consisted mainly of volunteers, especially refugees from Courland and workers from the factories evacuated to inner Russia from Riga. Later a number of Latvians from other Russian units joined or were transferred to the Latvian Riflemen. World War I From 1915 to 1917, the Latvian Riflemen fought in the Russian army against the Germans in positions along the Daugava river. In 1916 Latvian battalions were transformed into regiments as conscription started among the local population. Also, many new riflemen units were formed. In total, eight combat and one reserve regiment were formed. In December 1916 and January 1917, the Latvian riflemen suffered heavy casualties in the month-long Christmas Battles, which began with a surprise attack on German positions during Christmas. Suffering heavy casualties, Latvian riflemen managed to break the German line of defence but the effort was in vain as the attack was not followed through. The Russian Army lost over 26,000 soldiers in the failed attack. The casualties included 9,000 Latvian riflemen, about a third of the total number at that time. The heavy casualties resulted in a strong resentment against the Russian generals and the Tsar among the riflemen. This resentment led to increased support for the Bolsheviks, who were advocating an end to the war. The fallen Latvian Riflemen were buried at the Brothers' Cemetery in Riga, created for this purpose. The structure of the United Latvian Riflemen division, formed in 1917: Red Latvian Riflemen In May 1917 large parts of the Latvian regiments transferred their loyalty to the Bolsheviks. They became known as Red Latvian Riflemen (, ) and actively participated in the Russian Civil War. The Riflemen took an active part in the suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings in Moscow and Yaroslavl in 1918, and fought against the forces of the White Generals Denikin, Yudenich, and Wrangel. After victory in the Oryol-Kromy operation against Denikin in October 1919, a division of Latvian Riflemen received the highest military recognition of that time: the Honorable Red Flag of VTsIK. Jukums Vācietis, formerly a colonel in the Latvian Rifles became the first commander-in-chief of the Red Army. The Latvian Red Riflemen were instrumental in the attempt to establish Soviet rule in Latvia in 1919. They suffered great losses of personnel due to the decreasing popularity of Bolshevik ideas among the Latvian Riflemen and Latvians generally, and the majority were re-deployed to other fronts of the Russian Civil War. The