Memorial stone for Latvian riflemen in Plakanciems
Memorial site

In Plakanciems, the Latvian riflemen won their first victory in the historic night battle of October 29, 1915 – just a week after the 1st Daugavgrīva Latvian Riflemen Battalion had left Riga and started operating at the front. With the successful Battle of Plakanciems, the heroic path of our riflemen began. The night attack on the Misa River also had an invaluable moral significance – no one doubted the fighting abilities of the Latvian riflemen, they quickly became popular and many Latvians from Russian regiments joined our national units.

The memorial stone was created by the Ķekava municipality by the Ķekava municipality stone processing and restoration company "Akm Stone Processing Center" - stone craftsmen Guntis Pandars and Pēteris Zvaunis.
The success in the Battle of Plakanciems was ensured by careful continuous reconnaissance lasting four days, a surprise attack plan drawn up by the commander of the 1st Company, Fridrihs Briezis, and the heroism of our soldiers.
The situation on the front was very tense at that time, as German soldiers slowly continued to approach Riga in several places. Near Plakanciems, they had recently crossed the Misa River and begun to establish a bridgehead position, deploying the 2nd Battalion of the German 376th Infantry Regiment and 4 machine guns.
The Latvian riflemen's attack was based on surprise, quick action and coordination of various actions. Each rifleman of the 1st company was given four hand grenades, 60 soldiers put on white cloaks, because a thin snow had just fallen. When the attackers crept close enough to the German positions, at 22:00 the signal was given and the attack began. Both of our machine guns fired at both flanks of the enemy so that the Germans could not attract reserves. Throwing hand grenades, the Latvian riflemen quickly stormed the German trenches, Russian artillerymen fired at the bridges of the Misa River and the enemy's main defense line. The enemy soldiers were confused - suffering heavy losses, they retreated across the river and left the bridgehead in the hands of the attackers. One of our companies had defeated an enemy unit four times larger!
The Latvian riflemen lost six fallen soldiers – Juris Butenieks, Frici Ērmanis, Rūdolfs Hofmanis, Kristaps Krūmiņš, Jānis Nauris and Kirijans Šnurovas. They were all buried in the Riga Brothers' Cemetery. Of the eight wounded, two later died – Jāzeps Brūveris (buried in the Pleskodāle Cemetery) and Jānis Skuja (buried in the Riga Brothers' Cemetery). German losses – 31 soldiers killed, 34 taken prisoner and 45 wounded. The attackers took a machine gun and 35 rifles as trophies.