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.