Lithuanian Wars of Independence
The Lithuanian Wars of Independence, also known as the Freedom Struggles (
Background
After the
On February 16, 1918, the
Formation of the army
The first legislative act creating an army was passed on November 23, 1918. Its development and organization moved slowly due to lack of funding, arms, ammunition, and experienced military commanders. On December 20 Antanas Smetona and Voldemaras went to Germany to request assistance. This arrived at the end of 1918, when Germany paid the Lithuanian government one hundred million marks in reparations; the organization of the new Lithuanian army proceeded under the auspices of the German army, which was withdrawing in stages. However, the departure of both leaders created a difficult domestic situation. The Council of Lithuania released Voldemaras' cabinet; Mykolas Sleževičius became Prime Minister of Lithuania and formed a Cabinet on December 26, 1918. Perceiving an imminent threat to the state, he issued a proclamation several days later. Directed at Lithuanian men, the proclamation invited volunteers to join a force to defend the country.[citation needed]
Lithuanian volunteers who agreed to join the military force were promised free land. Fulfilling its Armistice obligation to support Lithuanian independence, Germany initially tried to organize a volunteer force from units remaining in Lithuanian territory, but those attempts failed.
After successful attempts at mustering a voluntary force to defend Lithuanian territories, mobilization was begun on March 5, 1919, to expand the Lithuanian armed forces. It applied to men born between 1897 and 1899. At the end of summer 1919, the Lithuanian army numbered about 8,000 men. During the battles that followed, 1,700 Lithuanian volunteers died, more than 2,600 were injured, and 800 were missing in action.[citation needed] Historian Alfonsas Eidintas cites the total deaths as 1,444.[2]
War against the Bolsheviks
Lithuanian–Bolshevik War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Silvestras Žukauskas |
Vincas Kapsukas | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
8,000 Lithuanians (1919) 10,000[citation needed] Saxon Volunteers | 20 000 |
As revolution broke out in Germany, the German government withdrew support for the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which had ceded Lithuania independence from Soviet Russia on November 5, 1918. Meanwhile, the Soviet Russian government renounced the treaty on November 13.[2] The Bolsheviks attempted to conquer Lithuania from the east as part of their global proletarian revolution. Elsewhere, the treaty of 1918 had also ceded independence to Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the Near East, and Belarus and Ukraine in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union attacked these nations as well. But whereas they did fall, Lithuania and Poland would not.
On December 8, 1918, a temporary revolutionary government in the capital city of Vilnius was formed, consisting solely of members of the Communist Party of Lithuania. Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas became its chairman. The following day a workers' soviet was formed and declared that it had taken control of Vilnius. However, Voldemaras' government and a Polish committee also declared their control of the city at the same time. The Germans finally abandoned Vilnius on December 31, 1918. On January 5, 1919, the Red Army took it and advanced further in the west. Local Polish paramilitary platoons led by general Władysław Wejtko fought the Red Army in Vilnius for five days; the Lithuanian government had left Vilnius along with the regular German Army. On January 1, 1919, local communists in the town of Šiauliai, about 200 kilometers west of Vilnius, rebelled and created a 1,000-man Samogitian Regiment; when the Red Army entered the town on January 15 Soviet power already existed there. On January 18 the Soviets and Germans signed a treaty and designated a demarcation line that barred Bolshevik forces from directly attacking Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city. The Red Army would need to attack through Alytus or Kėdainiai.
German volunteers led by
On February 12 Bolshevik forces attacked Alytus. Lithuanian 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th companies of the 1st Infantry Regiment had to withstand pressure from the Red Army, while members of the German units left their posts. During this battle the first Lithuanian officer to die in the wars was killed: Antanas Juozapavičius, the commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment. After the loss of their commander the regiment began retreating towards Marijampolė. On the night of February 14–15, German forces retook Alytus.
Towards the end of 1918 the officer
The movement of the Bolsheviks towards
In Kėdainiai a stationed volunteer regiment had secured its positions; in March it started small expeditions into nearby towns. Local volunteers with good knowledge of the location succeeded in driving Bolshevik supporters out of Ramygala, Truskava, and Krekenava, but these areas were soon recaptured by the Bolsheviks. These expeditions into several towns were successfully carried out until the end of March. As a reward for its successful operations, the volunteer regiment was given a name on March 22: the Separate Panevėžys Volunteer Regiment. Due to a succession of losses, the Bolshevik forces stationed in Panevėžys and Kupiškis rebelled, and were quelled only by a Red Army Division from neighboring Latvia. The Bolshevik morale underwent deeper declines, and between March 19 and March 24 their forces left Panevėžys. Lithuanian forces entered the city on March 26, but the Red Army retook it on April 4.
In April the Lithuanian army began moving towards Vilnius, taking
In the beginning of March the mobilization began and Lithuanian forces increased their numbers. At the end of April the Lithuanian army's chain of command was reformed. General Silvestras Žukauskas was designated Chief of Staff, and on May 7 he assumed command of the entire Lithuanian army. A complete reorganization took place over the next new weeks, and the strengthened Lithuanian forces were now ready to push the Red Army back. Žukauskas decided to concentrate his Lithuanian forces in two areas. The first brigade, centered in the Ukmergė–Utena–Zarasai region, was called the Vilkmergė Group; the second brigade, centered in the Kėdainiai-Panevėžys-Rokiškis region, was called the Panevėžys Group. Operations planning was undertaken during the middle of May.
On May 17 the reorganized army carried out its first operation, capturing the town of
The Panevėžys Group launched a drive towards Panevėžys on May 18. On May 19 the brigade secured Panevėžys and Raguva; on May 20 its field staff moved to Panevėžys. The city withstood a Bolshevik attack that took place on May 21 and 22. On May 24 Žukauskas ordered both groups to push farther. The Panevėžys Group advanced towards Kupiškis and secured Subačius on May 25. On May 30 they took Rokiškis; Bolshevik forces left Kupiškis on the night of May 30–31, and Lithuania secured that city on June 1. The advance continued, and on June 10 Lithuanian forces reached the territory controlled by Latvian partisans (Green Guard) and supplied them with munitions.
The Lithuanian successes continued, and by the end of August, the Bolsheviks were defeated near Zarasai. On October 2 Lithuania took Griva, a suburb of
On July 12, 1920, Lithuania signed a
War against the Bermontians
War against Bermontians | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
| West Russian Volunteer Army | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Jānis Balodis | Pavel Bermondt-Avalov | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
~20,000 | 52,000 with artillery and planes (unused)[7] |
The Bermontians, named for their leader
At first the Bermontians operated mostly in Latvia, but in July 1919, they crossed the Lithuanian–Latvian border and took the town of Kuršėnai. At that time the Lithuanians were engaged in battles with the Bolsheviks and could only issue diplomatic protests.[8] By October, the Bermontians had taken considerable territories in western Lithuania (Samogitia), including the cities of Šiauliai, Biržai, and Radviliškis. After they had annexed a town, the Bermontians enforced a rule that only the Russian language could be used to conduct administration.[10] They became notorious for robbing and looting the local populace, who began organizing local partisan groups.
During October 1919, Lithuanian forces attacked the Bermontians, achieving an important victory on November 21 and 22 near Radviliškis, a major railway center. The Lithuanians collected significant spoils of war there, including 30 airplanes and 10 cannons.[8] Later clashes were stopped by the intervention of an Entente representative, the French General Henri Niessel, who oversaw the withdrawal of German troops.[10] The Lithuanian military followed the retreating Bermontian soldiers to prevent them from further looting and to ensure their complete evacuation. By December 15, the Bermontians were completely removed from Lithuania.
War against Poland
Polish–Lithuanian War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Lithuania | Poland |
In June 1920 the Soviet Russian army had taken Vilnius. Shortly after their defeat in the
Żeligowski's Mutiny
A staged mutiny arranged by the Polish
October Offensive of the Central Lithuanian Army
In October 1920, General Lucjan Żeligowski led a military offensive against the Lithuanian army following his mutiny that captured Vilnius. The Lithuanians, despite being outnumbered, attempted a counter-offensive on October 18, but the experienced Polish forces successfully repelled them near Rykantai (Rykonty). A significant turning point was the raid on Juodeliai, where Polish Uhlans from the 13th Wilno Uhlan Regiment executed a well-planned attack, capturing Lithuanian General Stasys Nastopka and causing the Lithuanian army to retreat.
Central Lithuanian Offensive on Kaunas
Klaipėda Revolt
See also
- Latvian War of Independence
- Estonian War of Independence
- Polish-Soviet War
- Central Lithuania
- Forest Brothers
References
- ^ Kajėnas, Kostas; Balkelis, Tomas; Stankevičius, Martynas (September 14, 2021). "Baltgudžių batalionas ir Lietuvos nepriklausomybės kovos". Bernardinai.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved September 14, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-312-22458-5.
- Alfred Erich Senn, "The Formation of the Lithuanian Foreign Office, 1918–1921", Slavic Review, Vol. 21, No. 3. (Sep., 1962), pp. 500-507.: "A Bolshevik victory over the Poles would have certainly meant a move by the Lithuanian communists, backed by the Red Army, to overthrow the Lithuanian nationalist government... Kaunas, in effect, paid for its independence with the loss of Vilna."
- ^ Alfred Erich Senn, Lietuvos valstybes... p. 163: "If the Poles didn't stop the Soviet attack, Lithuania would fell to the Soviets... Polish victory costs the Lithuanians the city of Wilno, but saved Lithuania itself."
- miracle at Vistula."
- ^ Jonas Rudokas, Józef Piłsudski - wróg niepodległości Litwy czy jej wybawca? Archived October 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (Polish translation of a Lithuanian article) "Veidas", 25 08 2005: [Piłsudski] "defended both Poland and Lithuanian from Soviet domination"
- ^ Lieutenant Colonel Jaan Maide (1933). "II". Ülevaade Eesti Vabadussõjast (Overview of Estonian War of Independence 1918–1920) (in Estonian). Estonian Defence League. Archived from the original on August 22, 2010.
- ^ LCCN 74-114275.
- ISBN 5-415-01502-7.
- ^ ISBN 0-312-22458-3.
- ^ (Polish) Piotr Łossowski, Konflikt polsko-litewski 1918-1920, pp. 175–79.
Further reading
- Lesčius, Vytautas (2004). Lietuvos kariuomenė nepriklausomybės kovose 1918–1920. Vilnius: Vilnius University, ISBN 9955-423-23-4.
- Gimtoji istorija, Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (Lietuvos istorijos vadovėlis), CD, 2002, ISBN 9986-9216-7-8
- Rudokas, Jonas (November 25, 2004). "Bermontianos žlugimas". Veidas. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007.
- Z. Butkus, Kartu su Latvija ir Estija ar atskirai?, Atgimimas, December 12, 1988, No. 10 (10)[dead link]