5 Euros Christmas battles

The "Christmas battles" (Ziemassvētku kaujas) were a series of engagements fought in December 1916 and January 1917 in which Latvian rifle units — the famous Latvian Riflemen — launched a major offensive against German positions along the Ķekava and Tīreļpurvs (Tīrelis swamp) fronts. The assault was ordered by Russian High Command despite catastrophic conditions: frozen marshland, inadequate artillery support, and temperatures well below zero. Latvian losses were devastating, numbering in the thousands within days.

The battles produced no strategic gain for the Russian Empire but became a defining moment of Latvian national consciousness — the moment the Riflemen ceased to be merely imperial auxiliaries and entered their own military mythology.