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.

1943

Latvian Waffen SS Legion march out of Riga

Following my very basic, basic training, we marched out of the camp gates.  We do not know where we are going but we marched to the train station, roughly three miles from camp. 

Lines of carriages, along with some open trucks, wait on the tracks surrounded by native Latvian’s. Someone at the training camp must have known we were moving out before we did ourselves.  Without the aid of telephones, word of our marching orders went out to the village and surrounding farms.  Hundreds of people surrounded the railway, each calling out and crying for their boy.  Husbands, sons, nephews, cousins and fiancés, all were repented amongst our party and all had relatives fighting to say their goodbyes. 

With some great difficulty, I eventually spot mother, along with my younger sister Valija.  Neither my father, nor my little brother Vilnis, are anywhere to be seen but that does not mean they are not hidden somewhere within that crowd.  Regrettably, the dense throng of people make it impossible for me to get near to them.  I have to board the train without saying goodbye.  

Our sergeants are keen to see us boarded quickly.  They prod, push and shout at us whilst all of the time looking behind them, hoping to see their own families I suspect.  After all, we are all Latvian boys under these uniforms.  We are all simple Latvian boys manipulated and manoeuvred at the will of outside forces.

Latvian Legion cloth arm shield 

As teenagers, my generation did not have www.CallofDuty.com.  None of us had a chance to improve our aim at www.paintballnational.co.uk before being dispatched to fight for our lives.

28 December 1943

When German troops arrived, Latvian men were actively encouraged to fight at Germany’s side against an oppressive, communist Red Army.  Every village displayed posters celebrating the arrival of a liberating German army but my father was not fooled.  During his sixty-six years, he had experienced degradation and inequality under the rule of German nobility as well as varying Russian authoritarians in equal portion.  Any non-Latvian administration was bad for the people of Latvia.

My mother, Anna,believed me too ill for the army, any army.  She assured me I was safe at home on the farm with them.  

"The German army want tall, straight, strong men" she said.  "No German officer will want a 19 year old boy with a twisted, ulcerated leg.  No one will want you to go and fight."  

My left leg never fully recovered from that week I spent in my sick bed.  Even after almost three years, it stubbornly refused to straighten fully.  

Not long after my eighteenth birthday on 7 January 1942, I was interviewed by the German military but dismissed as unfit for military service, just as mother had promised.  I was assigned to compulsory labour duties along with those of my neighbours also pronounced as either unfit or too old for military uniform.  Mother convinced me the same would happen again when I attended Ranka Guard House on 20 March 1943 for a follow up medical but she was wrong.  The draft doctor dismissed my impairment.  Apparently, Hitler likes a challenge.

Although I did not know it at the time of my assessment, the doctor had a set quota of Latvian men and boys to conscript into uniform.  I think that is why minor handicaps were overlooked.  I have to wait and see if the army will be good for my left leg; see if the marching exercises will straighten it out forever.

1941 1st July 1942
Happily towards a common future

2 November 1943

The enlistment commission are foolish.  I will not be going home immediately, this evening I am away to Lilaste, (Latvia).

The invading Germany army arrived in the region during 1942.  At first they only introduced compulsory labour but it did not take long before the military began urging Latvian men to join up, to push Russia away from Latvia's boarders.  It was around that time I accepted my inability to walk properly as God’s great plan.  I am thankful I can no longer march.  I am grateful I have one lame, ulcerated leg.

Unfortunately, the German's are quite determined to get me into uniform.  As commanded, I reported to Ranka Guard House on 20 March 1943.  I had received a  conscription call-up card.  I expected to fail my medical, to be returned home as a labourer unfit for military service, just as I was in 1942, but I underestimated Hitler’s determination to fill uniforms.  

The recruitment doctor dismissed my aching leg with the wave of his hand.  As the rest of my body is healthy, I am to be conscripted into the Latvian Waffen SS Legion as a volunteer. I may only be nineteen but I know the difference between a volunteer soldier and a conscripted one.  In addition, the doctor’s reassurance that marching great distances will be beneficial for my ulcerated leg are not comforting.     

Latvian Legion 'volunteers'