Monument to the paramedics of Ruben's battalion
Memorial site
Ārija Stiebriņa and Velta Vaska, paramedics of the Rubeņa battalion, were reburied in the Cirkale cemetery, who were shot by German Nazi army units on December 9, 1944, together with other residents, deserters, etc. captured in the vicinity of Zlēki.
According to the stories, it follows that the young women have joined Ruben's battalion voluntarily. Together with Ruben's battalion, they went from Suntaži to Usma. However, during the Jekelna campaign, the young women were arrested on the road, taken to the forester's house in Vēlogi for questioning and shot together with a small group of other detainees. A woman, a resident of Cirkale, knew Arya and managed to rebury the remains of both girls at the edge of the Cirkale cemetery and took care of this cemetery throughout the Soviet occupation.
Under the leadership of SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police Friedrich Jäckeln, head of the German 16th Army's counter-intelligence division, the top SS and police chief in Ostland, a large-scale operation took place in the Eichensumpf ("Oak Swamp") from December 5 to 9, which was directed against the "Red Arrow" and General The remnants of the Kurelis group near Abava.
The progress of the action is partially documented in the report of December 31, 1944.
Used sources and references:
https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C4%ABdrihs_Jekelns
https://www.diena.lv/raksts/pasaule/krievija/karatavas-rigas-laukuma-13279589
Related timeline
Related stories
The place of the tragedy in the history of Latvia is still unclear
During the Second World War, when most of Latvia was already controlled by the Soviet Union and Kurzeme was ruled by Hitler's German viceroys, the so-called Kurelians in Kurzeme started the struggle for the restoration of Latvia's state independence.