Lilaste tank range
Around 1984, I participated in a tourist match that took place on the northeastern shore of Lake Ummja. At that time, I was surprised by the fact that just a few hundred meters away, in the forest along the shore of the lake, Soviet army tanks were moving, their base was probably somewhere closer to the sea. At the same time as the tourist match, a training drive of two tanks was also taking place.
From those times to the present day, the old tank road (overgrown with pines) has survived, which led from Lilaste station along the northern shore of Lake Ummja and then turned south to Dzirnavezers. Where it led further - remains to be specified. The former site of the tank road from Lilaste to Dzirnavezers is very clearly visible in aerial and satellite images. In nature, it appears as a relatively straight, sandy and overgrown wide strip, where modern off-road drivers "try" their skills.
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In fact, in the Lilaste area near the sea in Soviet times there was a tank training ground. And near Brasa station there was a tank repair plant. The repaired tanks were loaded onto wagons and transported in trainloads by rail towards Saulkrasti. Before reaching the Lilaste station, in the forest, the tanks were unloaded and they were heading for a run-in after repairs. Moreover, they often went directly to the coast of the bay. An acquaintance of a tanker, who at one time did this, told me about this. When I was little, I lived opposite the railway on Viestura Ave. and I remember very well how we, boys, ran to look at the tank trains that often passed by and we were naturally very interested in looking at them :)
The tank road started from the Ādaži landfill and went to the sea. The tanks turned from the landfill to the power transmission clearing, crossed the A1 highway at the turn of Serģi Street, through the forest to Ummis Lake, then along the Lilaste Street crossing, to the sea past Garezeri.