Digging for RIA/ Latvian Riflemen MIAs in Kurland

[Hanselshrn]

Mid June of this year saw me returning to Latvia again for a new international digging expedition with NGO Legenda. Many new and old faces were in attendance. Although I had to cut my trip short for family reasons, I managed to join for the most succesful dig I've ever been to. As usual we headed out of Riga early morning to continue south. After some much needed coffee and breakfast we made one more stop at the most excellent Radi, where we picked up more members of the expedition and dropped our bags off.

Machine gun hill is a well known feature in Latvian WW1 history. although it is in fact a ridge stretching for several kilometres. Two movies are in the making as we speak that will touch upon this location.

Upon our arrival, we made a short walk to the site, old bunkers and shell holes more or less guided us there. One of the diggers had come across what all could agree on was a potential mass grave. Shovels were distributed and we got cracking at excavating the area. After some hard digging, soon it was confirmed, this was a mass grave. The first sign was several pairs of boots sticking up from beneath the sandy soil. More people joined and soon news had spread we had found potential latvian riflemen. Over the course of the dig, reporters and tv teams started to arrive to the site, as more bodies were discovered. Several soldiers had quite distinct damages from shrapnel and bullets, at least one had been hit directly in the face. My friend and fellow digger Inka has also described this in his report from the expedition elsewhere on this forum. One of the soldiers had been buried with his medals, one for bravery and one for distinguished work. The former was numbered and would be a great help in trying to identify who he was and what unit he was in. Consensus was that these soldiers probably were either Latvian Riflemen and/ or Siberian Rifles.

Some kilometres from our digging site, a Latvian Riflemen badge had earlier been retrieved from the soil, still attached to parts of the uniform it was pinned to. No soldier was found at the time so it was probably lost by its owner.

After the remains had been retrieved and temporarily placed in bodybags for transport, I myself counted at least twenty different bags but other data suggest a total of 37 soldiers retrieved.

The Legenda crew will return for more expeditions in a near future.

[BlackCat1982]

They have been a long time waiting to be found. Perhaps now they will get the recognition and a proper burial.

[Hanselshrn]

Indeed. Our expedition leader and Legenda Chairman reckons he wont find all the missing in his lifetime. Also, if anyone wonders, yes they are modern (But faithful to the originals) reproductions, hat, badge, uniform but shown as examples. The Riflemen badge is made from a cast of an original period badge and the uniform items im wearing are made by a Latvian tailor and reenactor who takes his work and details very seriously. He was actually on the dig himself.