Povilas Plechavičius

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Povilas Plechavičius (1890-1973) was a Imperial Russian and then Lithuanian military officer and statesman. In the service of Lithuania he rose to the rank of General of the army in the interwar period. He is best known for his actions during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, for organizing the 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état‎ and for leading a Lithuanian force during the German occupation of Lithuania.

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[edit] Youth

Povilas Plechavičius was born February 1, 1890, in present day Mažeikiai district municipality to Lithuanian farmer Ignas Plechavičius [1]. His mother was Lithuanian noblewoman Konstancija Bukontaitė[1]. He was educated mostly in Russia. In 1908 he graduated from a gymnasium in Moscow, in 1911 from Institute of Commerce, and in 1914 from Orenburg cavalry war school. During the World War I he fought with the Russian army against the German Empire and Austria-Hungary.

[edit] Lithuanian Wars of Independence

Povilas Plechavičius did return to his homeland in the summer of 1918 and began organizing local militia together with his Brother, Aleksandras. Povilas Plechavičius was assigned military commander of Seda and it‘s surroundings by the Lithuanian Council. On the November 13 th 1918 Plechavičius enlisted as a volunteer to Lithuanian army Being skilled at military organization together with his brother with a support of local population they succeeded in creating volunteer units to fight against Bolshevik invasion and against Bermontians.

As an officer of Lthuanian Army he did participate in fights against invading Bolshevik forces an also in Polish-Lithuanian war. For his accomplishments in Lithuanian Wars of Independence, Plechavičius was rewarded the highest honor, Order of Vytis Cross.

Later he was the main officer behind the military coup of 1926, that removed democratically elected government, assumed power and then handed it to Antanas Smetona.

[edit] Local Lithuanian Detachment

During the first Soviet occupation Plechavičius retreated to Germany, and when the war started, he returned to Lithuania. During the war, Plechavičius did not allow Nazi officers to gather a Lithuanian SS group. He formed a local group called Local Lithuanian Detachment (Lietuvos vietinė rinktinė). After long discussions and conferences, Plechavičius signed a written agreement with the Germans on February 13, 1944 for forming 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.

February 16, 1944, Lithuanian Independence Day, Plechavičius, commander of the Lithuanian 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: More volunteers came forward than was expected. The Germans were very surprised and deeply shocked by the number of volunteers since their own appeals went unheeded, as described. The Germans, worried by the success of the detachment, started to interfere, breaking the signed agreement.

March 22, 1944, SS Obergruppenführer 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 April 5, 1944. General Commissioner of Lithuania Adrian von Renteln demanded workers for Germany proper. Other German officials also voiced their demands.

Finally, April 6, 1944, the Germans ordered Plechavičius to mobilize the country. Plechavičius responded that the mobilization could not take place until the formation of the 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 Local Lithuanian Detachment initiated a wide anti-partisan operation against the Polish and Soviet partisans in the area.[2] but was defeated on May 13 by Armia Krajowa at Mūrinė Ašmena (Lithuanian name, then called Murowana Oszmianka, modern name Muravanaya Ashmyanka near Ashmyany, Belarus). In the effect of that battle, the LVR became so weakened that after the defeat in the battle of Murowana Oszmianka that the Germans decided the formations are useless to them and need to be disbanded.[3][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.[citation needed] Jackeln demanded the detachment troops to take an oath to Hitler, the text of which was provided.[citation needed] Plechavičius rejected the demand. May 9, 1944,[citation needed] Jackeln ordered the detachment units in Vilnius to revert to his direct authority. 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.

As circumstances changed, the Local Detachment 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.[5][6][7] 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 from the detachment would form the core of the armed anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania for the next eight years.[7] 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.

[edit] After the Second World War

In 1949 Plechavičius moved to the United States where his sister and mother lived. He died December 19, 1973, in Chicago, Illinois.

In 2004 Plechavičius was posthumously awarded a medal from Lithuanian president Rolandas Paksas for his services to Lithuania, which caused some controversy and displeasure in Poland, where he is seen as a Nazi collaborator whose units were primarily concerned with fighting against the Poles.[8]

[edit] Notes and references

In-line:
  1. ^ a b (Lithuanian) Kazys Blaževičius (2004-01-21). "Žemaitijos valdovas". XXI amžius 6 (1209). 
  2. ^ (Polish) Gazeta Wyborcza, 2004-09-01, W Wilnie pojednają się dziś weterani litewskiej armii i polskiej AK (Today in Vilnius veterans of Lithuanian army and AK will forgive each other), last accessed on 7 June 2006
  3. ^ (English) Tadeusz Piotrowski (1997). Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide.... McFarland & Company, 165-166. ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. Retrieved on 2008-03-15.  See also review
  4. ^ (Polish) Zygmunt Boradyn; Andrzej Chmielarz, Henryk Piskunowicz (1997). in Tomasz Strzembosz: Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941-1945). Warsaw: Institute of Political Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, 40-45. ISBN 8390716803. 
  5. ^ Audėnas, Juozas (ed.). Twenty Years’ Struggle for the Freedom of Lithuania. New York: VLIK, 1963
  6. ^ Ivinskis, Zenonas "Lithuania During the War: Resistance Against the Soviet and the Nazi Occupants," in V. Stanley Vardys (ed.), Lithuania under the Soviets: Portrait of a Nation (New York: Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, 1965), p. 84.
  7. ^ a b Lane, Tomas. Lithuania: Stepping Westward. p. 57, Routledge (UK), Aug. 23, 2002. ISBN 0415267315
  8. ^ (Polish) Przewodnik Katolicki (10/2004) by Grzegorz Górny. Awantura o generała (Quarrel about a general). Last accessed on 7 June 2006.
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