Searching and digging on battlefields is very interesting , but there is a potentially dangerous side to it. Vast amounts of explosives in all forms was used by the armies fighting in Latvia and lots of the ordnance is still littering the ground. These things is best left alone but one can`t avoid finding them, and one quickly learn to be careful when digging a signal given by the metaldetector. I have one or two times been alittle bit to eager opening up a hole smashing my shovel into metal so sparks fly just to discover the metal to be a large , active artillery round. Makes the heart jump I can assure you. So dig carefully and try leave stuff like this alone. The very first live round I found. Soviet 81 or 82 mm grenade with bakelite transport fuze cap. Red Army RG-42 caked in mud. Found this in the bottom of a dug out. Soviet anti-tank rounds. Rifle grenade, unsure if it is German or Soviet. German S-Minen. Panzerfaust & PanzerSchreck. Pioneer Demolition charges , found in German positions. 120mm Red Army mortar rounds. German rifle grenades. RG-42 German Hgr.39 , smoke grenade. The grenades propellant charge, so called "Spaghetti". Highly flammable.
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When Legenda is out in the field they bring cameras and videocameras to document what they find. One of the guys sent me this clip I hadn`t seen before with some of their finds between 1999 and 2005. I might put up some other clips here later for you to enjoy , so keep checking in:) Early this summer we were in a forest outside Saldus, where the frontline ran during the Kurland battles. Fierce fighting took place here and everywhere you make a sweep with the metaldetector you get a signal from shrapnel or other battle discards. Legenda have found and recovered several missing soldiers here earlier. I think it was the Swedes in the group that had luck first this time. They dug on a interesting signal and soon found bones. The remains was in pieces so it was obvious the soldier had been killed by an explosison. As the winter had stayed longer than usual this spring, the soil was water filled and very hard to dig but that didnt stop the guys from opening another hole where another fallen was found. The soldiers was identified as Soviet by the equipment found with them. I dont have much pics of this dig as at this point I had wandered off on my own and was lost in the Latvian forest, running around like a headless chicken trying to find my way back, but thats for another report.
Located in the middle of Riga's Old Town in the old Powder Tower, is one serious war museum. The tower itself has a long history spanning back to the beginning of the 14th century. It was destroyed by invading Swedes around 1621 and rebuilt 30 years later and it has housed the museum since 1919. The red brick tower is easy to find and is a beautiful building with climbing ivy covering parts of the wall. It doesn't look really big from the outside and I was therefore surprised when I exited the museum realizing I had spent nearly 3 hours there. It's a huge exhibition covering Latvia's military history from the 11-1200 A.D., but with most of the focus on 20th century conflicts. It is open daily and has free entry.
Well worth a visit if in Riga! Searching and recovering the fallen soldiers of WW2 is done of respect for the soldier who lost his life, so he can have a real grave, hopefully a named one so also remaining family members can have a closure. Since I am new to the group I haven`t had a chance to attend the reburials yet, but hope to do so this spring. Edgars and Viktors from Legenda lent me these pics so I could put them up here and show you some of what happens after we have found a fallen. Some days ago +/- 300 German soldiers was put to rest on a cemetary outside Saldus in Latvia. From reburial of Red Army soldiers in Riga in april. Legenda guys behind the soldiers coffins. Red Army veteran. He fought from Leningrad all the way to Kurland.
When I visited Latvia in october we went searching in an area where many soldiers has been found and recovered earlier. Huge battles rolled across the fields and forests here, and the few farms in the area was totally wiped out. The HKL (HauptKampfLinie - main battle line) stretch for a few kilometer and in a depth of probably several kilometers and could change hands in close combat several times pr day. Much of the area is covered by thick forest today which can make it difficult to work , and rules out the use of tractor. We had been searching around some dug-outs and it was clear that we was in the right place because we found a lot of battle discards. A few meter from the dug-out someone had a good signal and they opened it up. After a while buttons and pieces of leather started to show up and not long after a soldier was found quite deep in the ground. Just a couple of meters away some other guys started to dig,also deep this time and it started to become clear to us that we had found a filled up trenchline untouched since the battles. In the second hole a damaged K98 Mauser rifle was one of the first finds and underneath it a very damaged body was recovered. It was only broken bones. Just looking at the rifle and what we found of his arms it could look like he was holding his rifle above the trench fending off the enemy when a direct hit ended his life. Having recovered these two soldiers the diggers was hungry and went to get a bite, but me and Matt had decided to dig on a signal we had found earlier just a few meters away. It was the same trench so we thought we had to investigate it. Infact we had started digging it earlier on the day, but left it because we had met a big rock just above the signal, and I mean this rock was big, 100 kg class at least. We decided to try dig around it from another side and not long after we knew we was looking at the rim of a helmet! In the process we discovered that it was two of these huge rocks just atop the helmet. We needed bulls to remove these ones so we called out for some of the Latvians,, it took three of these huge guys and no way they could get it out of our pit. "Call for Ivan" one of them shouted out. Ivan came, now he is not a big guy at all, but they assured me the rock would be gone. I`ve never seen such strenght from a human ever before, he just flipped the rock away! The second rock was lighter so the other Latvians took that one. Now we could dig again. The helmet wasn`t empty. We had found a third soldier! A Volksbund plastic tray was arranged for us and we could start finding and taking up each bone which always is a somber and strange feeling. We found the ID disc on the chest of the soldier and we could read that he was a Sanität, a medic. Maybe he had run to help one of his friends further down the trench when he too fell and found a forgotten and temporary grave for 70 years. All three of our recovered soldiers this day was taken care of and returned to the Volksbund for registration and reburial. Somewhere else in the forest other guys found two Red Army soldiers which will have an official military burial next spring.
We were searching in an area with very overgrown forest but located a few dug outs with trenches between. Dimas had some good signals and started digging,,for a while nothing but smaller pieces like buttons,small buckles a wehrmacht toothbrush , a few shell casings and a grenade came out of the ground but he kept searching the trench. After a while we heard some shouting in Latvian from his pit and went over to have a look and he had pulled out a german helmet! It was covered in a thick layer of mud and clay but some cleaning showed it was in nice condition and even had a decal!
On a field in Kurland we had just located a small cluster of bunkers and their connecting trenches. They had been filled in shortly after the war and the field has been plowed a few times pr year ever since so there was no visible trace of these bunkers today. The metal detectors soon indicated there had been some sort of activity here,and sure enough,shrapnel,mortar grenade end pieces,cans,a few helmets and soon a Soviet Ppsh submachinegun came out from the soil when searching the surrounding area. The experienced diggers had dug some test pits and probing of the ground and found the first bunker. The tractor was put to work and minutes later a timber roof of a bunker was uncovered. All the time checking the ground and the dug up dirt with metal detectors we found pieces of bricks,porcelain,bottles and food ration tins. Probably a little more than half hour of digging we had hit the bunker floor and guys with metal detectors jumped in to start searching it. On the floors was found a Mg42 bolt,a gasmask canister with mask,and some other small bits. The tractor removed another slice of the bunker wall and we saw a round shape..Helmet! Digging it carefully loose from the wall it became obvious it wasn`t an empty helmet. It took a while for the diggers to find the whole soldier as the skeleton was very damaged, most probably he met with a grenade. We found his ID disc so he can be identified by the German Volksbund and given a grave. R.I.P Rest of bunker roof. The whole bunker was filled with soil we had to dig through.. Finding helmets is always very fun and we found many helmets laying around this day,but the fun shifts to serious quickly when you see that its not just a helmet... Finding the ID disc is essential. This time we had luck. Here we are cleaning it to be able to read it.
Some of the Legenda guys. A great bunch:) I dont remember the names of them all,but will update this post as well in the coming time:) First off,the Boss,Talis,going to cook something it looks like:) Dainis and Maris, Clowns and hardcore Diggers. Edgars,Digger,Great guy:) Matt, Digger and jeweler,good nose for helmets. Dimas,our fieldengineer. Roberts,Digger and camera operator. Dainis. One of our tractor drivers. Highly skilled. Ainis,Digger. Viktors,Digger and Filmmaker. A hungry and cold bunch of diggers.
Not far outside Riga is a town named Ciemupe, there is the coolest little cafe I have ever come across. My friends brought me here on one of my visits this summer. The owner,Jurij,is a friendly guy full of stories. He runs the cafe and has collected militaria most of his life. In his young days he built miniature airplanes and have a big cabinet where he displays them all. In front of the cafe is 2 airplanes,a submarine deck gun,military cars and a sea mine. Inside the seatings by the tables is seats from Antonov passenger planes. The walls of the cafe is covered with interesting photos and objects. Airplane models,cameras,guns , helmets and lots more. He even has the whole nose section of an Antonov integrated to the cafe! The menu has some nice things listed and the coffee is great! The backyard of the cafe is a open air museum. I couldnt believe it. Cannons,machine guns,aircraft cannons and rocket launchers,several working war time jeeps and ofcourse more airplanes. This is the cafe you`ll want to visit again and again:)
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