On 13 June, 1941, the First Soviet Occupation deported 30,000 Lithuanians to Siberia. The advancing German Army refused to recognise the Lithuanian Provisional Government in Kaunus on 23 June 1941 but initially tolerated its activities and allowed the anti-Soviet resistance group Lietuviu Aktyvistu Frontas (LAF) to undertake security duties on its behalf.
Lithuanian Home Guard - Selbschutz/Lietuviu Savisaugus Dalinai LSD
The Germans formed a Lithuanian Civil Administration under German Commissioner-General Dr von Renteln headed by Lithuanian Lt. General Kubilaunus on 28 July 1941. A Lithuanian Home Guard LSD comprising 11 battalions was formed for internal security duties. In August 1942 these units reformed into Civil Police and Defence Battalions (Schutzmannschaft/Leituviu Aspaugus Daliniai - LAD) The Lithuanian Home Guard refused to reform for local security duties.16 LAD battalions served outside Lithuania fighting partisans in Poland, Latvia, northwest Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.
In February 1943 the Germans decided to form a Lithuanian Legion which secured a mere 200 volunteers. Lithuanian political and military leaders refused to support the unit. The Germans retaliated by conscripting young Lithuanians into seven Army Construction Battalions.
VLIK and LVR
The vast forests of Lithuania ensured this was the Baltic state most suited to guerrilla warfare. In November the LAF reformed as the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (Vryausias Lietuvos Islaisvinimo Komitetas -VLIK). Lithuanian Major General Plechavicius negotiated with SS Lt. General Jeckeln to establish Lithuanian Military Forces. Plechavicius was successful and in February 1944 he called for volunteers and secured 30,000 men by March 1944. 12,000 of them formed the Litauische Sondervebande/Leituvos Vietine Rinktine/Lithuanian Special Units/LVR.
13x750 strong battalions formed 4 regional regiments. The Kaunus regiment fought Soviet partisans in the Grausiskas Valley, Lithuania. General Jeckeln, impressed by their success, demanded a further 15 battalions (9,000 men) to defend OstFront Luftwaffe airfields. Plechavicius refused he was arrested and sent to concentration camp in Germany, 3,500 men were transfered to Luftwaffe AA units in Germany the rest escaped to join guerrilla units in the forests.
TAR and Police Units
The Red Army destroyed Army Group Centre in June 1944 and occupied Vilnius on 13 July. The 13th Lithuanian Police Bn defended the city. The Soviet attack on Vilnius was led by the 'Order of the Red Flag' Rifle Division comprised of Lithuanian Communists. In western Lithuania German General Maeder organised Lithuanians from Soviet occupied eastern Lithuania into the Fatherland Defence Force/Teyvenes Aspaugos Rinktine-TAR, which defended Klaipeda port until January 1945.
Lithuanians in Other Services
By January 1945 36,800 Lithuanians were serving with German forces - far lower than the two other Baltic states due mainly to mutual hostility: 5,400 in Germany army construction battalions; 3,000 in police battalions; 12,000 as Luftwaffe auxiliaries. Lithuanians fron Polish annexed Vilnius fought in Italy in the 5th Kresowa Inf Division of Polish 2nd Corps. Lithuanian pilots served with the French Air Force May 1940 and Flt.Lt. Marcinkus served in the RAF. Some 100,000 Lithuanian-Americans served in the US armed forces during World War Two.
The Second Soviet Occupation 1945-91
In June 1944 the only surviving VLIK War Council member Lithuanian Major General Peciulionis formed the 30,000 strong Lithuanian Freedom Army/Lietuvos Laisves Armija -LLA which was reformed as the Lithuanian Partisans Lietuvos Patiizanou -LP in May 1948. Vast numbers of Red Army (Soviet Army - March 1946), NKVD and Communist Baltic Demolition Battalions were tied down in counterinsurgency operations. From 1946 - 1948 all three Baltic states, with field telephone contact, were highly successful against Soviet occupation forces. The Soviets responded by deporting 260,000 Lithuanians as graphically described in the Gulag Archipelago by Alexandar Solzhenitsyn.
A Soviet amnesty in 1955 ended the fighting in the Baltic States. The Baltic people represented 3% of the USSR population in 1956, however, Balts made up 30% of Gulag inmates in Siberia that same year.
Sources
- Panzer Leader by General Heinz Guderian, Futura Publications 1972
- Germany's Eastern Front Allies, Baltic Forces by C Jurado and N Thomas, Osprey Publishing 2002
- The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn Collins/Fontana 1974
Michael Manning - ' The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity' W.B.Yeats
