Monument to Latvian Army Lieutenant Alfreds Klestrovs, battle site of the armoured train "Kalpaks"
Battle site

A memorial plaque was installed at the site of Kļestrovs' death in 1935 at the intersection of the Liepāja Railway and the Liepāja-Grobina Highway.
A memorial plaque was installed at the site of Kļestrovs' death in 1935 at the intersection of the Liepāja Railway and the Liepāja-Grobina Highway.
Photo source: the book "The Mysterious War". Commander of the armored train, Lieutenant Alfred Klestrovs, born Born on March 8, 1897 in Liepaja. Graduated from Liepaja city school, then from the surveyor's school in Riga. Conscripted into the Russian army during World War I, graduated from the ensign school in Moscow. Served on the Romanian front, fought in the territory of Ukraine. When Ukraine was occupied by German troops, he returned to Riga.
A memorial plaque was installed at the site of Kļestrovs' death in 1935 at the intersection of the Liepāja Railway and the Liepāja-Grobina Highway.
A memorial plaque was installed at the site of Kļestrovs' death in 1935 at the intersection of the Liepāja Railway and the Liepāja-Grobina Highway.
A memorial plaque was installed at the site of Kļestrovs' death in 1935 at the intersection of the Liepāja Railway and the Liepāja-Grobina Highway.
The commander of the armored train, Lieutenant Alfred Kļestrovs, was awarded the Order of the Battle of Lāčplēsis, 3rd class, in 1922. In the battle of November 4, 1919, he fell from a bullet fired by German soldiers who had entrenched themselves at home and remained behind the soldiers of the Latvian Army.
Photo caption November 1919. Latvian army soldiers together with British Navy sailors near the armored train "Kalpaks" constructed in Liepāja after its armament. Armament: 1 naval gun (77 mm, lent by the British Navy)
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Lieutenant Commander of the Armoured Train Lieutenant Alfred Klestrov , born 8 March 1897 in Liepaja. Graduated from Liepāja City School, then from the surveyors' school in Riga.

Conscripted into the Russian Army during World War I, graduated from the Battalion School in Moscow. Served on the Romanian front, fought in Ukraine. When Ukraine was occupied by German troops, he returned to Riga.

The Order was awarded in 1922

Conscripted into the Latvian Army in the spring of 1919, served in the additional battalion of the 3rd Latgale Division. In October 1919 he was assigned to the armoured train "Kalpaks" as a commander.

On 4 November 1919, when the Germans attacked Liepāja, the commander of the armoured train "Kalpaks", Lieutenant Alfred Klyestrov, under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, counter-attacked and got behind enemy lines with the armoured train. Unable to open cannon fire, he led his team in a bayonet fight and dispersed the enemy, thus contributing to the withdrawal of the Bermontese attack, but he himself fell in this battle to a bullet from German soldiers who had entrenched themselves at home and remained behind the Latvian army soldiers.

In 1935, a memorial plaque was erected at the place of death of Lieutenant Alfred Klestrovs, commander of the armoured train "Kalpaks", at the junction of the Liepāja railway and Liepāja-Grobiņa highway.

Used sources and references:

LKOK no.3/1423: Kļestrovs, Alfred Viktors (www.lkok.com/detail1.asp?ID=%27755%27)

Armored Train No. 5 - History (vesture.eu)

https://vesture.eu/index.php/Armored_train_Nr5

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