Place of Christmas battles

Christmas battles memorial, bunker. In front of The Antinu Brethren Cemetery is a resting place and a concrete bunker – a former medical warehouse built in 1917. Christmas battles has an important role not only in the history of Latvia but also in European history. They were one of the largest and harshest battles of World War 1 in Europe from 1915 to 1917. The forest has reconstructed part of the Latvian soldiers’ fortification system (a dugout and burying complex) in the way it was during World War 1. For a given moment, three dugouts and a burial stage of around 100 m have been restored.

The so-called Christmas battles between the Russian and the German military took place in 1916, during World War I. Latvian riflemen demonstrated such courage and heroism during these battles that they became known far beyond Latvia’s borders.