8 September 1945

Leaving for Belgium

“Most Latvian soldiers in Germany were at first kept in British prisoner-of-war camps in Germany. In the autumn of 1945 most of them were transferred to a POW camp 2227 at Zedelgem in Belgium. They had naively expected the Western Allies to understand the reasons why they had fought on the side of the Germans. Instead of understanding, they at first received beatings, and occasionally they were used for live target practice by guards. They were released during 1946 when the Western Allies concurred that the majority of Latvians were not Nazis despite their German issued SS uniforms.”

— VisvaldisMangulis in Latvia in the Wars of the 20th Centuryhttps://latvians.com/index.php?en/CFBH/Zedelgem/collection-000-main.ssi

 

POW camps in and around Zedelgem

Camp 2227, which was generally used for Baltic soldiers, was not the only camp in the area. Camp 2226 was used for Germans; other Zedelgem camps were used for other nationalities or for segregating POWs by military rank. The following is a page from an inventory of POW camps which includes Zedelgem—the POW population across all camps totalled 63,459, including more than 16,000 in Camp 2227.

Restricted document from the HQ 21 army group.  German personnel under British control, as at 1800 hrs, Thursday 19 July 1945  Summary of surrendered troops at PW 
Field. Marshall Montgomery commanding

https://latvians.com/index.php?en/CFBH/Zedelgem/collection-000-main.ssi

Prisoner of War

My camp in Denmark was not a real camp.  It had been an old base of some sort, possibly a small run way.  There were no buildings left standing to provide shelter from the weather or the night cold.  There was no where to wash or to eat, there was nothing.  We were interned on a strip of land that had water to three sides.  There was only one way in and out of that camp, requiring a very small guard.

When it rained, we got wet.  When the wind blew, we got cold.  There were not even any trees to shelter beneath.  Eventually, canvass tents were delivered to us but as the ground was concrete, it was impossible to erect them.  The Americans had not thought of that, or maybe they just had not seen our concrete camp.  The best we could do was shelter under the loose canvas like kids playing under a blanket.

Every now and again, a group of American soldiers would drive out to look at us.  They came in Jeeps with music playing loudly from a radio.  They would shout out and holler, just having a good time because the war was over.  We envied them, driving up and down with their legs dangling out of the Jeep.  Our officers would never have allowed us to act like them.  We would not have been allowed music or to muck about whilst in uniform.  We always had to be serious.  We were never allowed to be boys.

I saw my first black man outside that camp.  He was an American.  He came with a group of Yanks to look at us.

At first, we thought he was a burn victim.  We thought the man had been caught in an oil fire, thought he had been in the water when a ship went down.  We thought the burning oil had stained his hands and his face, shrivelled up his hair.  None of us had ever seen a black man before.  When our guard told us the man was born that way, everyone wanted to see him.  Someone looked out for him, ready to shout if the black man came near.  We were as curious about black American’s as they were about us.

1 September 1945

Certificate agreeing to submit control of military pay entitlement

I, and my fellow prisoners of war, are being processed.  We were hoping to have been allowed back home before now.  Hitler is dead but our war time ordeal is not over.

1 September 1945

Side of the Road

Latvian / VĪKSNAS / Regimental Newspaper

Lunden Flehde

Saturday Sep 1 1945

18 August 1945

Lunden is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Eider river, about 16 km north of Heide.  Rehm-Flehde-Bargen is in the district of Dithmarschen.

Latvian 142nd Regiment, Church Service - Lundena, Flehde, Denmark

 His Song

The Lord is our strong fortress, etc....

My God, I praise home

God, guardian of our home land that she remains a flowering state and strong, etc ......

His Tune

God is our hope, Stone Mountain etc .........

August – September 1945, Latvian Variety Troupe - 

"Birds of Passage" Program

Soup to eat, regular religious guidance, this camp is better than I had expected.  In addition, we are treated to entertainment.

23 June 1945

We moved from Heides, Germany, to Kűmpel on the other side of Lunden.

Two days completely without food.  I was in a particularly bad mood on Ligo evening with nothing to eat - June 23 mid-summer festival, Ligo svētki.

A local person came to help us, supplying us with a little food. 

Once we had eaten, we were able to walk-on quite well.  That local old woman has boiled us soup every day since.  The allied army must have recruited her because someone must be paying for our food.

20 & 21 May 1945

Adolf Hitler committed suicide 8 May 1945, bringing world war two to an end

Concerned about food.  Tied down at the forest bridge, with increasingly less to eat.

In addition, I lived on only barn plants (salad) at Flensburg for the previous two weeks.  We are very much in shock.

17 May 1945

Sailing from Denmark to Germany (Post allied liberation of Denmark)

The first Allied forces arrived in Denmark mid afternoon of May 5^th.  They were greeted by throngs of people celebrating in Copenhagen.  British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery had already accepted the surrender of German forces at Lüneburg Heath, east of Hamburg but Denmark’s official liberation took effect at 8 am on May 5th 1945.  Unfortunately, those on the island of Bornholm continued to be bombarded by Soviet forces until 9^th May.  After two days of bombardment, landing Soviet troops accepted German surrender. 

We knew the Allied were coming but they took longer to reach us than we had anticipated.  Fighting against Russian occupation is something that has burdened generations of Latvian men.  Equally, Latvia has suffered the shackles of Germany during her historical past.  Any invading army must be repelled, but the Allied forces pose no threat to Latvia.  Their fight is with the Germans, not with Latvians.  We are not defending Latvia but standing upon foreign soil, governed by a foreign power. 

Allied forces were moving quickly but their advance has slowed.  We had expected them to be upon us within twenty four hours but it has been three days.  If our German commanders discover us, we will all be executed as deserters and so we are in hiding.  Having no food for twenty four hours would not have been such a big problem but, after three days, our stomachs have turned themselves inside out. Once again God answered my prayers.  We have been discovered by a family who took pity on us.  They treated us to a small amount of salted herrings.  They are not my favourite but at least my hunger has subsided.

It has take five days for the Allied forces to reach us.  We are all relieved to surrender to them and not to have been discovered by the Red Army.

2 May 1945

Approximately 4,500 men have surrendered to the Americans south of Schwerin, Germany.  

To my knowledge, Latvian Waffen Legions have been split up, scattered all over the place to bolster other units.  Some of those soldiers surrendered to the Americans at Güterglück, whilst others fought at the Battle of Berlin and unfortunately had to surrender to the Red Army.

27 April 1945

It is reported that 824 men, under the command of Waffen-Standartenführer Vilis Janums, surrendered to American forces at Güterglück near to the river Elbe.

The Elbe originates in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing through much of Bohemia, then into Germany before continuing out into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg.  As I was never sure where I was fighting, this could have been the river where the wooden bridge with its three great guns stood?

30 March 1945

The big day on Saturday (31 March 1945), we have been transferred to Sølskot.

The Soviets are closing in on Berlin.  The Allied have crossed the Rhine.  Whilst we have been sent back to the fighting front.  We travelled to Schleswig, Denmark where we stayed until the last few days of April.

 We journey back to Sølskot on 1st May.   I have been billeted in Sølskot Park, there are around 400 of us in one tavern.

28 March 1945

Denmark, Horsens

We have arrived.  We have been swept up in the chaos of the collapse of the Eastern Front.

The Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen was bombed a few days ago by the British.  It was a large u-shaped building.  The whole of Denmark's Gestapo, along with a large number of criminal police were killed.

After the forming of the Latvian Police Battalions, during January 1943 in Reichskommissariat Ostland, Heinrich Himmler formed Latvian legion Lettische SS Freiwilligen Legion in February 1943.  That Legion later became a Division, receiving the numerical designation 15 before being renamed Lettische SS Freiwilligen Brigade.

The unlawful conscription of Latvian men for military service by Germany was based on Alfred Rosenberg's compulsory labour decree of 19 December 1941. It was carried out by the Department of Labour for the Latvian Self Administration, and commenced early 1943.  All Latvian males born between 1919 and 1924 received a compulsory recruitment notice.  The 15th Waffen SS, together with the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) were formed into the Latvian Legion.  And so here I am. 

 - 29 March 1945 The Americans are in Frankfurt.

26 March 1945

To Denmark

The fighting is very unpredictable over the Rhine as German forces continue to put up resistance in the battle for western Germany. 

 “With cohesion rapidly disintegrating, the Germans were organised into battle groups of anything from platoon to battalion strength: adhoc formations ranging from pathetic Volksturm (Home Guard) to experienced SS and parachute detachments and even an officer cadet training school. Some put up token resistance before running away. The bravest, including the officer cadets, fought with skill and ferocity.”  http://ww2today.com/26-march-1945-the-forward-platoon-makes-contact-as-they-enter-germany

Command is resolute; the Allied must not reach the Fatherland’s heart.  We are to stop the advance from Denmark.