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Description
A Latvian Rifleman in the Imperial Russian Army, WW1.

These were troops recruited in Latvia to defend it against the German Army, which drove into the Russian-controlled Baltics after the battle of Tannenberg in 1914. They were highly motivated but suffered heavy losses in several failed counter-offensives, causing many to join the Red Army at the start of the Russian Civil War, quickly becoming an elite force for the Communists. Near the end of that war, when Latvia gained its independence and the Red Riflemen wanted to return home, the Soviet High Command turned them into disposable cannon fodder against Wrangel's army on the Crimea.

Description
A Latvian Rifleman in the Imperial Russian Army, WW1.

These were troops recruited in Latvia to defend it against the German Army, which drove into the Russian-controlled Baltics after the battle of Tannenberg in 1914. They were highly motivated but suffered heavy losses in several failed counter-offensives, causing many to join the Red Army at the start of the Russian Civil War, quickly becoming an elite force for the Communists. Near the end of that war, when Latvia gained its independence and the Red Riflemen wanted to return home, the Soviet High Command turned them into disposable cannon fodder against Wrangel's army on the Crimea.