General Roberts Dambītis (May 2, 1881 - March 27, 1957 in Trikāta parish near

Strenči Strenči (pronounced ; german: Stackeln) is a town in Valmiera Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It is located about northeast of Riga, about northeast of Valmiera and about southwest of Valka. Strenči is known as the raftsmen ca ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

) was a Latvian soldier and politician. A founder of the National Soldiers' Union as a Latvian Rifleman in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Dambītis formally became the first soldier in the Latvian Army by placing volunteer units under the command of the

People's Council of Latvia The People's Council of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Tautas padome, LTP) was a temporary council which declared Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, link ...

when it proclaimed Latvia's independence on November 18, 1918. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister of Defense during the Independence War. After the war he served in various high-ranking posts in military supply and administration, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Chief of the General Staff in 1935 and his retirement in 1939. In 1940, during the first year of Soviet Rule of Latvia, Dambītis joined the puppet government as Minister of War and oversaw the conversion of the Latvian Army to a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

Corps. He remained in Latvia after the retreat of the

in 1941, was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

and interned in the Sachsenhausen

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

until 1945. After the war he returned to Trikāta, where he spent the remainder of his life.

References

Generals.dk
Biographical site (source used by kind permission of site editor, Steen Ammentorp)
Latvian Ministry of Defence / History
*Arveds Švābe, ed.: ''Latvju enciklopēdija.'' Stockholm: Trīs Zvaigznes, 1952–1953. *Lidija Švābe, ed.: ''Latvju enciklopēdija—papildinājumi.'' Stockholm: Trīs Zvaigznes, 1962. *Vilis Samsons, ed.: ''Latvijas PSR Mazā enciklopēdija.'' Rīga: Zinātne, 1967. 1881 births 1957 deaths People from Valmiera Municipality People from Kreis Walk Ministers of Defence of Latvia Deputies of the People's Saeima Latvian generals Latvian Riflemen Russian military personnel of World War I Latvian military personnel of the Latvian War of Independence {{Europe-mil-bio-stub

See also

References