Alfreds Dimitris in a Latvian Riflemen military uniform, circa 1917. In WWI the Russian Imperial Army conscripted Latvian men to its anti-German initiatives in the Baltics. These men became the United Latvian Riflemen Division of the Russian Imperial Army. Under the leadership of the Russians this Latvian division suffered heavy losses. Because of these grievous losses many Latvians became sympathetic to the anti-imperialist, Bolshevik sentiments.
