|
Battle Of Kiauneliškis
The Battle of Kiauneliškis was fought on March 11–13, 1945 between the Lithuanian partisans and Soviet forces. The Lithuanians were entrenched in two large bunkers and refused to surrender. After three days of fighting, both bunkers were destroyed with heavy casualties on both sides. Background As the Red Army continued to advance towards Nazi Germany, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. The Lithuanians fled forceful conscription into the Red Army and hid in the forests. A particularly large group, known as the Tiger Detachment (, organized themselves in the Labanoras Forest. A platoon, commanded by Antanas Krinickas, built a large Margis Bunker with trenches south of the Kiauneliškis village in fall 1944. Another bunker, named after Kaunas, was built by men commanded by Apolinaras Jurčys in winter 1945. Battle In March 1945, the NKVD sent troops and ''stribai'' (members of destruction battalions) from Švenčionys, Švenčionėliai, Saldutiškis to destroy the Kau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guerrilla War In Lithuania
Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in Estonia, Latvia and Poland. An estimated total of 30,000 Lithuanian partisans and their supporters were killed. The Lithuanian partisan war lasted almost for a decade, thus becoming one of the longest partisan wars in Europe. At the end of World War II, the Red Army pushed the Eastern Front towards Lithuania. The Soviets invaded and occupied Lithuania by the end of 1944. As forced conscription into Red Army and Stalinist repressions escalated, thousands of Lithuanians took to the forests in the countryside as a refuge. These spontaneous groups became more organized and centralized culminating in the establishment of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters in February 1948. In their documents, the partisans emphasized that their ultimate g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
