Latvia's Battle for the Atlantic

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/5497431.htm

Latvia's World War II Navy Becomes News
J. MICHAEL LYONS
Associated Press

RIGA, Latvia - Unsung heroes for decades, 164 Latvian sailors who joined U.S. Atlantic convoys in running the gantlet of German U-boats during World War II are finally making front-page news.

A series in Latvia's Chas newspaper is telling the tale of eight Latvian-flagged freighters that defied Soviet orders and remained abroad after Red Army troops occupied the Baltic Sea nation on June 17, 1940.

The story - banned from history books and newspapers during five decades of Soviet rule - has come as a surprise to most in this country of 2.4 million.

"Europe and America know its history, but our history was kept from us," said Irina Shneidere, a Latvia University history professor familiar with the ships. "We are still learning about what really happened to our country and who our heroes are."

Upon annexing Latvia, Josef Stalin's regime ordered all Latvian vessels to return home, and threatened to deport the families of any rebellious sailors to labor camps. Dozens of ships did return - and some of their crews vanished into Siberia.

But crews on eight ships refused and, along with Latvian embassies in Washington and London, became remnants of an independent Latvia.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Latvian ships ferried coal, rubber and other raw materials needed by the United States to wage war in Europe. By this time, the Latvian nation had already been seized by the Nazis, an occupation that would last until 1944.

"In their minds, they were fighting the Germans to free their country," Shneidere said.

The ships joined the U.S. convoys as they plied the Atlantic Ocean - South America, Europe and North America. Only two ships survived the war, which left Latvia back again under Soviet rule.

Off the coast of North Carolina - later dubbed "torpedo alley" because German U-boats sank dozens of merchant ships there - the first Latvian freighter was torpedoed on Jan. 18, 1942. Only two of its 32-man crew perished but the Ciltvaira was lost.

"When it was sunk, it was as if one-eighth of what remained of an independent Latvia was gone," said Alex Krasnitsky, the Chas journalist who researched the story with the help of Latvian emigres in the United States.

The Ciltvaira shipwreck near Nags Head, N.C., remains a popular site for scuba divers. On land, a Nags Head street bears the ship's name.

"We couldn't fight back this time, but probably our next ship will be armed, and then we can do something about it when the devils attack," the Ciltvaira's radio operator, Rudolph Musts, was quoted as saying in a 1942 story in The News and Courier of Charleston, S.C.

While the Latvian freighters had no significant weaponry, some went down with a fight anyway.

Off the coast of Barbados on Feb. 27, 1942, the Everasma rammed and sank a surfacing German U-boat. But a few hours later, having suffered collision damage herself, the freighter proved an easy target for an Italian submarine. It torpedoed the Everasma, then finished her off with its deck guns.

The reports said 164 sailors were aboard the eight ships. Most Latvian sailors who survived the war received U.S. citizenship and never returned home. None is known to be alive today.

But now that their story has gotten out, efforts are under way to ensure they are not forgotten.

City officials in Riga, the capital, said they might rename eight streets after each vessel.