Formation
By April 1915, when the German Army was advancing into Latvian territory, some prominent Latvians, led by Jānis Goldmanis used their position in the Duma to call on the Tsar to establish all-Latvian battalions. As Germany was advancing into Latvia, they argued, such units would be particularly effective. At Jelgava two battalions of the Latvian Home Guard had already held back the German advance guard. Following increasing German advances, the Russian Stavka approved the measure and on 19 July 1915 the Tsar approved the formation of the Latvian Rifles. Departure of the first Latvian volunteers from Riga to training camp transformed to a wide national demonstration, because those were the first Latvian military units with Latvian commanders ever formed. The first battalions consisted mainly from volunteers, especially refugees from Courland and workers from the factories evacuated to inner Russia from Riga. Later a number of Latvians from other Russian units joined or were transferred to the Latvian Rifles.
Read more about this topic: Latvian Riflemen
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