Frīdrihs Briedis (June 23, 1888 – August 28, 1918) was a Latvian

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

and one of the most famous Latvian Riflemen commanders. He was posthumously the recipient of all classes of the

Order of Lāčplēsis The Order of Lāčplēsis (also Lāčplēsis Military Order, lv, Lāčplēša Kara ordenis), the first and the highest Latvian military award, was established in 1919 on the initiative of Jānis Balodis, the Commander of the Latvian Army during ...

Early life

To escape dishonest and harsh baronial treatment, Briedis' father moved the family from

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', liv, Vidūmō) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in n ...

Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (russian: Витебская губерния, ) was an administrative unit ( guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting the Byelorussia Governorate an ...

(today's

Shumilina Raion Shumilina District is a second-level administrative subdivision ( raion) of Belarus in the Vitebsk Region. Its administrative seat is the urban-type settlement of Shumilina. The other urban-type settlement within the raion is Obal. Reference ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

), where he obtained forest land, cleared it for growing corn, and built the house where Briedis was born, the youngest of three children.M. Akmenājs, ed. ''Briedis, A Concise Biography with 12 Illustrations Based on a Manuscript by Aleksandrs Plensners.'' M. Goppers, Sweden. 1963. Briedis' upbringing, particularly his mother's influence, engendered in him a devout nature. He graduated with distinction from the local rural district (''pagasts''When translated as "parish" in English, "''pagasts''" refers to local rural organization as found in England by that name, unrelated to religion.) and local congregational church schools. He left his family home in 1902, traveling to

Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...

, where he moved in with relatives and entered the six-year city school. A consistently excellent student, he devoted his spare time furthering his religious studies, tutoring to buy books, hoping one day to become a minister—his goal to battle the moral decay which deeply affected him at the time of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. By his own admission, he had time for few, if any, friends. Finished with school, Briedis determined to enter the Monastery at

Belye Berega Belye Berega (russian: Бе́лые Берега́) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities * Belye Berega, Bryansk Oblast, a work settlement under the administrative jurisdiction of Fokinsky City District of Br ...

. Having arrived at the rail station, nearly at his destination, he encountered two inebriated monks. A shocked Briedis renounced any thought of entering the priesthood—he held boozing to be the most vile immorality and would have no truck with any who engaged in it. To fill the void, in 1905, Briedis found a new calling—the military.

Military service

Russian Army units

In 1906 he was accepted into the

St.Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

's Vladimir War School. Due to his excellent tactical knowledge he reached the

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

of Senior sergeant by his last year at the school. Briedis graduated from the war school with the rank of

Podporuchik ''Podporuchik'' ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, потпоручник, potporučnik, cs, podporučík, pl, podporucznik, russian: подпору́чик, bg, подпоручик, sk, podporučík) is the most Junior officer in some Slavic armed forces, an ...

, and afterwards he served in the 99th

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; et, Jaanilinn; vot, Jaanilidna) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia in ...

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

, which was deployed in Daugavpils. In 1912 he attained the rank of

Poruchik The rank of lieutenant in Eastern Europe ( hr, poručnik, cs, poručík, pl, porucznik, russian: script=latn, poruchik, sr, script=latn, poručnik, sk, poručík) is one used in Slavophone armed forces. Depending on the country, it is either ...

and was appointed the company's

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain ...

. He participated 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, ...

, initially serving in

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1 ...

, where he successfully led

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

patrols and received numerous awards for valor and his accomplishments. Bredis and soldiers

Latvian Riflemen

When the formation of the Latvian Riflemen

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

s begun in 1915 he was appointed to command the 1st

Daugavgrīva Daugavgrīva (german: Dünamünde; pl, Dynemunt; russian: Усть-Двинск or ''Ust`-Dvinsk'') is a neighbourhood in North West Riga, Latvia on the left bank of the Daugava river. In this neighbourhood there is a Swedish-built fortress o ...

battalion. He and his men participated in battles near the Misa River, and near

Ķekava Ķekava (german: Keckau) is a village in central Latvia. It is the centre of Ķekava Municipality. Ķekava is situated 17 kilometres south of Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to ...

. In March 1916 Briedis was severely wounded in the

jaw The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...

, but he recovered and participated in the Christmas Battles as commander of a battalion. During the Christmas Battles he fought in Tīreļpurvs, where he was wounded for a second time. Briedis was in hospital when the February Revolution broke out, triggering the collapse of the army. Many riflemen joined the

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 ...

, but Briedis was among those who refused to do so. In 1918 he joined an anti-bolshevist conspiracy in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. On July 23, 1918, he was arrested by the Cheka, and on August 27, 1918, he was

execute Execute, in capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule- ...

d in Moscow by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

. He received all classes of the

for his valor in the Christmas Battles, and for participation in almost all the rifleman's operations on the

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...

front. In Riga there is also a street named in his name.

References in popular culture

Latvian pagan metal band

Skyforger Skyforger is a heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Latvia which was formed in 1995 out of the remains of doom metal band Grindmaster Dead. Musical style and lyrical themes Most of their songs are about Baltic mythology and warfare; they a ...

has a song ''Pulkvedis Briedis'' (Colonel Briedis) dedicated to Frīdrihs Briedis. It is included in the ''Latvian rifleman'' album.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Briedis, Fridrihs 1888 births 1918 deaths People from Shumilina District People from Polotsky Uyezd Russian military personnel of World War I Latvian Riflemen Latvian military personnel People of the Russian Civil War Recipients of the Order of Lāčplēsis, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Lāčplēsis, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Lāčplēsis, 3rd class Recipients of the Cross of St. George Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class Latvian anti-communists Victims of Red Terror in Soviet Russia Executed Latvian people Executed military personnel People executed by Russia by firing squad 19th-century Latvian people 20th-century Latvian people