Latvia Under German Occupation in 1943Latvian Legation, 1944

Green and Red Guerillas

According to the refugees, the “red guerrilla movement” so often mentioned by the Moscow broadcasting stations is almost unknown to the Latvian population. The sabotage of the Kegums power station by “guerrillas,” as announced by Moscow in a telegram, has never taken place, and the city of Riga with its surrounding district is to this very day supplied with electricity by the Kegums power station. The sensational news of an attack on Daugavpils (Dunaburg) by guerrilla cavalry forces, with which the Bolsheviks astonished the world several months ago, is also just a dream. All this news is simply the fruit of the over-heated imagination of overzealous Moscow propagandists.

Until May 1943 no serious acts of sabotage had taken place in Latvia, for the great majority of the population, including the active patriots, were of the firm opinion that under the circumstances any acts of sabotage would only be to the advantage of the Bolsheviks, and no one in the country wanted to do them this favor. It is true that in May rumors were circulating in Riga that in the vicinity of Sigulda (Segewold) two trains filled with soldiers fully equipped for the front had been stopped and partly blown up. However, according to the same rumors, this act had nothing whatever to do with any Bolshevik guerrillas, but had been perpetrated by those Latvians called “the greens” who were for the time being hiding in the forests to avoid the military and labor mobilization. This act had two purposes: (1) it represented a protest of the population against the mobilization, and (2) it was to be a way of obtaining weapons for those hiding in the forests.

This last purpose were successfully achieved. Those Latvian “green guerrillas” are now well armed, and they maintain friendly relations with the farmers, who supply them with all they need. Most of the refugees hiding in the forests. of the western and central parts of Latvia are guerrillas of this nature.

Nevertheless, it is also true that in the forests to the northeast of Vec-Gulbene (Alt-Schwannenburg) as well as in the east, along the Russian border, there are “red guerrillas” of quite another nature in hiding. They consist of small groups of Bolsheviks who have remained there after the flight of the Russian army from Latvia in 1941. Since March 1943 the Bolsheviks from time to time have also dropped parachutists in this vicinity. Moreover, the peasants, of whom the majority in this district are Russians, frequently gave refuge to the remnants of the fleeing Russian army. However, the number of these "red guerrillas" is comparatively small.