Construction and deployment of German army military railways in Selia during World War I
I World War I

Between August 1914 and April 1915, hostilities affected the Latvian coast. Between April and July 1915, the German army occupied almost the entire territory of the Courland Governorate.

Only the territory of Ilūkste district east of Ilūkste remained under the control of the Russian army. Although the infantry bore the brunt of the war, supplying them and other units of the army was considered the main task, as the front line was increasingly moving away from Germany. In fact, there was only one mode of transport on land, with the help of which it was possible to provide large-scale and regular supplies to the troops. This was the railway. In the first year of the war, after several successful operations of the Russian army, Germany was temporarily forced to even lose part of its territory, but at the end of 1914, as the situation changed rapidly, more and more territories of the Russian Empire came under German control. The use of railways in this territory was limited by the different track width from the rest of Europe. In Russia, including part of the territory of modern Poland, broad-gauge railways were built with a width of 1524 mm, while in Europe the dominant width was 1435 mm. This gauge of tracks in Russian territory extended only as far as Warsaw. In order for the German army to successfully advance eastward, the broad-gauge railways in the occupied territories had to be rebuilt as quickly as possible to a normal gauge (1435 mm), since the evacuated Russian gauge (1524 mm) rolling stock was missing, and the laborious process of reloading wagons also had to be carried out. The supply of the front parts of the German army was quite difficult, especially when the front line reached Sēlija and came up against a natural obstacle – the Daugava. The nearest railway line ran relatively close to the Daugava, and it was the section of the Moscow–Ventspils railway between Jelgava and the Daugava crossing near Jēkabpils. The Russian army had occupied a small bridgehead on the left bank of the Daugava, precisely thanks to this railway and its Daugava (Zeļķi) bridge.

The German army, in turn, could safely use the Jelgava–Zīlāni railway section on the section from Jelgava to Daudzeva; the front line was located at the next station on this railway – Sēlpils. In order to ensure the supply and servicing of broad-gauge trains as close as possible to the front line, several new stations were built on the broad-gauge railway, such as Lāčplēsis (Berghof) and Menta. In the final section between Daudzeva and Sēlpils stations, which came under the control of the German army, the Ziķi (Sickin) and Kalēji (Kallei) stations were opened. The Ziķi station was later – in 1927 – replaced by the Staburagas stop. It should be noted that the German army gained full access to the Jelgava–Sēlpils railway section only in January 1916 after the bridges (which the Russian army had blown up during the retreat) were repaired and the track was rebuilt to standard gauge.

It is known that earlier the Radviliškis–Grīva railway section between the Radviliškis and Eglaine (Jelowka) railway stations was adjusted to standard gauge. The latter, like Daudzeva, actually served as the terminal station. This railway reconstruction began as early as August 1915, gradually reaching both Skapiškis and Rokiškis, Obeli and Eglaine stations during September. Initially, this railway was supplied through the port of Liepāja, but by October the German military railway workers had managed to adjust several more railway lines in the rear to standard gauge, as well as build a new line connecting the railways of German and Russian territory from Klaipėda (Bajorie) to Priekule. In addition, the St. Petersburg–Warsaw railway section from Warsaw to the Berkhof railway stop before Turmant station was also rebuilt to standard gauge to supply the front-line troops. In some railway schemes, Turmanta was shown as the final station, but in fact, due to the proximity of the front line, railway traffic to Turmanta was provided not by broad-gauge, but by narrow-gauge trains.

The Germans themselves called the terminus of the broad-gauge railway Berkhof bei Dünaburg, clearly emphasizing the target of their next attack – Daugavpils. The section between Vilnius and Berkhof was adjusted to normal gauge in November 1915, its last station with expanded tracks was Tschorny Brod (modern Visaginas). This station was also built by the German military department, as the original St. Petersburg–Warsaw railway station was located in Dukšta – very far from the Daugava front sector.

Thus, the issue of supplying the front-line troops of the German army was resolved on a global scale, but, first of all, the limited throughput capacity of all the listed railways should be taken into account. With the exception of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw railway, the other two railways were single-track, with sparsely located (about 20–25 km apart) intermediate railway stations for changing trains. Thus, it was impossible to ensure military supply using only one of these railways. Secondly, in the rather vast territory of the Uplands there were practically no land roads suitable for transporting heavy loads, such as cannons. Thirdly, two of the mentioned broad-gauge railways were located relatively far (20 to 100 km away) from the front line. As the front line stabilized and hostilities moved into the positional war phase, the construction of connecting narrow-gauge railways was recognized as the best logistical solution. These railways were also intended to address issues of procurement and transportation of building materials, provisioning of soldiers with provisions, and provisioning of horses with feed. Another important aspect was the compatibility of different types of battlefield railways.