Arturs Sproģis (6 March 1904 – 2 October 1980; ) was a Latvian colonel and commander of the

Soviet partisans Soviet partisans were members of Resistance during World War II, resistance movements that fought a Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war against Axis powers, Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Territories of Poland an ...

during the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early life and career

Sproģis was born in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

in 1904 in to a working-class family. In 1919 he voluntarily joined the Latvian Red Riflemen at the age of 15 in defence of the short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic. At the same time he also joined the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

. In 1920, he was sent to Komsomol courses in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, after which he continued his military service in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

fighting against the

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

forces of General Wrangel. Subsequently, he attended military academy, finishing in 1922. Thereafter he served in the border guards until 1928, when he was sent to the

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

Border Guards School in Moscow for further training. Following these courses, he was assigned to the Special Section (Counterintelligence) of the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

, where he served until 1936. He then was sent on a special mission in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. After returning from Spain in 1937, he began courses at the Red Army's M. V. Frunze Military Academy, completing his studies in 1941.

Soviet partisan

With the start of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, Sproģis was involved in organising anti-German partisan resistance in Belarus and Latvia. From its formation in 1943 until 1944, Sproģis served as the Chief of Staff of the Latvian resistance movement.

Later career

Later, he was appointed to the special group of activists from the Communist Party of Latvia, whose job it was to re-establish the functioning of the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

after the Germans had been driven out of the country. From 1944, he resided in Riga. After the complete liberation of the Latvian SSR from the Nazis and their allies, Sprogis was appointed head of the military department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia. Sproģis was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

four times, as well as the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

Sources

* All details from Sproģis's CV in 1944, published in H. Strods (see below), v. 2, pp. 76–7.

Literature

* Strods, Heinrihs (ed.), ''PSRS kaujinieki Latvijā'', 2 vols (Riga, 2006–7); (v. 1), (v. 2) * Боярский, В.И., ''Диверсанты Западного фронта: Артур Спрогис и другие. Страницы Памят'' (Moscow: Красная звезда, 2007);

External links