Book of historian M.Yu. Krysin talks about the history of the creation of Latvian armed forces, which were part of the SS during the Great Patriotic War and known as the "Latvian SS Legion." As the author convincingly proves, they were closely associated with the Latvian collaboration-nationalist movement that arose in the pre-war era. In addition to the usual military operations on the Eastern Front, Latvian SS brigades and divisions participated in many bloody punitive actions in the occupied territories, which claimed thousands of lives of Soviet citizens.