Artūrs Ozols' memories of the ship "Saratov"

“The government recognized the need for a floating means of transport so that the government could have a ship to operate with, perhaps to transfer troops to Ventspils. From a strategic point of view, the military had seen it as necessary and also from a moral point of view, so that in the event that everything fell apart and our young army — unarmed, untrained, retreating from Riga to Jelgava, from Jelgava through Kurzeme in the direction of Liepāja — would at least have the awareness that we were taken care of. In the worst case, we would board the ship, and the possibility of retreat would be ensured for us. As my brother Markus, who was at the front, later told me, this awareness gave the fighters at the front new vigor. So they had to look for a ship, but when they looked around, there was no ship. There was only one, a “Saratov” that had tilted on its side. Being a sailor myself, I wanted to orient myself in my specialty and went to the “Saratov” to see what was really there. On the ship I met The stoker was the only person, the engine room was full of water, only one boiler with low pressure. I asked why the water in the engine room was not being pumped out.

"It's none of my business, I don't want to do anything positive for the Germans."

"We Latvians need the ship."

"Ah, that's another matter."

"Saratov" was the only ship that could be at the disposal of the Provisional Government, but it must be obtained from whoever owns it. It turns out that it belongs to the Russian Western Shipping Company, sails under the Russian flag, the captain is Remess, a Latvian who has been there the whole time. How can we get it at our disposal, where German power is all around and we have no say?

I went to Zālītis and said that we could mobilize and seize Saratov. That way the ship came into the hands of the Provisional Government. Why the Germans didn't protest, I don't know. It seems to me that a few weeks later the act would no longer have been successful. The Germans had already organized themselves against the Provisional Government and would not have allowed them to do that. Now the ship had to be put in order and started to repair it. I ran into difficulties: without the person who was already on the ship, I couldn't get anyone to come and help me work. The workers were against the Provisional Government, since they had to fight not only against the Germans, but also against Latvian workers. I didn't get any help for a long time until a neighbor came. The two of us put the ship in order, but there was a lot of work. Then I was called to headquarters.

"Mr. Ozolas, you have to go to sea tomorrow morning."

"But I only have one pot."

"Prepare yourself so that you can go to sea. There is an English squadron there, from which you will take over 5,000 rifles, hundreds of thousands of shells, 50 self-propelled guns. The English do not want to enter here, so as not to cause a conflict with the Germans; the Jurm must go there."

At the end of January, we were moving slowly with one boiler, but we got out very well. We stopped at one of the English warships and in the dark the reloading began. We also got things that had not been seen in Liepāja for a long time. The English were very kind, there was a lot of fraternization. I had to know about the boiler and at the same time go up as an interpreter, because there was no one who knew English and could tell the guys the instructor was teaching how to handle new submachine guns that our guys had not even seen. When everything was settled, we drove back to Liepāja with one boiler and the expensive bullet. The rifles had to be assembled in firing order, people had to be hired, but there was no money. They also had to be delivered to the front, where they were needed. We had to find workers who would not harm our cause. That was the environment in Liepāja at that time.”

Who was Artūrs Ozols?

Artūrs Ozols graduated from Riga Polytechnic School and served as a naval officer (midshipman) and engineer in the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the warship "Panteleimon". He participated in the liberation battles of Latvia as part of the Student Company. He brought the ship "Saratov" into operational order in Liepāja.

He was elected to the Constituent Assembly, then in Edinburgh, Scotland, as an expert, he supervised the construction of our first icebreaker "Krišjānis Valdemārs". For many years he was the director of the Maritime Department. After World War II, he was the first chairman of the board of the National Foundation in Scandinavia in exile. Died in Sweden.