Second Battle of Ķekava
2nd Battle of Kekava | |||||||
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Part of the Eastern Front of World War I | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Units involved | |||||||
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The Second Battle of Kekava, also known as the Battle of Julius, occurred in July 1916 along the Eastern Front during World War I.
Background
[edit]Following the failure of the first battle of Kekava, Russia decided to attempt a second attack in July 1916 in support of the British attack at the Somme.
Participating units
[edit]The only units on the Russian side participating in the encounter where 5 Latvian rifle battalions. those were as follows: 1. Daugavgrivas, 2. Riga, 6. Tukuma, 7. Bauska and 8. Valmiera.[1]
Battle
[edit]The battle was fought in the vicinity of Ķekava, in the area from the Smerdukli marsh to the left bank of the Daugava. The battle began with several hours of artillery fire on the German forts, followed by a Latvian riflemen attack on the German trench lines.[2] However, the artillery shells could not destroy the barbed wire fences, which the infantry was forced to cut during the battle under enemy fire. The riflemen had to cross a swamp that was difficult to cross, being in constant crossfire from the artillery of both warring parties.[2]
Casualties and gains
[edit]The Latvian riflemen lost up to 27% of their forces and were unable to make any sort of gains.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "The View from the Top: German Soldiers and Lithuania in the Two World Wars", Forgotten Pages in Baltic History, BRILL, pp. 211–237, 2011-01-01, retrieved 2024-02-23
- ^ a b Zariņš, Klāvs (2017-11-28). "Pirmā pasaules kara vēstures liecības vācbaltiešu muižnieka Silvio Brēdriha atmiņās (1914–1915)". Latvijas Universitātes Žurnāls Vēsture (3): 171–186. doi:10.22364/luzv.3.2017.12. ISSN 2592-9593.