Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force

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The Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force (Lithuanian: Lietuvos vietinė rinktinė)^[1] was a short-lived Lithuanian armed force created and disbanded in 1944 during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. In 1943, the Nazi authorities had attempted to raise a Waffen-SS division from the local population as they had in many other countries, but due to widespread coordination between resistance groups, the mobilization was boycotted, with less than 300 men reporting.^[2][3] The Nazis carried out reprisals against the population, closed all institutes of higher learning, and deported 46 leaders and members of the intelligentsia to the Stutthof concentration camp.^[2][3] It wasn't until February 1944, as the Eastern Front approached, that they reached an agreement with General Povilas Plechavičius — General of the Lithuanian army in the interwar period, and a popular military leader who had resisted the formation of the Waffen SS division — to form a defense force that would remain within Lithuanian borders.^[3] A power struggle ensued in which the Nazi authorities demanded suboordination while Plechavičius and his staff insisted that the force remain under Lithuanian command. After brief engagements against Soviet and Polish partisans, the force was disbanded, its leaders arrested, and some of its members executed by the Nazis. Vietinė rinktinė was no more, but many of its members went underground and would engage in guerilla warfare against the coming Soviet occupation until the mid-1950s.

[edit] From formation to liquidation

After long discussions and conferences, Plechavičius signed a written agreement with the Germans on February 13, 1944 to form a local Lithuanian detachment. It was supposed to be a voluntary organisation led only by Lithuanian officers and stay with the borders of Lithuania defending the country against the Red Army. On February 16, 1944, Lithuanian Independence Day, Plechavičius, commander of the detachment, made a radio appeal to the nation for volunteers. It is noteworthy that all Lithuanian political underground organizations supported this solution. This was achieved through constant communication between Lithuanian commanders and resistance leaders. The February 16th appeal was enormously successful. Estimates put the number of volunteers between 20,000 and 30,000.^[2][3] The Germans were surprised and shocked by the number of volunteers since their own appeals went unheeded, as described. The Germans, perceiving the success of the detachment as a nationalist threat, started to interfere, breaking the signed agreement. On March 22, 1944, SS Obergruppenfiihrer and police general Friedrich Jackeln called for 70-80 thousand men for the German army as subsidiary assistants. Chief-of-Staff of the Northern Front Field Marshal Walther Model pressed for 15 battalions of men to protect the German military airports. Plechavičius rejected the demand on April 5, 1944. General Commissioner of Lithuania Adrian von Renteln demanded workers for Germany proper. Other German officials also voiced their demands. Finally, on April 6, 1944, the Germans ordered Plechavičius to mobilize the country. Plechavičius responded that a further mobilization could not take place until the formation of his detachment was complete. This greatly displeased the Germans since it was clear the detachment did not serve their immediate needs and interests.

In early May, the LTDF initatied a wide anti-partisan operation against the Polish and Soviet partisans in the area.^[4]

The Germans decided to end the resistance of the Lithuanians and the formation of the detachment. Provocation seemed to be the best method to escalate the situation. Jackeln demanded the detachment troops to take an oath to Hitler, the text of which was provided. Plechavičius rejected the demand. On May 9, 1944, Jackeln ordered the detachment units in Vilnius to revert to his direct authority, and all other units of the detachment were to come under the command of the regional German commissars. Furthermore, the detachment was to wear SS uniforms and use the Heil Hitler greeting. The TDF moved from conditional cooperation to active resistance. Plechavičius issued a declaration for his men to disband and disappear into the forests with their weapons and uniforms.^[3][5][6] The Lithuanian headquarters directed the detachment units in the field to obey only the orders of the Lithuanian detachment. It also ordered the Detachment Officer School in the city of Marijampolė to send the cadets home. The men that disbanded with their weapons would form the core of the armed anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania for the next eight years,^[3] but already in 1944, covert Soviet plans were underway for the destruction of the remnants of Plechavičius' army.^[7]

The Germans acted ferociously in liquidating the detachment. On May 15, Plechavičius, the commander of the detachment, was arrested together with the other staff members. He was deported to the Salaspils concentration camp in Latvia. For example, they publicly executed 12 randomly selected soldiers in a Vilnius line-up which consisted of some 800 men. En route to the city of Kaunas, while transporting some arrested members, one of the prisoners escaped. In retaliation, the Germans then selected non-commissioned officer Ruseckas for execution on the spot. Since the German regular army guards were stalling the execution, a German SS commissioned officer did the actual shooting. Many soldiers of the Territorial Defense Force were deported to Germany, died or were deported to Soviet prison camps.

[edit] Union of Soldiers of Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force

The Union of Soldiers of the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force (Lietuvos vietinės rinktinės karių sąjunga), a veterans organization, was founded in 1997.^[8]

[edit] Notes and references