For the first Commander-in-Chief of the Latvian Army David Simanson

Dāvids Sīmansons was born on April 4, 1859 in Pilati, Valmiera Parish. Graduated from Limbaži district school. In 1880 he volunteered for the Army, 115th Infantry Regiment. In 1881, D. Simansons entered the Riga Junker School, which he graduated from in 1883 as a proletarian. In 1888 he received the rank of podporučika. In 1891 he entered the General Staff Academy. In 1892, D. Simansons received the rank of postman, followed by the rank of captain (1899), captain (1901) and lieutenant colonel (March 1904).

From 1904 to 1905. D. Simanson took part in the Japan - Russia war; from 1910 to 1912 was a senior officer at headquarters. In 1910 he received the rank of colonel, and in May 1915 - the rank of major general. Until the end of 1917, D. Simansons commanded various army formations - the 116th Infantry Regiment Battalion, the 66th Infantry Regiment, the 17th Division Brigade, the Kaluga Separate Brigade, the 135th Division and the 4th Separate Division. He was also contused several times in the battles. In October 1917, D. Simansons left the service and in January 1919 returned to Riga. On June 6, 1919, D. Simansons joined the Armed Forces of the Provisional Government of Latvia, the 1st Latvian Separate Brigade, as a general.

Lieutenant Colonel Jānis Balodis (1881-1965) continued the work started by Oskars Kalpa (1882-1919), establishing the 1st Latvian Separate Brigade on the basis of the Kalpaks Battalion in April 1919, which, like the O. Kalpaks Battalion, was under the command of the German Landesvér. Therefore, the establishment of the Latvian Army began only on July 10, 1919, after the unification of the 1st Latvian Brigade and the Northern Latvia Brigade commanded by Jorgs Zemitans (1873-1928). General Dāvids Sīmansons from Russia, who had not served in Latvian regiments and was less known to the Latvian public, was appointed its first commander-in-chief.

At the same time, from July 15 to September 5, there was also the Minister of Defense of the Provisional Government approved by the People's Council, reformed and supplemented for some representatives of minorities.
Captain Alexander Plensner, then head of the Press Department at the Chief of Staff of the Army, wrote that he had largely been chosen as a certain compromise figure for the post of Commander-in-Chief, so as not to choose between Zemitan and Balod, in the face of controversy between the so-called The battles of Cēsis, in which the brigade commanded by J. Balozs did not participate or retained neutrality.

Plesner wrote about his impressions: “[...] He was already 60 years old, in my perception at that time he was old, but he couldn't feel much. It seems to me that he represented well the type of Russian general. With a sword belt over a noticeable belly. However, be careful and kind to people, no matter who they are. I had a good impression of him. Of course, he had entered a completely different atmosphere and a completely different army than he had worked so far. From an earlier point of view, he had now become a rebel commander. He didn't seem disgusted by the task. Only this was still new and unusual for him. I had to live in it. And he tried to do it with a noticeable will to understand. It seems that the Latvian blood had not yet dried on him. ”

During this difficult time, the commander-in-chief had to deal with various issues related to the existence of the new army - fuel, medical, political issues.
The peculiarities of the work of the Commander-in-Chief are also characterized by the fact that at the beginning there were some uncertainties with the numbering of regiments. They reflected the competition between the army groups of the Latvian Army, the already mentioned so-called "Nordic" and "Southern".

At the end of August in Riga, Commander-in-Chief David Simanson took part in a meeting of representatives of anti-religious forces, where the Polish military representative Alexander Miskovsky pointed out Bermont's real intentions. Immediately afterwards, on August 30, Simonson resigned as war minister, "because he wants to be only the commander-in-chief of the army, because he has only taken over the duties of the Minister of War for the time being."
The crisis in Bermont's troops was apparently imminent, and by early October it was already clear to the government and the army chief that there would be a conflict.

On October 6, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, D. Simansons, in an encrypted telegram, authorized the military representative Mārtiņš Hartmanis to ask the leadership of the Polish Army to open war against parts of Bermont that "moved from Kurzeme and Lithuania" in the northeast. On October 8, the Bermont attack on Riga began.
Already on October 11, the Ministry of Defense held a meeting between Commander D. Simanson and the heads of missions of France and Great Britain on Bermont's call to conclude a ceasefire and agree on joint action against the Red Army. Thoughts were shared and a response was not sent immediately. D. Simansons responded with a refusal only after a few days. On October 14-15, the Latgale division carried out an attack over the Daugava bridges, suffering heavy losses, and with the support of the Allied flotilla artillery, Daugavgrīva and Bolderāja were captured.

In 1926, D. Simansons was awarded the 3rd class of the Lāčplēsis War Order for the fact that on October 9-10, “with his sensible and energetic actions he saved the soldiers from danger, moved all our parts to the right bank of the Daugava, leaving no trophy for the enemy. By selflessly, he resisted all the blows of the enemy's force and very soon launched an attack, as a result of which Daugavgrīva and Bolderāja were liberated, which greatly facilitated the liberation of the whole of Rīga ”.

On October 15, D. Simansons submits a request to the government to release himself. The failures at the start of the Bermont attack proved to be severe for health.

The next day he was placed in reserve. Plensner admitted that Simonson had been called to resign. By deciding to resist and punish Zemitan for his order to resign from Riga, he had acted contrary to the intentions of the government, which wanted to protect the city.

Zemitan had ordered the resignation by Ulmanis' order. Indirectly, this is confirmed by the fact that Foreign Minister Siegfried Anna Meierovich, on his way to Poland, offered Balodis the position of Commander-in-Chief on October 14, as well as the fact that on October 17, when Balodis arrived in Riga, Simansons was apparently offended to transfer a post.

Historian Edgars Andersons believes that Simanson and Balodi were replaced on Ulmanis' initiative. It is significant that after Bermont was expelled from Latvia, Ulmanis once again thanked Simanson "for the work of organizing the army, which the general has started and which he has now completed".

From December 1920, Simanson was a member of the council of the Ministry of Defense (War), and since 1924 he has been the chairman of the council.

At the end of 1921, the then chairman of the Military Council, Karl Goppers, wrote in his attestation: His strong self-sacrifice in the war has relied on his health, which no longer allows him to develop the energy and stamina he is accustomed to at work. ”

In February 1925, Simonson was retired. In the summer of 1930, the press noticed: Leaning on a cane, he makes a step at a step, as if dragging the burden of his long life and years as a soldier. Many have no idea that this old man is the oldest Latvian soldier and also our oldest general. ”

David Simanson died on January 13, 1933, at the Riga Military Hospital, where he was placed at the end of 1932. The general was taken out of the Riga Dome Church and buried with military honor in the Brothers' Cemetery with the image of "Mother Latvia".

In 2013, a memorial plaque to D. Simansons was installed in Limbaži, near the facade of the former city council building (Baumanis Kārlis Square 1).

During his military career, D. Simansons received awards - the Latvian 3rd class Lāčplēsis War Order, the Cross of Merit of the Guards; Russian St. St. George's Sword, 3rd and 4th class St. Order of Vladimir, 2nd and 3rd class St. Order of Stanislav, 3rd class St. Annas ordeni.