This year the winter wouldn`t loose its cold grip on Mother Nature until quite late. Here in the Northern Norway the valley was filled with snow and frost until late May when Spring finally arrived embracing us with sun and warmth. It wasn`t a moment too late because Diggers from around the western hemisphere was eager to get over to Latvia to help search for the fallen soldiers of WW1 and WW2.
In the last weeks before the trip I had to do some serious repairs to my old car and with just two days to spare it was finally ready for a roadtrip. I built a mountain of food for my cats and instructed my brother to check up on them before I plotted the route into the GPS and sped off towards the Baltic states one early Sunday morning. Next morning I found the ferry in Helsinki and a few hours later I could park the car at the Legenda HQ and was welcomed by our Boss, Talis Esmits. We spent a couple of hours chatting and drinking coffee before he dropped me off at Duksi who took me into Rigas beautiful Old Town. After a quick shower at the hotel I strolled towards a bar and soon found some of the other diggers. We spent the next days eating good food, drinking some beer and enjoying the sights of the city. Soon we were all gathered except a few who couldn`t make it for different reasons, and Tuesday evening we raised a glass for them and went to sleep relatively early coz next morning it would all begin.
In the last weeks before the trip I had to do some serious repairs to my old car and with just two days to spare it was finally ready for a roadtrip. I built a mountain of food for my cats and instructed my brother to check up on them before I plotted the route into the GPS and sped off towards the Baltic states one early Sunday morning. Next morning I found the ferry in Helsinki and a few hours later I could park the car at the Legenda HQ and was welcomed by our Boss, Talis Esmits. We spent a couple of hours chatting and drinking coffee before he dropped me off at Duksi who took me into Rigas beautiful Old Town. After a quick shower at the hotel I strolled towards a bar and soon found some of the other diggers. We spent the next days eating good food, drinking some beer and enjoying the sights of the city. Soon we were all gathered except a few who couldn`t make it for different reasons, and Tuesday evening we raised a glass for them and went to sleep relatively early coz next morning it would all begin.
In Lapland one has to pay attention not to hit any of the wildlife crossing the roads.
Detail from the HQ.
Riga is full of interesting architecture...
...and impressive old churches.
We visited museums, markets and the Ghetto Museum, well worth a visit.
Very early Wednesday morning we met up outside the hotel and walked a few hundred meters to the Riflemen Monument where the Latvian crew came to pick us up. We drove straight to Kurland and the Radi resort with our luggage and for picking up some other diggers. It was amazing seeing all the guys and girls again, and we had got a new Digger with us, Erin, an artist from USA.
One of the Latvian diggers, Vlad, had earlier discovered what could be a large massgrave in the forest on the Machinegun Hill outside Riga and we headed there to investigate it further. The WW1 battles around this hill had been heavy with huge casualties on both sides so it was a good chance we would find fallen and lost soldiers between all the battle discards and old trenchlines. Vlad showed us the spot he had found a fallen soldier and Talis ordered the forest floor cleaned and test pits opened. The sandy soil is easier to dig than clay, but we soon got warm and sweaty and after an hour or so the first bones poked out from the sand.
One of the Latvian diggers, Vlad, had earlier discovered what could be a large massgrave in the forest on the Machinegun Hill outside Riga and we headed there to investigate it further. The WW1 battles around this hill had been heavy with huge casualties on both sides so it was a good chance we would find fallen and lost soldiers between all the battle discards and old trenchlines. Vlad showed us the spot he had found a fallen soldier and Talis ordered the forest floor cleaned and test pits opened. The sandy soil is easier to dig than clay, but we soon got warm and sweaty and after an hour or so the first bones poked out from the sand.
In the spring of 1917 there was a short truce so that fallen soldiers could be buried..
"Daavaaaij!!"
Vlad, who found the place.
We carefully uncovered the soldiers remains, and as the sand around them was removed we found items that showed they were Latvian Riflemen. We could also see on several of them how they had been struck by bullets and shrapnel, and some was very damaged from detonations. On one of the soldiers we found a numbered medal so there is a chance he can be identified. More and more soldiers were uncovered as the day went on, and all exhumed in the same carefull manner. News teams arrived to make interviews and film our work, and Duksi and our own photographers went around filming and documenting it all. It was nice and sunny and while some was digging,some rested or went around in the surrounding forest with their detectors and searching rods.
The numbered silver medal could provide a name for the fallen.
Some of the soldiers wore crosses and icons, and a few had ammo pouches.
Video below made by Victoria :
On this soldier we found a shrapnel ball in his neck and legs.
In the afternoon all the soldiers in the grave had been exhumed and we began filling back the pit. We moved a kilometer into the forest to a hill covered in trenchlines where several other fallen soldiers were found and exhumed and in total 37 soldiers could be brought back for a final resting place,not being lost in the wilderness anymore, forgotten and to prehaps be looted by black diggers.
Filling back the soil.
Maris.
Sasha had birthday and was surprised when he dug a silver signal and found his birthday present.
Hans interviewed by local news.
Our own madman Gary snuk up and stole the mic from the TV girl.
Diggers essentials.
It was late in the evening when we returned to the resort and got fed by Kristine, but we managed to find time for some chats and a few beers before finding our sleeping quarters. The plan for the next two days was to investigate some frontline positions in the Kurland forests and early thursday morning we headed out with no less than two JCBs, one large and one small. As the machine began opening up a deep trenchline I snuk off for a stroll in the forest with my detector. I had signals everywhere I swept the Fisher and I tried to dig most of them. It was all shrapnel, grenades of every caliber, casings from rifles and machinepistols and I saw several ruins of old farms destroyed during the battles that raged here. When I made it back to the JCB they had found a soldier but he was all in pieces from the explosion that must have killed him.
It had rained most of my drive towards Latvia,but as soon as we went into the forest the first day the sun peeked out and kept shining throughout the expedition.
Stuff that goes Boom.
Tons of mortar fins told a story of a horrible battle.
Live ammo and grenades litters the forest here.
Farms destroyed during the fighting.
An old cellar.
Piles of explosives dug out.
A few rifles came out from the trenchline.
This amazing piece of history was found near the trenchline.
Katushya rocket.
The day went on with not much finds but battle discards, we had a base camp where we returned from our strolls with the detectors for rest and food and some chatting before returning to the search. I think all the diggers hoped that the next signal they dug would be a lost soldier but we had little luck. In the evening when we met up by the cars only two soldiers had been found, and none of them had anything to identify them but still ,they are not lost anymore and will have a final resting place on the War Grave Cemetery.
In the evening at Radi we had a good time together with laughs and good food and some well deserved rest.
In the evening at Radi we had a good time together with laughs and good food and some well deserved rest.
K98 bayonet and PPS magazine.
German handgrenade.
DP28 machinegun magazine.
A shot to pieces ammo box.
Tellerminen.
Every morning I was up early and found George circling the coffee pot and together we enjoyed the silent morning before breakfast and the hordes of tired diggers, moments to last a lifetime. It was day three and as soon as our stomachs had been filled Talis ordered us into the vans and out to the frontlines. This day was very hot and the area was a mix of fields, swamps and forests. We had sent home the big JCB and used only the little one to help us open up a trenchline. The soil here was hard clay and difficult to dig. Some diggers searched the opened trench while others spread out in different directions. I spent the morning in the shady forest and everytime I crossed into a open field and the thundering sun it was like walking into a wall of heat, just eating the energy away. The signals given by the detector prooved heavy fighting had taken place here and it had obviously been a tank battle here as I think every one of the diggers found parts and shrapnel from blown up tanks. Mindaugas came out from the forest with bits of barrels from two different panzers, while others found tank tracks, sprocket wheels and other parts.
The work in the trench was successfull as at least 3 soldiers were found, one of them had a numbered Red Army award on him together with a vallet with remains of paper money and a soldiers book. A smaller group of diggers had went to another section of this frontline and found a German soldier with several big pieces of shrapnel stuck in his bones. So all in all it was a hard but successfull day when the evening finally arrived.
Back at the resort Kristine had prepared the barbeque for us and we had a very nice time together even though the mosquitoes was feating on us.
The work in the trench was successfull as at least 3 soldiers were found, one of them had a numbered Red Army award on him together with a vallet with remains of paper money and a soldiers book. A smaller group of diggers had went to another section of this frontline and found a German soldier with several big pieces of shrapnel stuck in his bones. So all in all it was a hard but successfull day when the evening finally arrived.
Back at the resort Kristine had prepared the barbeque for us and we had a very nice time together even though the mosquitoes was feating on us.
Morning coffee at Radi is the best.
Peter.
Battledamaged Red Army helmet.
Erin and Anders exhuming a soldier.
Boots found in the trench.
Pz track and sprocket.
The guys taking a break.
Legends at work.
George.
Matt doing what he loves,bringing soldiers back.
The numbered medal might ID this soldier.
Guardsbadge found on the soldier.
Red Army helmet.
Panzer parts.
"Guys, what i can do that i am chosen by Gods to not to dig in such heavy field conditions"
Dont wake the sleeping bear.
John taking a rest.
Working like she never have done anything else.
Gary Kostka and Jonny Bay at work.
Bringing the soldier out of the forest.
KIA.
Again it was a tired and happy gang of diggers that filled the dining room at lovely Kristines resort for another exellent dinner, and after dinner we celebrated birthdays of a couple of the diggers with coffee and a yummy cake. We were fewer diggers now as Hans,Maris and Dainis had to leave home to their families for different reasons, but they were still with us in spirit,just as the other diggers that hadn`t made it to this expedition.
Saturday morning I woke up early as I often do, and being out on these expeditions makes my dreams very strange, so I was happy when I found George waiting for coffee, and we sat in silence looking at the mist dry up in the morning sun. Today was a big day, the reburials of the Red Army soldiers we exhumed last spring expedition. These events are very emotional and rewarding. Usually the reburials are financed by the Russian government, but for some reason they wouldn`t this time,so Legenda had to take the cost, ofcourse it pains the economy of a volunteer group like this but it is our mission to bring the soldiers home so we did it with a smile.
A group of diggers went out to the cemetery earlier to prepare the grave and coffins and when the rest of us arrived we were met by a lot of people. Journalists, embassy workers, relatives of the fallen and others who wanted to take part in it. Regina read out all the names of the soldiers before the priest held his part of the ceremony and then Legenda carried the coffins into the grave before we covered them with the soil. Then pine branches and flowers were placed on the graves. It is impossible to describe how this feels when it is you who have found and exhumed the soldiers for then to bury them, it has to be excperienced. It is a full circle and one is part of the history and these families forever. Rest in Peace for all these young men that fell in combat so many years ago.
Saturday morning I woke up early as I often do, and being out on these expeditions makes my dreams very strange, so I was happy when I found George waiting for coffee, and we sat in silence looking at the mist dry up in the morning sun. Today was a big day, the reburials of the Red Army soldiers we exhumed last spring expedition. These events are very emotional and rewarding. Usually the reburials are financed by the Russian government, but for some reason they wouldn`t this time,so Legenda had to take the cost, ofcourse it pains the economy of a volunteer group like this but it is our mission to bring the soldiers home so we did it with a smile.
A group of diggers went out to the cemetery earlier to prepare the grave and coffins and when the rest of us arrived we were met by a lot of people. Journalists, embassy workers, relatives of the fallen and others who wanted to take part in it. Regina read out all the names of the soldiers before the priest held his part of the ceremony and then Legenda carried the coffins into the grave before we covered them with the soil. Then pine branches and flowers were placed on the graves. It is impossible to describe how this feels when it is you who have found and exhumed the soldiers for then to bury them, it has to be excperienced. It is a full circle and one is part of the history and these families forever. Rest in Peace for all these young men that fell in combat so many years ago.
Duksi and Erin.
Me and the Boss of the Russian search team.
After the ceremony there was still lots left of the day, and we had a digger still, so we made a short drive to a forest where it was some old frontline and supposedly some fallen soldiers. The forest was thick and the old road leading into it overgrown and full of water so we had to build a road so the digger could make its way in there, real heavy work. We had to move some live ammo out of the way and the machine went to work, but after a while it became clear that there were no soldiers to be found where we had believed them to be. But we spent the day here searching. Nothing much was found other than the usual bits, some rusted old weapons, helmets and tons of live ammo. Anders went alone into the forest and when he stepped on a branch a wild boar jumped up 5 meter in front of him, they stared at eachother for a moment, Anders took a step back and fell, making enough noise that the boar ran away in the other direction, lucky for him.
Building road.
BM-31-12 Andruysha.
Matt with his find.
MP40.
The second tellermine found.
F1 Lemonka.
Roberts.
Early in the afternoon we called it quits and went back to the resort. It was the last evening so the sauna was fired up and we had a great party together. Kristines dad brought out the speed boat and we all got a ride around the lake, which was great fun. The embers of the barbeque and the party died out late that night.
Next morning was the time for wet eyes, lumpy throats and the see-you-next-times. Always a sad day. We jumped into the vans with our belongings and on the way to Riga we made a stop at the German Cemetery in Saldus to pay our respects. We had a few hours together in the Old Town before people left for their flights and the group grew smaller until we were just a couple left. I hope it wont be long till we all meet up again my friends.
Next morning was the time for wet eyes, lumpy throats and the see-you-next-times. Always a sad day. We jumped into the vans with our belongings and on the way to Riga we made a stop at the German Cemetery in Saldus to pay our respects. We had a few hours together in the Old Town before people left for their flights and the group grew smaller until we were just a couple left. I hope it wont be long till we all meet up again my friends.
On Monday morning Erin left back to USA and only me and Richard was left in Riga, and we spent time with Andris and Victoria and met Nathalia for lunch. In the evening me, Andris and the Duksies went to the book launch of Vince Hunts book the "Blood in the Forest" , a very interesting book about the Kurland battles, strongly reccomended.
You can get the book from Amazon or Helion.
Andris and Vince.
It had been a fantastic expedition and I was exhausted, so I went early to bed after dinner, and on Tuesday morning I made my way back to the HQ where Talis was waiting for me. He helped fill my car with rusted treasures and while we were doing that some representants from Volksbund came to begin analyzing the remains of soldiers we had recovered, which was very interesting, but I had a long drive ahead so after a few coffees I got a bear hug from the boss and was on the road towards the Polar Circle,which had to be close to Valhalla ment one of the Volksbund guys. The trip back was tiring but it went without a glitch and some 24 hours later I was back home to my cats who obviously had missed me alot coz they are still climbing me and wont leave my side.
I want to thank all you guys who made the expedition possible, all the Legenda guys,the other Latvian search groups , the Lithuanian team and the Russian searchteam we had company from. I hope to see you all again very soon.
Until next time, Keep Smiling,stay dirty, and do good things.
I want to thank all you guys who made the expedition possible, all the Legenda guys,the other Latvian search groups , the Lithuanian team and the Russian searchteam we had company from. I hope to see you all again very soon.
Until next time, Keep Smiling,stay dirty, and do good things.
Acta - Non Verba
Links to the TV reports:
First one begins at 19:09
tvplay.skaties.lv/parraides/tv3-zinas/849005?autostart=true
First one begins at 19:09
tvplay.skaties.lv/parraides/tv3-zinas/849005?autostart=true
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