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The Siege Of Sidney Street was an incident that occurred in 1911 when two members of a gang of Latvian immigrant burglars (the Gardstein Gang) who were fleeing police after breaking into a jewellers' premises in Houndsditch and shooting dead three policemen and wounding two others who had tried to arrest them, sheltered in a second-floor flat at 100 Sidney Street, London. The Metropolitan Police cordoned off the area and evacuated the residents but found their weapons ineffective at flushing out the robbers who were armed with Mauser pistols capable of rapid and accurate fire. The police then requested and were granted assistance from the army, volunteers of the Scots Guards arriving from the Tower of London who with sniper fire forced the robbers to the lower floor. A fire broke out in the building, which the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill refused to allow the fire brigade to extinguish. After half-an-hour of no more shots being fired from the robbers the fire brigade tackled the blaze to prevent damage to other buildings, only for a wall to collapse and bury five people, one of which later died in hospital. The two robbers were found in the gutted building, one had been shot and the other overcome by smoke. The incident noted the ineffectiveness of the police marksmen and their equipment and resulted in better training and weapons to be issued.
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The Latvian Harness Horse is a Latvian breed of heavy horse first developed in 1952. The Latvian Harness Horse stands between 15 and 16 hands high, is mostly bay in colour but also black or chestnut and is used for light harness work and as a riding horse. They have a large attractive head, small, alert ears and expressive eyes. The neck is long and muscular and set to high withers.
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The Latvian Light Harness Horse is a Latvian breed of middle-weight horse developed during the early 20th century. Despite its name the
Latvian Light Harness Horse is also a good riding horse and is often used for dressage and jumping. The Latvian Light Harness Horse stands between 15 and 16 hands high and is black, bay, brown or occasionally chestnut in colour.
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The Battles of the Dvina were a series of inconclusive engagements during 1915 and 1916 during the Great War between German and Russian forces along the river Dvina, a natural barrier in front of the Latvian capital Riga. The first battle, during August and September 1915, swayed back and forth across the river but made little difference to either side's ultimate position. The second battle flared intermittently from January to August 1916 as a series of attacks by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg were repulsed by the Russians under General Alexei Kuropatkin. Before either side could gain an advantage, the Galician front flared up and the Dvina front was left relatively quiet.
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The Envoys' Plot was a conspiracy of western politicians and secret agents to overthrow the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in the summer of 1918. The plot was instigated by Robert Lockhart and contributed to by Sidney Reilly of the British MIIC. The plot was quickly discovered, and taken over by the Cheka as a trap for western conspirators. In August 1918 Yan Buikis, a Cheka officer posing as an anti-Bolshevik conspirator under the name of Shmidkhen succeeded in persuading Lockhart, Reilly and the French consul-general that Colonel Eduard Berzin, commander of a Latvian regiment in the Kremlin (in fact a Cheka agent provocateur) was ready to lead an anti-Bolshevik uprising. Reilly supplied 1200000 roubles to finance the coup which were promptly passed to the Cheka. The operation was wound up by the Cheka in September following the assassination attempt on Lenin and the assassination of the head of the Petrograd Cheka.
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The Imanta was a French-built Latvian minesweeper of 255 tons displacement launched in 1926. The Imanta had a top speed of 14 knots and carried a complement of 39. She was armed with one 3 inch anti-aircraft gun and four machine-guns and could carry thirty mines.
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The Krisjanis Valdemars was a Latvian icebreaker of 2800 tons displacement launched in 1925. The Krisjanis Valdemars was powered by coal-fired triple expansion boilers providing a top speed of 15 knots and carried a complement of 55.
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The Ronis was a French-built Latvian submarine of 390 tons displacement launched in 1926. The Ronis was powered by two sets of Suizer diesel engines providing a top speed of 14 knots surfaced and 9 knots submerged. She was armed with one 3 inch un; two machine-guns and six 17.7 inch torpedo tubes, two fixed in the bow and the other four in revolving twin mounts. The Ronis carried a complement of 28 and could dive to a depth of 28 fathoms.
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The Spidola was a French-built Latvian submarine of 390 tons displacement launched in 1926. The Spidola was powered by two sets of Suizer diesel engines providing a top speed of 14 knots surfaced and 9 knots submerged. She was armed with one 3 inch un; two machine-guns and six 17.7 inch torpedo tubes, two fixed in the bow and the other four in revolving twin mounts. The Spidola carried a complement of 28 and could dive to a depth of 28 fathoms.
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The Viesturs was a French-built Latvian minesweeper of 255 tons displacement launched in 1926. The Viesturs had a top speed of 14 knots and carried a complement of 39. She was armed with one 3 inch anti-aircraft gun and four machine-guns and could carry thirty mines.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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