National Partisan Resistance Movement in Zemgale
III National Partizans
Although the central part of Zemgale does not have such large forest areas as in other historical regions of Latvia, partisan activity was quite widespread here as well. In some places, the activity of national partisans was so active that representatives of the occupation authorities, fearing for their lives, themselves refrained from carrying out orders from higher authorities. For example, Colonel Ritņikovs, head of the Banditry Combating Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Latvian SSR, when compiling a report on the state of the destroyer battalions (hereinafter - IB) on January 1, 1947, had harsh words for the Iecava and Zālīte parish party officers, who did not carry out any work with IB fighters, and when refusing to do so, they excused themselves by saying that they were busy with the economic and political campaign. Such reservations can be understood, because in 1946, in the just-mentioned, neighboring parishes of Misa, Salgale and Garoza, national partisans destroyed many representatives of the authorities, and sent warning letters to others. National partisan units led by Jānis Rozentāls, Jānis Freimanis, and Arvīds Helmuts Dūmiņš were active here, and several more representatives of the authorities were killed by groups of robbers, whose members cannot in any way be called national partisans. Due to the aforementioned circumstances, the activities of the representatives of the Soviet authorities were partially disoriented and very cautious. However, not a single wider national partisan association was formed in this historical region, as happened in other places in Latvia. Despite this, the national partisans of Zemgale cannot be considered separatists, who would have operated without any contacts with freedom fighters in other regions. On the contrary - the core of many units was formed by Latvian legionnaires who had come from Kurzeme, who had not surrendered to the victors of World War II and were ready to continue the armed struggle against the Soviet occupiers. Western Zemgale - part of Tukums district until the end of the war was part of the Kurzeme fortress. After the capitulation of Germany, many Latvian soldiers did not lay down their weapons and joined the national partisans, uniting with former members of the SS Jagdverband Ostland who had been trained for partisan warfare. Consequently, the forest brothers of Tukums district were more or less connected with the Latvian National Partisan Organization (LNPO) in Northern Kurzeme. Many armed defenders of Latvian independence spent some time in the Kurzeme forests, but later moved closer to their places of residence. In fact, former legionnaires replenished the ranks of the national partisans throughout the region.
Part of Zemgale came under the control of the Red Army already in the summer of 1944. Before the retreat of the German troops, the guards established weapons and ammunition warehouses in some places. For example, such a warehouse was established in the area of the confluence of the Iecava and Svētupe rivers by the guards and policemen of the Taurkalne parish, presumably on the orders of General Kurelis' headquarters. The Vecumnieki, Taurkalne and Kurmene parishes are located in the very east of Zemgale, and the national partisans of these parishes developed close cooperation with the neighboring Mazzalve and Birzgale national partisans. Joint units were also formed. In many places in Zemgale, especially on the Lithuanian border, several international national partisan units were formed, in which Latvians and Lithuanians fought together. The most striking example of the Latvian and Lithuanian brotherhood of arms was the heroic and tragic battle around the Īle bunker on March 17, 1949. When carrying out the mass deportation of the population on March 25, 1949, one of the goals of the occupiers was to destroy the national resistance movement. In many places, the national partisans lost their supporters, and their supply base decreased.
In total, according to information prepared by the Chekists themselves, 166 operations and battles against national partisans were carried out in Zemgale between 1946 and 1950. In the following years, the activities of partisan units decreased.
More information sources
The Unknown War., Latvian National Partisans' Fights against the Soviet Occupiers 1944-1956. Second Supplemental Edition. Ed.: Apine, L.; Kiršteins, A. Riga: Domas spēks, 2012, pp. 273-274.
Related timeline
Related objects
Memorial to national partisans in Kurmene parish
The memorial site for national partisans near the Kurmene parish hall was opened on May 4, 2023, at the site of a monument praising the occupation troops of the USSR, which was dismantled in accordance with the law “On the Prohibition of Exhibiting Objects Glorifying the Soviet and Nazi Regimes and Their Dismantling in the Territory of the Republic of Latvia” adopted by the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia in June 2022. A white-painted wooden cross has been installed at the memorial site, at the foot of which is a black granite stele with the text carved into it: “To the national partisans of Kurmene and surrounding parishes 1944-1953. They will break us, but they will not bend us.”
To the right of the memorial sign, a stand with information about the Kurmene national partisans prepared by Bauska Museum historian Raits Ābelnieks has been installed. The memorial site was established at the initiative of local residents and with the support of the Kurmene parish branch of the Bauska Region Elderly People's Association and the Bauska Region Council.
An active struggle against the Soviet occupation regime and repression by the authorities took place in the eastern part of Bauska region – in Skaistkalne, Kurmene, Bārbele and Valle parishes. In this area, since the second Soviet occupation in the autumn of 1944, there were many men hiding from the authorities. The Mežabrāļi were ready to resist the authorities’ attempts to capture them, so they were provided with weapons and ammunition. At that time, this was easy to do, because there was no shortage of such goods in the former battlefields.
Contacts were established between individual groups and larger partisan units were formed. They were joined by former Latvian Legion soldiers from Kurzeme, who had not laid down their arms and surrendered after the German capitulation, but continued to fight against the occupiers. In the period from July to September, a national partisan unit of approximately 20 men was formed, the core of which was formed by the inhabitants of Kurmene parish. It also included men and young people from Bārbele, Skaistkalne, Valle and the neighboring Mazzalve parish in Jēkabpils district.
Ludvigs Putnieks, born in 1912, from the Kurmene parish "Nagliņiem", became the commander of the unit, his deputy was the former legionnaire Viktors Ančevs from the same parish "Mūrniekim". In the 1930s, L. Putnieks led the Kurmene branch of the patriotic youth organization "Latvijas Vanagi".
This partisan unit carried out several attacks on officials of the occupation authorities in the autumn and winter of 1945, as well as robbed collaborators and state-owned dairies and shops. This was done so that the maintenance of the forest brothers would not be a heavy burden on their already almost completely bankrupt relatives and other supporters. Several fighters of the destroyer battalions, the so-called "istrebikes", and the occupation authorities' inserts in the Kurmene parish Partisan Village Council and the Skaistkalne parish executive committee fell from partisan bullets. Such partisan activity significantly reduced the willingness of the collaborators to carry out the orders of the occupation authorities.
However, an agent was infiltrated into L. Putnieks' partisan group, as evidenced by subsequent events. On January 14, 1946, when V. Ančevs was visiting his mother in "Mūrnieki", militiamen and "Istrebiķe" arrived there to detain him. A shootout broke out, in which the forest brother and his mother died in an unequal battle.
On February 2, units of the 288th Rifle Regiment of the USSR Internal Troops attacked partisan bunkers in the Mazzalve parish forest near the border of Kurmene parish. In a bloody battle against overwhelming odds, Jānis Teodors Meija from Valle parish, Vilips Saulītis from Skaistkalne parish, Arnolds Freimanis from Kurmene parish, Fricis Galviņš from Mazzalve parish and an unknown Riga resident with the nickname Ika or Jonelis fell. The other forest brothers managed to retreat and disappear in the bustle of the battle. No information has been found about the attackers' losses. In subsequent Chekist operations, several other partisans were killed or captured.
