1st (4th) Valmiera Infantry Regiment
I Wars of Independence
On the basis of an agreement concluded between the representatives of the governments of Latvia and Estonia on February 18, 1919 in Tallinn (Revele), the Commander-in-Chief of the Estonian Army, Major General Johan Laidoner, authorized the formation of one infantry battalion and one wire artillery. The place of formation was determined to be Tartu (Tartu), where on February 18 Lieutenant Colonel Jūlijs Jansons started the formation of the Latvian army. In the northern part of Latvia and Estonia, which had been liberated from the Bolsheviks, mobilizations of Latvian citizens were announced, which allowed the formation of a regiment called the 1st (Latvian) Valmiera Infantry Regiment in a short time.
The regiment formed on March 27 (800 bayonets, 5 machine guns, 8 self-propelled guns) was sent to the Alūksne front of the Estonian Army and Latvian Bolshevik Army, Ape station, where after an unsuccessful first battle they were forced to retreat to the right bank of Melnupe to defend against the 4th Latvian attempts by the Soviet regiment to force the river. When the Bolsheviks retreated, the regiment occupied Api (27.05.), Vecgulbeni (31.05.), Lubāna, and until 5 June they reached Krustpils and Jēkabpils. The regiment of the regiment stretched from Kaldabruuna on the right bank of the Daugava to Balvi. The 3rd Battalion, an engineering company, was formed in Laudona during the mobilization round. The regiment's artillery battery took part in the battles of Cēsis. After the battles of Cēsis, the regiment was included in the Vidzeme Division of the Latvian Army and renamed the 4th Valmiera Infantry Regiment.
At the end of the summer, the regiment occupied the front line on the Līvāni-Atašiene-Barkava line, being in constant fighting against the Bolshevik Red Army, but at the end of September it was redeployed to Riga. From October 4, 1919, the Valmiera Infantry Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Kārlis Bojārs, took part in the defeat of the Bermont troops. After that, the fighting against the Bolsheviks in Latgale continued until the end of the War of Independence. 70 soldiers of the regiment fell in the Latvian War of Independence. 178 soldiers of the regiment were awarded the Lāčplēsis War Order.
After the Latvian War of Independence in October 1920, the 4th Valmiera Infantry Regiment was transferred to Riga, where it existed as part of the Vidzeme Infantry Division until the occupation of Latvia in 1940, when it was enlisted in the People's Army.
More information sources
History of Valmiera Infantry Regiment. 1919-1929 Riga, pp. 1929 - 465, partly included in the collection of articles: Ziemeļnieki II., 1974. http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html#panel:pp|issue:/ g_001_0306121295 | article: DIVL118 | issueType: undefined
Valmiera Infantry Regiment. Art Encyclopaedic Dictionary of History. https://vesture.eu/Valmieras_k%C4%81jnieku_pulks
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