The site of the former barracks of the First World War
Military town

20201122 143837
132011641_160520855827589_4386679744445438367.jpg
20201122_141504.jpg
20201122_142042.jpg
20201122_143639.jpg
20201122_143837.jpg
 Ogres novads, Tomes pagasts, Latvia
57

It is located in the forest 0.6 - 0.7 km south of the village of Latgali. The best idea of the territory can be obtained if it is studied in advance on LIDAR maps, because in nature the positions of trenches and other earth surface formations dug by people a century ago can be overlooked by the uninitiated. Judging by the remains of a brick oven and other signs visible in the excavations (done by someone else), German army barracks were located here. Next to the barracks, a narrow-gauge railway was built to supply the Daugava front line along the Great Kurfirsti dam from the modern Lāčplėš station along Birzgali and beyond. 0.5 km east of the barracks was the so-called Kurland Denkmal, but on the left bank of the Daugava in a 1.3 km radius around the barracks there were three reinforced concrete fire points (preserved to this day, but the remains of one are under water and appear only when HES water level has been reduced), but 0.6 km west of them there was a shooting range, of which nothing has been preserved in nature. Pits can be seen in nature around the shooting site - the remains of former buildings and fortifications. About 100-200 m southeast of the site of the former barracks, three to 30 m long, rectangular trenches (and smaller ones) are clearly visible in the nature, which were probably warehouses.

Used sources and references:

1. Maps of Latvian State Forests: https://www.lvmgeo.lv/kartes

2. Historical and other maps: https://vesture.dodies.lv/#m=15/56.71776/24.69606&l=O/KDW

3. Map “1914 – 19 Karte des Weslichen Russlands”

4. Collection of maps of the National Library of Latvia, map "Zusamendruck Riga, Gezeichet u.gedruckt vd Vermessungs – Abt.18., 1: 100 000"