ORT "News", August 7, 2001

This place in Saldus' forests is called "The Valley of Death". It is hard to suggest how many soldiers are fallen here. Only official statistics say there were thousands. Helmets and remnants of arms... Wermacht soldiers are lying here mixed with Red Army men.

Many things testify to heavy hand-to-hand fights being here. Shells together with ammunition are practically on every stub. There are tons of military iron in these forests. Maybe because of that mushrooms do not grow and birds do not sing here. The people from the Union of Search Parties of Latvia assert that. For several years already they have been looking for the remains of Red Army soldiers. Only during the last year they succeeded in finding 38 soldiers and officers. All of them fought in the ranks of the 8th Guards Division, more known as Panfilov's.

The bones are lying right on the surface. On the very spot there is a tension wire the soldier was blown up on. Every millimeter of the earth is being shaken up to collect everything that is left. In the sack the bones, a cigarette-case, soap-box, boots are being packed up. That is all that someday belonged to the man. The biggest problem is identification. It can be done by the numbers on the awards. But as a rule, medals and orders hunters have already been here. They are not squeamish about bones -- these remains are without a skull.

-- It is obvious, the so called "black" diggers needed this skull. The purpose? For me it is hard to tell. May be to sell it to students of some Medical Academy. After all, an ash-tray can be made. I don't know what else to think of.

The Latvian diggers are not professionals. They organize expeditions to forests in their free time. This year they were joined by four Brits, the same enthusiasts as they are -- a journalist, an orthopaedist, a jeweler and a wine shop owner. In the beginning they were moving in the forest with caution, not a step without a mine detector. But as it is responding here all the time they stopped fearing. And in the German dug-out where an ammunition depot stayed abandoned they were already busy with skill. They were impressed by the findings: boxes full of shells where even the paint was not touched by time they saw for the first time. Journalist Chris McDermott confessed that in Britain except the professional historians only few know what happened at the Eastern Front.

-- I feel sad when I see the remains of Russian as well as German soldiers. They came to the unknown to them place and found death here. 
The only joy he feels is that can help in a noble deed -- to find and rebury them.

And many of them were confessing: "It is interesting for us to walk in the places of battles trying to reconstruct the happened on the battle field. It is interesting to see and hold in hands the remains of old arms." But everyone of them was saying: "We hate war."

Natalia Vasilyeva, Ainars Krauklis, ORT, Latvia