1. LEPAYA HARBOR, CANAL, AND LAKE DEPTHS 2. LEPAYA HARBOR DEFENSES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A007600360008-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 24, 2007
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: August 19, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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MFORA CNON REPO RV ON OQM M0? QEPOQ
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
COUNTRY USSR (Latvian SSR)
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
o.:
DATE ACQUIRED
1, Lepaya Harbor, Canal, and
Lake Depths
2. Lepaya Harbor Defenses
25X1
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 19 August 1955
NO. OF PAGES 5
REQUIREMENT NO.
REFERE
Locations are given according to Stadtplan von Libau (Lepaya), Generalstab
der Luftwaffe, 1:10,000, 1941.
Lepaya Harbor, Canal, and Lake Depths
1, 25X1
1. Only the City Canal in Lepaya, across from the old cemetery, was dredged after
the Soviet occupation in 1940 (square F-3, G-4 on Stadtplan von Libau (Lepaya),
Generaistab der Luftwaffe, 1941. Some depths of Lepaya harbor and of the 25X1
channels are indicated on sketch No. 1, page 4 . The depth of the Winter
Harbor was ten m from where the City Canal emptied into the sea,at the beginning
of the southern pier at the lighthouse,to a line dividing E-2 from F-2. A
sand bar, which was widest at about a line which divides E-1 from E-2.,was along
the northern part of the southern pier, A red buoy, located approximately
250 m from the pier, indicated the location of the sand bar (see 1, sketch No..
1, page 4 ). The depth at the roads was 12-14 m between the northern pier 25X1
and the central gate, diminishing gradually toward the southern pier. The
depth at the entrance of the channel of the War Harbor was approximately i4 in.
The depth was ten m in the War Harbor channel and in the Northern Basin. The,
depth in the City Canal from the lighthouse to the Trade Bridge, located at
the end of Liela Street, gradually diminished from ten m to eight or seven .m.
The depth was six or seven m between the Trade Bridge and the Railroad Bridge
(G-5).
2. The depth between Attekas and Lielo Zirgu Islands was three to four m. The
depth was two m between Lielo Zirgu and Nazo Zirgu Islands and along the south
side of Lielas Zirgu Island. The depth between the southwest corner of Attekas
Island and Jaunlepaya was six m (G-5, at Jachtklub). Source thought the depth
diminished to four .m in the direction of Lielas Zirgu Island. The depth was
four m where Jaunlepaya joined Lielas Zirgu Island (see 2,;:'ketch No. 1, page
4 ). This juncture was called the "garbage bridge", because garbage and
waste from the Sarkanais M talurgs Plant was carried in railroad cars along
Grobinasicla Street and its extension to the island. As a result, a garbage
dam, occupying about half of the strait, was being'formed at the northern end
of the island (see 3, sketch No. 1, page 4 ). Source believed that this garbage
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(Note: Washington distribution Indicatod by "X", Field distribution by
25X1
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dam would eventually block the entrance to Lepaya Lake.
3. The depth decreased rapidly from Attekas Island to the southeast. The depth
between the southeast corner of the island and the southeast harbor was six in.
Source remembered that the decrepit, concrete wall which ran from the island
to the southeast harbor, wag steep and was deepest about one m from the shore.
However, the south shore of Attekas Island slanted gradually, but then dropped
rapidly about two m from the shore. The depth in the eastern and southern parts
of the square G-6 was one to two in. The average depth of Lepaya Lake was one
to two m, except during the spring and fall floods; The deepest spot in Lepaya
Lake was two to three in, midway along the west shore between two promontories.
There were also many drops in Lepaya Lake. Piles were driven in a broad senii-
circle to a point about 200 m out into the lake, across from the old Hillman
Sawmill (G-6). These piles fenced off the backwater with timber for the sawmill
(see 4, sketch No. 1, page 4 ),
Lepaya Harbor Defenses
4. A submarine net attached to buoys was located at ,he end of the northern pier
at the northern gate (A-1).2 The tops of these black-colored buoys were less
than 0.5 m out of the water. Sometimes this net was drawn backwards in a semi-
circle, from the north pier to the north shore. Source remembered the net being
drawn back about twice. There was no longer any railroad on the northern pier;
the rails ended at the shore (A-3), There was no railroad along the shore either
(A-3, B-3).
5. Only warships were allowed to enter the harbor through the Central Gate (C-1);
fishing craft and merchant vessels had to enter the harbor through the Southern
Gate (J/E-1). Buoys, Indicating an anti-submarine net, were never observed
there. A net there Mould considerably hamper fishing craft traffic. Half
of the northern pier of the new Commerical Harbor was washed away, and water
came over this part of the pier in windy weather (D-2/3). In 1952, four heavy
antiaircraft guns, with long barrels, were placed between buildings at the
southwest end of the Free Harbor, an a line which divides E-2 from F-2. A
device similar to an artillery shell but with a round end and a hexagonal
screw-like head, was placed north of these buildings.' This device, also
observed on many warships, was 2.5 m high, and sat on three legs. A small
shed about six feet high was near the device. Barbed wire enclosed the area
with the device, the antiaircraft, area, and stretched across from the Free
Harbor to the exit into the sea from the City Canal (E-2, F-2).
6. Four to eight barracks were built after the Soviet occupation, north of a square,
concrete tower and on the west side of Sarkanarmijas Street toward the sea.
Source believed infantry lived in this fenced off area. Wooden guns to deceive
enemy aircraft were placed to the west of Sarkanarmijas Street, on the sea-
shore between the exit of the War Harbor channel to the roads and the northern
pier of the Trade Harbor (C/D-3). These guns were placed there about 1950,
and they were last observed in fall 1952. The paint of the blue-gray guns
had begun to scale. The old powder factory was ldbated between the Lepaya-
Bernati highway and the sea, south of the channel which began at the highway
and ended at Lepaya Lake, in the southern end of Veclepaya.5 A munitions
dump, guarded by a green-uniformed border guard unit, was located in these
fortifications. Channels ran from both sides of these fortifications from
the dunes to the highway. Bunkers, supported by 40-50 cm-wide beams covered
with earth, were built by the Soviets at the north channel. Source once observed,
in 1951, devices similar to large, concave plates, approximately one m in
diameter, with a hole in the center, and attached to a large pivot mounted on
a truck bed. The distance from the top of this green-colored device to the
truck bed was about two in, and the radius of the concavity was about 15-17 cm-
Similar, but smaller, devices were seen on the masts of Soviet warships a few
years after the Soviet occupation (for locations of defeflse installations, see
sketch No. 2, page 5).
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S-E-C-R-E-T
Sketch No. 1:
Lepaya Harbor Depths (in meter,
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S-E-C-R-E-T
-5-
Sketch No. 2:
Installations in Le aya
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