Skrunda Battle
I Wars of Independence, I WW1 & Wars of Independence

The Skrunda Battle Memorial is located in the centre of Skrunda, in Oskaras Kalpaka Park near the Skrunda Culture House, at the intersection of Kuldīgas and Liepājas Streets. In 2005, a stone was erected at the memorial commemorating the battle of 29 January 1919, when the battalion commanded by Oskars Kalpaks, together with the German and Russian units of the Landeswehr, liberated Skrunda from the Bolsheviks. The tradition of Flag Day has been maintained since 2004, commemorating the first town liberated from the Bolsheviks and its liberators, who raised the Latvian flag at the Skrunda church on 29 January 1919.

During the first months of the War of Independence, the Latvian Provisional Government, under pressure from the Bolsheviks, was rapidly losing territory. On 22 January 1919, the Bolsheviks captured Skrunda. A week later, in the early hours of 29 January, the offensive to recapture Skrunda began. The Latvian Separate Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Oskars Kalpaks was to attack along the Rudbāržu-Skrunda highway and drive the Bolsheviks out of Skrunda. This would be followed by a flank attack by German units with the task of destroying the advancing enemy, while the Russian company would attack between the Latvian and German units, using the Skrunda church as a landmark. The attack was also supported by a German artillery battery. On the day of the attack, the frost was 15 degrees, the sun shone brightly, the Kalpaks had to cross a clear field, and the Bolsheviks were sheltering in the stone buildings of the manor. The Bolsheviks opened fire when the chain of attackers was about 300 metres away, a two-way firefight broke out, and the soldiers under Oskars Kalpaks' command advanced in a rapid advance, forcing the enemy to cease fire and retreat across the Venta. After about 3 hours of fighting, Skrunda was captured at about 9am, with the Latvian Separate Battalion having only 2 wounded.

The Battle of Skrunda was of great importance for the morale of the Latvian Provisional Government's armed Spek soldiers, as it was in fact the first significant victory in the battles against the Bolsheviks. Moreover, the commander himself, Oskars Kalpaks, showed particular courage in the battle, encouraging the soldiers by his example not to be afraid.
 

About halfway between Rudbārži and Kalvė, on the side of an old road parallel to the A9 highway, is the Aizpore Cemetery. 

There is a monument and 12 memorials to the volunteer soldiers of Oskars Kalpaka's battalion, who lived in the surrounding houses.

The Aizpore half-manor of the Kalvene municipality was the farthest place to which the Latvian Separate (Kalpaka) Battalion retreated on 22 January 1919. Here the battalion received its first reinforcements from Liepāja - 35 men and launched a counter-attack, reaching Rudbārži on 24 January.

The idea of erecting a monument was conceived in the 1920s, when former soldiers of the 1st Latvian Separate Battalion, or Kalpaka Battalion, erected a temporary memorial sign - a block of oak with a plaque. At that time, the idea of creating a larger memorial ensemble was born, but it was only realised on 15 May 1993, when the memorial sign - the Ray of Light - was unveiled - an obelisk made of grey granite. 

The 2.3 m high memorial sign is made by sculptors Harijs SPRINCIS and Imants LUKAŽIS (1930 - 2007, buried in Aizpuri Cemetery), whose father was also a soldier of O. Kalpaka's battalion. The names of the poet E.VIRZA are engraved on the memorial sign:

KALPAKAM

AND HIS

TO THE SOLDIERS

1919

MORNING OF 25 JANUARY

FROM THIS DAY

ALSO FROM

FIRE

OVER LATVIA

At the same time, the graves of the 12 Kalpaks buried in the cemetery were marked with oak memorial plaques, which were replaced by granite markers in 2019.

In the early 1990s, a two-metre-high monument was erected in the cemetery, next to which grows an oak tree planted in the mid-1990s by the legendary actor Ēvalds Valters.