Efforts of the residents of the Ķegums side to save the power plant
On June 22, 1941 (Sunday), the events of the Second World War began in Latvia. The wave of war "overtakes" Ķegums without much battle. As the Soviet army hurriedly retreated, Russian soldiers rushed around Tome's country house to get food.
To protect the population, we set up a security team with a contact point at Tome's headquarters. Aldermanis, a power plant employee from Stuten's home, and a technician from Mr. Krasovsky's request came to the headquarters to help us prevent the planned blasting of the power plant.
The Russian security administration has asked the director P.Krasovskis for a plan of the power plant and a person who could show them the points of interest. If dynamite boxes are placed in the tunnel, it must be possible to enter and cut the connected wires. We act quickly and carefully, using the attic of Biķi farm house for observation.
Soldiers dressed in Russian uniforms are allowed to cross the bridge, but private ones are detained until the documents are checked.
By "acquiring" the uniforms of four Russian soldiers, the employees of our power plant infiltrate a larger group of Russians who crossed the bridge.
The technician, as an administrative person with special permission, was able to speak to the bridge guards. As planned, the technician met us and they managed to sneak into the shaft and cut the wires. On the second day, the technician came with gratitude from Mr. Krasovsky for what he had done. Our reporters warned that an explosive device was installed at the command post, which would indicate damage to the wires. We saw whether the Russian bombers would detect the damage and raise an alarm. Events accelerated. The military parts of the bridge guard were replaced by police guards in private clothes (with an inscription on the sleeve). There was unrest, and with the appearance of some German armored vehicles on the road, the power plant was left unguarded. At the suggestion of the technician, we took over the security as volunteers and our men guarded Ķegums for a few days. Mr. Krasovsky arrived with his staff, a German armored car arrived, and its commander spoke to the leadership for a short time and left.
The German political leadership and the head of the Riga district, Veida, came from Riga. He personally thanked me and Tom's guards for their patriotic work. We received a salary, the first German money in Latvia, and a call to serve in the police.
Now, decades later, I realized the danger of Kegums and the huge efforts of Director Krasovsky to save our power plant.
However, in June, as parts of the Red Army retreated, a bomb was dropped on the 80-meter-long 6th run of the Kegums Bridge to somehow hinder Hitler's army from moving east. The power plant continued to operate on a daily basis. The bridge was restored in a wooden structure within two months.
The damage then had to be repaired by a group of builders under my control, building stairs and a bridge over the blown section so that work could continue. Later, a suspension bridge was built, because it was necessary to bring gravel for concreting from Birzgale. One trolley could be moved along this bridge. There was a lot of work.
Andersone, R. 2004. Ķegums hydroelectric power plant. P.
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The German army's concrete fire point in the Kegum HPP reservoir near the Nega inlet
It is located in the Ķegum HPP reservoir at the Nega inlet (in front of the Nega houses), on its left bank. One of the most visually and scenically impressive and also the best-preserved concrete fireplaces, washed by the waves of the Daugava. It can be seen from a larger piece. A footbridge has been built from the shore to the top of the fire point (overgrown with grass). Narrow-gauge railway (?) tracks embedded in the concrete walls of the fire station. You can get inside from the side of the footbridge. This is one of the fire points of the defense line of the German army during the First World War on the left bank of the Daugava, which can more or less be traced along the entire length of the left bank of the Daugava. The aforementioned line of defense is a large-scale military system that has not really been evaluated as a whole until now. The remains of the fire point can be seen by boat on the Ķegum HPP.
Concrete fire point of the German army at the top of the bank of the Ķegum HPP in front of Andulii
It is located about 1.2 km east of a small extension of the stream (the stream flows near Lejasgrantiniņi) at the top of the steep bank slope of the Ķegum HPP in front of Andulii. The shore in this place is overgrown with forest and undergrowth, so only a keen observer will notice this fire point from the side of the reservoir. The fire point is well preserved as it has not been damaged by coastal erosion. This is one of the fire points of the defense line of the German army during the First World War on the left bank of the Daugava, which can more or less be traced along the entire length of the left bank of the Daugava. The aforementioned line of defense is a large-scale military system that has not really been evaluated as a whole until now. The fire point can be seen by boat on the Ķegum HPP, as it is located in a private area.
The remains of the German army's concrete fire point in the Ķegums HPP reservoir in front of Sidrabini
It is located about 0.25 km east of the Ķegum HPP reservoir bay near Silapūpēži, in the direction of Jaunjelgava, opposite the Sidrabiņi farm. The point of fire has slipped partially into the water and split into several parts, resembling a pile of construction debris. The coast is overgrown. This is one of the fire points of the defense line of the German army during the First World War on the left bank of the Daugava, which can more or less be traced along the entire length of the left bank of the Daugava. The aforementioned line of defense is a large-scale military system that has not really been evaluated as a whole until now. The remains of the fire point can be seen by boat on the Ķegum HPP. About 150 m west of the Daugava bank, the remains of another fire point have slipped into the water.
The remains of the German army's concrete fire point in the Ķegums HPP reservoir in front of Jaundauglii
It is located on the shore of the Ķegum HPP water reservoir about 0.6 km east of the Nega inlet, in front of Jaundauglii. The point of fire has slipped from the shore into the water and broken into several parts. Two larger birches have grown in it, a thicket has grown. One part of it is connected to the shore by a footbridge. This is one of the fire points of the defense line of the German army during the First World War on the left bank of the Daugava, which can more or less be traced along the entire length of the left bank of the Daugava. The aforementioned line of defense is a large-scale military system that has not really been evaluated as a whole until now. The remains of the fire point can be seen by boat on the Ķegum HPP.
Concrete fire point of the German army on the shore of the Ķegum HPP near Pudurie
It is located on the peninsula at the mouth of Konupīte (currently a flooded extension of the river) in the Daugava, in the territory of the "Puduri" recreation complex. As a result of wave erosion, the fire point has tilted towards the river. To prevent bank erosion, the banks of the reservoir here have been reinforced with a concrete protective wall. The fire points of the defense line of the German army during the First World War can more or less be traced along the entire length of the left bank of the Daugava. The aforementioned line of defense is a large-scale military system that has not really been evaluated as a whole until now. The fire point can be seen well by taking a boat along the Ķegum HPP.
The remains of the concrete fire point of the German army on the shore of the Ķegum HPP reservoir in front of Silapūpēži
It is located about 0.1 km east of the Ķegum HPP reservoir bay near Silapūpēži, in the direction of Jaunjelgava. The fire point has slipped partially into the water, overgrown with trees, bushes and other vegetation, and to the uninitiated, a larger piece from the water side may resemble a larger stone. One of the landmarks is a birch tree growing on it. This is one of the fire points of the defense line of the German army during the First World War on the left bank of the Daugava, which can more or less be traced along the entire length of the left bank of the Daugava. The aforementioned line of defense is a large-scale military system that has not really been evaluated as a whole until now. The remains of the fire point can be seen by boat on the Ķegum HPP. About 150 m east of the Daugava bank, the remains of another fire point have slipped into the water.
Possible location of Otomaras Oškalns bunker
A remote and difficult to access place - a large forest massif about 200 m west of the Nega river and about 0.5 km southwest of the Nega flood. It is recommended to go to the mentioned place on foot or by bicycle, using LIDAR maps and geographical coordinates. In the mentioned place, there is an inland dune embankment about a kilometer long (in the W-E direction) and half a kilometer wide (in the N-S direction) covered with coniferous forest. At the top of the northern and eastern slopes of the dune massif are well-preserved trenches, believed to date from the Second World War. Harijs Jaunzems (former Ķegums HPP engineer) believes that the bunker of the Red Army partisan unit formed by Otomaras Oškalns was located in this area (the exact point is unknown).
Prince Leopold Straße (Prinz – Leopold Straße)
The name of the place (road) during the First World War - "Prinz - Leopold Straße" - Prince Leopold's road. About 7 km long historical forest road or the place that started at the junction of Große Kurfürsten Damm and Kaiser Damm near the so-called Kurland Denkmal and winds through the forest towards Birzgale, connecting with the First World wartime narrow-gauge railway line: Lāčplēsis – Latgali. To the west of the road and about 2 km south of the site of the Kurland Denkmal is a First World War shooting range. Today, the Prince Leopold Road can be walked, cycled and driven (under suitable conditions). The road crosses Konupīti and the Nega tributary.
It is thought that the soldiers of the German army, staying for a long time on the front of the left bank of the Daugava, named this road after the Bavarian Prince Leopold (1846 - 1930), who led the German and Austro-Hungarian forces on the Eastern Front during the First World War.
