Just got back from 5 days expedition in Kurland and want to shortly share my experience for you guys.
This was my 11th trip to Latvia during 10 years and the purpose is to help the Latvian organization “Legenda” to search for fallen soldiers in the Kurland area. Still thousands of German & Russian soldiers - aprox 80 000 are missing in this part of Latvia during the heavy battles between 1944-1945. The core of Legenda group are some old friends who share the same passion for doing this noble act. During the years they have found several thousands of soldiers. All of the remains were handed over to Volksbund or Russian organization and received proper burial at war cemeteries. Many of the soldiers have been identified and a lot of families were informed that their relatives finally were found and laid to rest.
One week ago me and my friend was picked up from the airport in Riga and directly went to Kurland for the first digging site. This year we were about 7 latvians, 3 swedes, 1 from Norway, 1 from Finland and 3 from UK.
First body found this time was a Russian artillery soldier who was killed in 1944 then buried in the forest. The old woman who lived nearby remembered this and could point out the exact location. After some digging the soldier was found but with in unusual condition. This soldier has been lying in some kind of swampish ground and was preserved. Meaning skin, organs etc were intact. This was the first time ever for the Latvians and a special feeling went through the group. Some of them felt bad about this. Bones are OK but a complete body was "scary" which is understandable. On his finger he had a golden ring with inscriptions “W.W 24/12-1920” meaning this Russian guy probably took it from a dead German soldier as trophy. We also found his shoulder boards showing he was artillery soldier. Remains and ring was put in plastic bag and buried same day due to the condition of the body. Russian organization was informed about this.
After this strange incident we went to another place nearby. The land owners grandfather told him that the Germans buried several soldiers on his land before the war ended. This location was later destroyed by the Russians so we did not know the exact location. After some searching we managed to find the place and during 2 days 28 soldiers were found. 8 of them had dog tags, all remains will be handed over to Volksbund and buried in Kurzeme war cemetery. Relatives will be informed if possible.
This was the best expedition ever considering the amount of remains we found. I am very happy to be a part of this and be able to help Legenda in their search for fallen soldiers.
If you want to know more don´t hesitate to ask me.
Regards Karl-Johan
This was my 11th trip to Latvia during 10 years and the purpose is to help the Latvian organization “Legenda” to search for fallen soldiers in the Kurland area. Still thousands of German & Russian soldiers - aprox 80 000 are missing in this part of Latvia during the heavy battles between 1944-1945. The core of Legenda group are some old friends who share the same passion for doing this noble act. During the years they have found several thousands of soldiers. All of the remains were handed over to Volksbund or Russian organization and received proper burial at war cemeteries. Many of the soldiers have been identified and a lot of families were informed that their relatives finally were found and laid to rest.
One week ago me and my friend was picked up from the airport in Riga and directly went to Kurland for the first digging site. This year we were about 7 latvians, 3 swedes, 1 from Norway, 1 from Finland and 3 from UK.
First body found this time was a Russian artillery soldier who was killed in 1944 then buried in the forest. The old woman who lived nearby remembered this and could point out the exact location. After some digging the soldier was found but with in unusual condition. This soldier has been lying in some kind of swampish ground and was preserved. Meaning skin, organs etc were intact. This was the first time ever for the Latvians and a special feeling went through the group. Some of them felt bad about this. Bones are OK but a complete body was "scary" which is understandable. On his finger he had a golden ring with inscriptions “W.W 24/12-1920” meaning this Russian guy probably took it from a dead German soldier as trophy. We also found his shoulder boards showing he was artillery soldier. Remains and ring was put in plastic bag and buried same day due to the condition of the body. Russian organization was informed about this.
After this strange incident we went to another place nearby. The land owners grandfather told him that the Germans buried several soldiers on his land before the war ended. This location was later destroyed by the Russians so we did not know the exact location. After some searching we managed to find the place and during 2 days 28 soldiers were found. 8 of them had dog tags, all remains will be handed over to Volksbund and buried in Kurzeme war cemetery. Relatives will be informed if possible.
This was the best expedition ever considering the amount of remains we found. I am very happy to be a part of this and be able to help Legenda in their search for fallen soldiers.
If you want to know more don´t hesitate to ask me.
Regards Karl-Johan
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