LEGENDA INTERNATIONAL EXPEDITION Autumn 2015

The planning of an autumn expedition began a few months ago as the diggers started to become restless after a long summer. We found a fitting date and started gathering our equipment. Tickets was booked from around Europe and from across the pond. A couple of new guys were invited and the butterflies in the stomachs started being active for all of us as the departure date approached. Just a few days before I was about to leave, my metal detector stopped working and I had to send it in for repairs and that was very frustrating. There was a tiny hope I would have it back before I left but in the end my bag went into the planes cargo hull without my trusted Fisher. 
After an uneventful journey I checked into Radi un Draugi in the Old Town of Riga and then went straight over to the rock cafe across the cobblestoned street where a bunch of the fine folks already was gathered. It was a very nice afternoon and evening as it should be when meeting old and new friends. This time Jon had joined us from the UK and Brandon, an American who is based in Germany. Jonny our Irish friend from the spring expedition had already been here a few days together with a friend and his father-in-law. They had been searching the forests with Maris and one of the days they had found and recovered a soldier. We ended the evening not so late so we could have a hope of being fresh and ready by 08 next morning.

It was a wonderful feeling getting out infront of the hotel well rested and wearing the digger clothes. Everybody was excited and we found our seats in Alexanders van, an exellent driver by the way. Usually we drive to Kurland, but this time we had some work just east of Riga. The grass on the side of the road was frosted after a cold night and it was a bit fresh when we stepped out in a field where other diggers already had started to prepare for the day. After half hour all the guys had arrived and we were all happy to hear Talis shout and swear to gather us when the tractor arrived.

The field we stood on was an old lost cemetery. Older than we normally work with. This one was exactly 100 years old, an Imperial Russian War Cemetery from 1915. Rumours told that it should be 400 soldiers lying here, including some 70 Latvian Riflemen. Until 1940 the cemetery was kept by the Latvian War Grave Commission. After USSR occupied Latvia, there was no organizations to keep Imperial Russian or German war cemeteries and it slowly deteriorated. As the Imperial Russian Army used wooden crosses on the graves and not concrete such as the Germans there is no visible traces today.
 In the 1970`s there was made some attempts to exhumate the cemetery and it was recently decided to do a search here and exhume and rebury any soldiers on one of the official war cemeteries.

So, we opened up a ditch using the tractor and after a while we saw how the soil had different color. Proof that it had been disturbed at some point. The ditch had to be widened and dug deeper before we encountered the first signs of a grave area and the first bone was found. Having located a few soldiers it was easier to get a sense of which direction we had to search. The sandy soil was very easy to work with and soon the field was a busy place. By Talis`car a fireplace was made to boil water and cook food, and warm up and have a chat between the digging. 
Many of the soldiers had been buried with their gasmask and full ammo pouches, and some had personal effects like icons, crosses and one of the soldiers had a gold ring for a female, probably the soldiers fiancee`s who had given it to him as he left for the front..One can only imagine.
There were diggers searching around the field with detectors and also with rods. A lot of Arisaka ammo, stripper clips,shrapnel and grenade nose fuzes all over the field. Not many meter away from the exhumation a live large caliber grenade lay right under the surface and some other live rounds and handgrenades as well. They were collected and marked for the EOD. When the police came by Talis was nice enough to ask them to arrest me, luckily they have probably met him before coz I went free. Also the boss of the Latvian War Grave Commission came by and had brought some maps and information. 
​Towards the afternoon a TV crew came to make a report on us which always is fun. The potential fame went straight to the head on some of us.
In the end of the day we had lenghtened and widened and deepened the opened up area and it seemed we couldn`t find any more soldiers. We took off towards Riga around dusk and went to bed reasonably early. We had exhumed 70 soldiers but the number can be adjusted after detailed expertise of  the remains.

This soldier had a shrapnel piece stuck in the skull.

Bottle from the gasmask kit.

The watch was frozen at 15.40

All the items found with the soldiers was delivered to the War Grave Commission.

Day two was a bit warmer in temperature and it was still clouded, perfect for digging. We was hoping to find more soldiers today, and it would be a hard day if it was any thruth to that it should be 400 soldiers lying here. The tractor opened up a trench next to the one we dug yesterday. Everybody was standing along the edges looking for any clues and some worked on the bottom in front of the tractor. Here and there we saw disturbed soil and some shrapnel, but no soldiers. This went on for many hours until we had completed a large square around yesterdays. It was very frustrating, but it is like fishing as we say,you never know.. A wider area was searched with the probing rods and deep signal detectors but nothing else than battle shrapnel. The EOD guys came to pick up the live shells and sped off again in their matt green hilux. The rest of the day we searched the field and surrounding area where there was positions and dug outs, but no major finds was had. Still, a great day in exellent company.
In the evening we who stayed in Riga went to eat at an Irish Bar/Resturant around the corner from the hotel and was tried ripped off, it wasn`t for much money, but their service was horrible and food that had been ordered never arrived, but was still listed on the bill. The food wasn`t very good either. So if you ever feel like getting ripped off and have crappy food visit Paddy Whelan. Of course we didn`t let that spoil our mood and we spent the evening laughing and preparing light hangovers for next morning. We also watched the news report the TV people had made about us which was very fun and it certainly led to near megalomaniac tendencies amongst some of the members of the group.

Link to the TV report.

Anders went out on the fields to try his brand new detector and came back with his very first find. A british "Cricket" grenade.

Arisaka muzzle cover.

Sunday morning and we was just going to relax and have fun. We drove to some German WW1 positions in a forest. The weather was superb, blue sky and sun. The diggers spread out in every direction. I followed Andris to a small hill with a bunker system. We decided to dig one open. That said, Andris took most of the bunker out, he is a machine. After some hours digging it was around two meter deep but still no floor and no finds exept some wire,nails and a bottle. It was decided it was monkey-business and refilled. Next thing some other guys comes around and we find that the bunker floor is actually not deeper than 40-50 cm deep as the walls probably collapsed or was built of logs..
Lots of bottles was found around the area and some smaller finds, nothing exeptional. Directly outside the bunker a digger called to me. On the surface he found the front emblem of a picklehaube helmet. It was bent over but otherwise in a very good condition. So many diggers had walked past it during the day but only he spotted it. Around 17 we decided to call it quits and we had to say goodbye. 
Most of us who had stayed in Riga had evening flights to catch and the group grew smaller towards the night. It is always a mixed feeling ending the expedition. You want it to be more, but at the same time you start to remember the softness of your own bed.

Until next time Keep Smiling :)

Training rounds.

There was a small cemetery near the positions, partly destroyed by illegal diggers.