Soviet Latvian Rifle Division

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Soviet Latvian Rifle Division

active 1918 to 1920
Country Russian Soviet Federative Socialist RepublicSoviet Russia Soviet Russia
Armed forces Russian Soviet Federative Socialist RepublicSoviet Russia Red Army
Type division

The Soviet- Latvian Rifle Division (Latvian: Latviešu strēlnieku padomju divīzija) was a major military unit under the command of the Red Army from 1918 to 1920 .

Lineup

The association was formed on April 13, 1918 from revolutionary-minded parts of the Latvian rifle regiments of the former tsarist army. The division consisted of three brigades, each with three rifle regiments, a cavalry regiment, three artillery divisions, a reserve regiment and units of the arms pioneers, connections, etc. It was the first regular division of the Red Army. The workforce was about 23,000 men.

Calls

Parts of the division occupied important points in Moscow in 1918 during the suppression of the uprising of the Left Social Revolutionaries . From December 1918 to July 1919 the division fought under the Soviet flag in the Latvian War of Independence . From September after the loss of Latvian territory in Belarus against the Polish army. Here the association was also filled with non-Latvian soldiers. After relocation to the southern front of Soviet Russia, the Crimea was the place of deployment. After the defeat of Wrangel's army , the division began to demobilize. Due to the regulations in the Peace of Riga (1920) , the Latvian soldiers were able to return to the now independent Republic of Latvia . However, many communist-minded soldiers remained in the Red Army, where they largely fell victim to the Stalinist purges of the 1930s.

Commanders

  • Jukums Vācietis (April 1918 - July 1918)
  • Pēteris Avens (July 1918 - January 1919)
  • G. Mangulis (January 1919 - March 1919)
  • A. Martusevičs (March 1919 - October 1919)
  • F. Kalniņš (October 1919 - July 1920)
  • K. Stucka (July 1920 - November 1920)

Official names

  • From January 12, 1919: 1st Soviet Latvian Rifle Division
  • From June 26, 1919: Latvian Rifle Division
  • From July 8, 1919: 53rd Rifle Division
  • From August 3, 1919: Latvian Rifle Division

literature

  • Igors Vārpa: Latviešu karavīrs zem Krievijas impērijas, Padomju Krievijas and PSRS karogiem. Latviešu strēlnieki triju vēstures laikmetu griežos. (Nordik, Riga 2006), ISBN 9984-792-11-0 .
  • Claus Grimm: At the gates of Europe 1918–1920. History of the Baltic State Army. Velmede, Hamburg 1963.
  • Inta Pētersone (ed.): Latvijas Brīvības cīņas 1918–1920. Enciklopēdja. Preses nams, Riga 1999, ISBN 9984-00-395-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Inta Pētersone (ed.): Latvijas Brīvības cīņas 1918–1920. Enciklopēdja., ISBN 9984-00-395-7 . Page 173