Sand hill Battle site

It is located on the side of the Bauskas - Aizkraukles (P87) road, 2.5 km northeast of Taurkalnes - between the mentioned village and the Daugava. In the case of Sand Hill (84 m above sea level), we must speak of a relatively large massif of inland dunes about 2 km wide and 3 km long, the highest point of which is the mentioned hill. 2.9 km north-east of Smilši kalnas rises the equally high Pine Hill. Between Sand Hill and Pine Hill, looking at the territory in nature and on LIDAR maps, one can see a dense infrastructure network of the First and Second World War - trenches, buildings, warehouses, etc., which manifests itself in nature as pits and trenches of various sizes and shapes. Such "footprints" can also be seen in some places on the north and east slopes of the dunes that comprise the Sand Hills. Taking into account the fact that at the end of the Bauska - Aizkraukle road across the Daugava during the Second World War, the German army had built a bridge (pillars on the banks have been preserved), the so-called "Flakturms" was built on the Āmuru mountain for the protection of the bridge, but there was a railway station and, according to stories, ammunition warehouses in Taurkalne. this neighborhood has had an important military-strategic significance. Less than a kilometer away from the Smilšu kalnas dune massif, the continuous line of trenches encircling Priežu kalna can be traced in nature and on LIDAR maps, continuing for more than 9 km in the west-northwest direction up to the Enkurnieki - Lāčplėš road. It also accurately repeats the line of trenches furthest from the left bank of the Daugava marked on the map "Zusamendruck Riga, Gezeichet u.gedruckt vd Vermessungs" found in the Latvian National Library's map collection. The Sand Hill area is a good place for hiking.