Exhibition "Ziemeļlatgale in the freedom struggle" in Balvu County Museum
Muziejus

The exhibition allows you to look into the history of Latvian Independence from the point of view of Northern Latgale. What is the contribution of the people of our side, how did our grandfathers get involved in the fight for the common cause of Latvia, what are their fates, how is their memory preserved? Answers to these and other questions can be found in Latvian, Russian and English.

The Northern Latgale liberation operation, also called the Viļakas-Jaunlatgale capture operation, was part of the Latgale liberation attack operation carried out by the Latvian armed forces during the Latvian freedom struggle. Its purpose was to occupy the northern part of Latgale and cut the Pskov-Daugavpils railway line in order to prevent the arrival of additional units of Soviet Russian troops from the Estonian front and from inside Russia. The most important battles took place between January 9 and 20, 1920, when control over the railway line from Pitalova (Abrene) to Kārsava was gained.