page_title: Latvian Riflemen
section_title: Red Latvian Riflemen
hierarchical_section_title: Latvian Riflemen / Red Latvian Riflemen
caption_attribution_description: English: Monument for the Latviesu Strelnieki in Riga, Latvia.
context_page_description: The Latvian Riflemen were originally a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic territories against Germans in World War I. Initially, the battalions were formed by volunteers, and from 1916 by conscription among the Latvian population. A total of about 40,000 troops were drafted into the Latvian Riflemen Division. Were used as an elite force in Imperial and Bolshevik armies.
context_section_description: In May 1917 large parts of the Latvian regiments transferred their loyalty to the Bolsheviks. They became known as Red Latvian Riflemen (Latvian: Latviešu sarkanie strēlnieki, Russian: красные латышские стрелки) and actively participated in the Russian Civil War. The Riflemen took an active part in the suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings in Moscow and Yaroslavl in 1918. They fought against Denikin, Yudenich, and Wrangel. After victory in Oryol-Kromy operation against Denikin in October 1919 division of Latvian Riflemen received the highest military recognition of that time: the Honorable Red Flag of VTsIK. Jukums Vācietis, formerly a colonel in the Latvian Rifles became the first commander-in-chief of the Red Army.
  The Latvian Red Riflemen were instrumental in the attempt to establish Soviet rule in Latvia in 1919. They suffered great losses of personnel due to the decreasing popularity of Bolshevik ideas among the Latvian Riflemen and Latvians generally, and the majority were re-deployed to other fronts of the Russian Civil War. The remaining forces of the Red Army in Latvia were defeated by Baltic German volunteers under General von der Goltz and newly formed Latvian units initially under Colonel Kalpaks and later under Colonel Jānis Balodis, who were loyal to the Latvian Republic in western Latvia; by the Estonian Army including the North Latvian Brigade, and finally by a joint campaign of the Polish and new Latvian army in Latgale, south-eastern Latvia.
  Following the 1920 peace treaty between Latvia and Bolshevist Russia, 11,395 former Red Riflemen returned to Latvia.
  Other former Riflemen remained in Soviet Russia and rose to leadership positions in the Red Army, Bolshevik party, and Cheka. When the USSR occupied Latvia in 1940, many of the surviving Red Riflemen returned to Latvia.
  The most famous pre-World War II Soviet Communist leaders from Latvia were not from the Red Riflemen: Martin Latsis, Jēkabs Peterss, Arvīds Pelše, Yan Karlovich Berzin, Yan Rudzutak, Pēteris Stučka, Robert Eikhe. All of them, except for Stučka (who died in 1932) and Pelše, perished in the Great Purges of 1937–1940.
caption: Soviet-era monument for the Latvian Riflemen in Riga, Latvia.
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