the personnel have completely changed several times. And this is a common thing: the 18th Siberian regiment lost 9409 people, the 20th - 11,248 people.
So if the Latvian riflemen, having lost 40% of their personnel, completely cooled down to the liberation of their native Kurzeme, then how should the Siberian regiments that lost 300% each, for whom this Kurzeme is generally an empty phrase, feel?
It is clear that both of them seized on the promises of peace by Lenin, only for the Latvians this process went much faster, which played a cruel joke on them in the battles on Malaya Yugla. 
Spartans of Malaya Yugla
In the canonical Latvian version, the events in Malaya Yugla are described as follows: on September 1, 1917, the Germans crossed the Daugava south of Riga and wanted to encircle the 12th Russian army here. But the 2nd Latvian Rifle Brigade stood in the way of the attackers. On September 2, having dug in on the Malaya Yugla River, she held out all day and made it possible for the army to slip out of the ring.
In general, everything is correct, but the devil is in the details. For example, why did the Germans hit the Latvian brigade? Yes, because on the morning of September 2, they tried to attack the positions of the Russian 129th Bessarabian regiment standing nearby - and were repulsed.
After that, it was logical to decide to shift the main blow to the Latvians: after all, they knew that these were the most Bolshevized units of the army - and such, as a rule, were also the most unstable.
The commander of the 5th Zemgale Regiment, which bore the brunt of the battle, Colonel Vatsetis, wrote that his scouts even heard the conversations of German officers: "Da stehen Letten; das sind nicht Russen!" ("There are Latvians standing here, they are not Russians").
Here the Germans made a mistake, the Latvians also resisted - with the support of three Russian batteries, including one 8-inch, this is a terrible weapon against the advancing infantry. In this battle, the 5th Zemgalsky lost 67% of the shooters. Heroes, no words. But the Russian regiments showed the same miracles of heroism. For example, in 1915, defending near the Polish town of Volya Shidlovskaya, the 98th Yuryevsky Infantry Regiment was killed in general in full force along with its commander. “You see, not a soul. As if a whole regiment had sunk into the water,” one of the eyewitnesses wrote from the front line.
That is, what do we have as a result in the face of the Latvian shooters? Good, strong warriors, much more motivated than the rest (after all, the war is going on directly on their native land), but in principle they do not justify the dismissive attitude towards Russian soldiers that comes through in Latvian stories about the First World War.
The trouble is that in the USSR, where this war was declared imperialistic, there was no one to convey to the general public the exploits of the Russian regiments. But the history of the Latvian shooters both in the Republic of Latvia (telling about the World War) and in the USSR (describing the Civil War) were groomed, cherished and hammered into the heads of schoolchildren.
Guest from the past
But in the Civil War, you ask, were the Latvian riflemen really invincible? No wonder Demyan Bedny wrote: "Any flanks are secured when the Latvians are on the flanks!"
Where did their "war weariness" go?
Nowhere. Just, firstly, remember how at Sholokhov’s “The Quiet Don” the front-line soldiers talked about the Civil War: “Smash this war? So, one semblance. two out of a hundred will be hurt - damage, they say! In terms of the intensity of hostilities, the Civil War compares with the First World War in much the same way as the current ATO in the Donbass with the Great Patriotic War. For an ordinary military unit that went through the First World War, Civil is a "light war".
And here we smoothly move on to the "second" ...
Imagine that yesterday in the Donbass, by some miracle (a failure in time, for example), the 24th motorized rifle Samaro-Ulyanovsk, Berdichev Order of the October Revolution, three times Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Iron Division of the Carpathian Military District materialized. Straight out of 1985. That is, the first-line division of the Soviet army, which studied military affairs "in a real way", regularly conducted large-scale exercises, was able to organize patrol service, combat guards, and interact with neighbors and types of weapons.
Speaking on any side of the conflict, she will immediately end it, single-handedly rolling into a pancake at least the entire Ukrainian army (which has forgotten what it is not only battalion exercises, but even company tactical exercises), even the militia. Whoever doubts the latter can remember how easily and naturally the 3rd Mechanized Division of the US Army, similar in class, took Baghdad, wrapping local militias and National Guardsmen on its tracks.
So here is the Latvian rifle division in 1919-1920. and turned out to be such a "guest from the past." The fact is that the Bolsheviks disbanded ALL parts of the Russian army. Moreover, the most combat-ready - in the first place (the more combat-ready the unit was, the worse its personnel treated the Bolsheviks).
All - with a single exception: the Latvian Rifle Division. This, as we have already found out, was the usual connection of the First World War. But against the background of red and white parts created from scratch, it really looked incredibly cool.
Why didn't the Bolsheviks disband the Latvian Riflemen?
And they didn’t have to be afraid of them - where in the hell would Latvians go from a submarine? These Russian regiments at any moment could go over to the side of the whites, raise a rebellion, or even just throw their rifles and go home.
Where should the Latvians go? After all, Latvia, under the terms of the Brest Peace, remained under the Germans. They could return to their homeland only after the world revolution, which Lenin promised them. To the whites, who hated them with a fierce hatred as loyal Leninists, the arrows were also barred from the path.
So cut off from their homeland and close-knit division of the Latvian riflemen ended up on the fronts of the Civil War, where it was opposed by hastily put together and most often mobilized units without any motivation. A complete analogue of the army battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass with the same result.
But as soon as more or less organized units began to fight with the Latvian riflemen, the bright successes of the division immediately ended. In the spring of 1919, near Riga, the Red Latvians were defeated by the German Iron Division. In the autumn of 1919, near Orel, the battles of the Latvian division with Denikin's "guards" (Kutepov's 1st Army Corps) resembled the struggle of the Nanai boys: one step forward, two steps back.
The Reds won the operation due to the overall superiority of forces in other sectors, and not due to some kind of enchanting victory for the Latvians.
Here, to the credit of the Latvian shooters, it should be noted that, contrary to the opinion about their transcendent cruelty, the sources say otherwise.
So, Alexander Trushnovich, the commander of one of the machine-gun teams of the Kornilov division, recalled how the Whites were first knocked out of Verkhopenka by the Latvians, and then returned it with a counterattack. During the withdrawal of their wounded officers remained in the village. “During the second attack, I saw them lying the way we left them,” writes Trushnovich. “The Latvians did not mock them and did not finish them off.” For the Civil, this was an extraordinary act.
* * *
I summarize with a quote from the memoirs of Heinrich Grossen about the life of pre-war Riga. It refers to 1939:
"Meanwhile, the Soviet military units settled in their bases. In Riga, Red Army soldiers appeared on the streets, who were often offended by the Lettish junkers, brought up on the idea of the great power of Latvia: they were told that the Latvians, who defeated Germany and Russia in the World War and won their freedom, would defeat them even now. Hence such an arrogant behavior of the Latvian youth and subsequently a terrible disappointment".
You see, national myths - including the myth of invincible shooters - are not as harmless as they seem at first glance. And to know "how it really was there" can be very useful.
This, however, applies to us Russians as well.
World War I
Volunteers of the 3rd Kurzeme Battalion in 1915
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