Soviet Commissar’s Last Stand: Rare WWII Photo from the Battle for Latvia

June 4, 2025 - Reading time: 2 minutes

Soviet infantry soldiers of the Red Army engage in a fierce firefight using PPSh-41 submachine guns against superior enemy forces.

Location: Latvia, USSR  

Date: 1944  

Photographer: Ivan Shagin

Soviet infantry soldiers of the Red Army engage in a fierce firefight using PPSh-41 submachine guns against superior enemy forces. Leading them is a political officer — the *politruk* — who, despite being wounded in the head, did not leave the battlefield.

This striking photo symbolizes both the brutality of the Eastern Front and the resolve of Soviet forces during the late stages of World War II.

Original archive title: The Political Commissar Continues the Fight.

• "Baltic campaign WWII"

• "Soviet offensive in Latvia 1944"

• "heroic Soviet soldiers in WWII"