Lithuanian military officer
Povilas Plechavičius (1 February 1890 – 19 December 1973) was a Lithuanian military officer and statesman. His military career began in the Imperial Russian Army as a yunker during World War I. Then, Plechavičius climbed the ranks of the interwar period Lithuanian Army from captain to lieutenant general.
He is best known for his actions during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence when the partisans he led fought against the Soviet invasion of northwest Lithuania, liberated Seda, Mažeikiai and Telšiai, and later forced out the Bermontians. He is also known for organizing the 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état and creating and leading the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force during the German occupation of Lithuania.
Early life.
Povilas Plechavičius was born on 1 February 1890, in the Bukančiai farmstead, in Židikai eldership, Mažeikiai district, to the Lithuanian farmer Ignas Plechavičius. His mother was Lithuanian noblewoman Konstancija Bukontaitė. Povilas Plechavičius was baptized in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Pikeliai. According to a list of languages made by Plechavičius himself, in addition to his native Lithuanian mother tongue, he also knew the Latvian, Russian, Polish and German languages, as well as some English and French. Plechavičius is also known to have spoken Samogitian.
Plechavičius graduated from a gymnasium in Moscow in 1908. Because Plechavičius was proud of his Samogitian background, he was disliked by the Russian teachers and thus suffered because of it. Later, he graduated from the Moscow Commercial Institute in 1911. Plechavičius then graduated from the Orenburg Cossack Yunker School on May 13, 1914.
World War I.
During World War I, he fought in the 5th Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army against the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. During the war, he was wounded. The first time he was wounded was in the fights near Šiauliai. Some sources give the number of his wounds as three, but his biography claims that he was wounded as many as 29 times during the war. In one case, he was unconscious for three days after receiving an injury.
Russian Revolution in 1917.
In October 1917, the Bolshevik coup began and the Russian army fell apart, including in the Caucasus where the Plechavičiai brothers were involved in the campaign against the Ottoman army.
While in southern Russia during the Russian Revolution, Plechavičius also fought against the Bolsheviks. On news of the outbreak of the Lithuanian–Soviet War, both brothers Povilas and Aleksandras left their regiments for Samogitia. The Plechavičiai brothers used this opportunity to return home to Lithuania.
Lithuanian Wars of Independence.
1918.
Summer.
The situation in Lithuania in 1918 was chaotic due to the rampage of robbers as well as the requisitions and robberies by the Imperial German Army units. The robbers were mostly former Russian prisoners of war on their way to Russia, which included Bolsheviks, and local criminals. The robbers frequently engaged in brutality like beating people up, burning their soles, and even skinning live people, thereafter burning them with all their homesteads. A lot of those robbers ran rampant in the vicinity of Seda, Pikeliai, Židikai and Skuodas.
The German Empire had already signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Soviet Russia on March 3, 1918, thus ending the hostilities on the Eastern Front between the Russian and German armies. Germany had also recognized Lithuanian independence on March 23, but negotiations were still ongoing about the form of governance. Regardless, the German soldiers remained in Lithuania, looting and requisitioning from it.
On July 25, 1918, Povilas and Aleksandras returned to their farmstead, from where they had not heard from for a long time while serving in the Russian army. In August, the two brothers organized a Gegužinė (Lithuanian version of May Day) in Juodeikėliai to celebrate the Act of Independence of Lithuania. It was a mass gathering of the region's locals, where patriotic speeches were made, Samogitian pipe orchestras played, people sang patriotic songs and danced. The celebrations were held in a garden. Several local communists disturbed the celebrations by firing shots. Plechavičius chose a couple of men, told them to catch those communists, spank them and let them go, which the men succeeded in doing. The people were calmed down and continued dancing. The May Day had a great significance for the local residents, as it strengthened their patriotism, united them and encouraged them to fight for freedom.
Autumn.
In the autumn of 1918, Povilas Plechavičius went by train to Vilnius, where Council of Lithuania, the provisional government of Lithuania, was already located. Because the Germans still "de facto" occupying the country, the Council of Lithuania could not really do much even if it was functioning. The Council of Lithuania appointed Plechavičius as the Seda County Commander on November 15 and authorized him to organize the militia, military headquarters (), self-defence units and local administration in Samogitia and to strengthen the Lithuanian state there in all ways. After receiving the wide-ranging mandate from the Lithuanian government, Plechavičius started an uncompromising fight against the Bolsheviks, whose foremost enemy he became. On November 23, Plechavičius volunteered to join the Lithuanian army.
In November 1918, encouraged by the Council of Lithuania, self-government structures began to form throughout Lithuania, such as parish, district and county committees, militias, self-defence groups, military volunteers, and soon even town and district military headquarters began to be created. However, most of the government structures were unprotected and most of the militias lacked weapons.
Winter.
The situation was worsened by the Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919, when the Soviet Red Army was approaching Lithuania. Local Bolsheviks were emboldened by this and began creating Revolutionary committees, also known as Soviets. By the end of 1918, they had formed Soviets in Skuodas, Salantai, Ylakiai, Leckava, Tirkšliai, Viekšniai, Plungė and Židikai. The Bolshevik Soviets tried to consolidate their power through murder, terror and robbery, hoping to subjugate Lithuania to Soviet Russia.
When the Bolsheviks seized control in Seda in late 1918, the two militarily experienced brothers Povilas and Aleksandras, supported by the local population, began to organize a local partisan unit. Plechavičius began organizing the partisans after first receiving weapons from the inhabitants and, later on, also from the German military units in Latvia. Plechavičius taught military drill to the partisans and the militiamen that joined them. They also had basic shooting practice. Their activity centred on Skuodas. Plechavičius was assigned military commander of Skuodas and its surroundings by the Council of Lithuania.
1919.
Plechavičius' organizational talent, awareness of his responsibility and duty, combined with the public support for him and his fighters, soon gave tangible achievements. Together with his brother Aleksandras, Plechavičius succeeded in creating volunteer partisan units. On February 9, the partisans of Skuodas swore an oath and paraded through its streets on February 16, the day of the restoration of Lithuanian independence.
In the first half of 1919, the threat posed by Bolshevism to Lithuania was huge, because the Red Army had invaded up to the line along Mažeikiai, Seda, Telšiai, Šiluva, Kėdainiai, Jonava, Kaišiadorys, Alytus and Merkinė. The Samogitian partisans stopped the Soviet invasions into Samogitia in the areas where there was no German military.
With the help of a German battalion and an artillery battery, the partisans liberated Seda and Mažeikiai by the end of February. The retreating Bolsheviks were being pursued until Kuršėnai, while in the north, they were followed in the direction of Laižuva and Žagarė until the Latvian border. Thus, in February 1919, Plechavičius was appointed the Commandant of Seda.
After reorganizing, the partisan headquarters moved to Seda. The nearby Telšiai received a military headquarters group for the town and its district from Kaunas. The commandant was the officer Bronius Zaleskis. Military headquarters were also established in Mažeikiai. The general situation throughout the war-torn lands was improving. The partisan self-defence squads had roughly 200 soldiers in them, while the local militia had a similar amount as well.
On February 27, the Samogitian partisans and German soldiers combined forces to liberate Luokė from the Bolsheviks. The Samogitian partisans were also involved in defeating the Soviet 30th Rifle Regiment near Tirkšliai and Mažeikiai on March 2.
The word about Plechavičius as a brave and fearless commander of Samogitian soldiers spread throughout the land and led to him being called the "ruler of Samogitia". Due to Plechavičius' efforts, order was established throughout the Samogitian region.
On May 31, 1919, Plechavičius married Irena Grinbergaitė (1897–1983) in Aleksandrija's Catholic church. According to Rapolas Skipitis, she was of Baltic German descent and from Liepāja.
Bolshevik assassination attempts.
Bolsheviks tried assassinating Plechavičius numerous times, but always failed. For example, once Plechavičius was riding a bike near Seda. Someone shot at him and the bullet made a hole in Plechavičius' hat, but Plechavičius was unscathed. Plechavičius guarded that hat as a souvenir. Another time, in the Ylakiai district, while riding in a carriage from Kivyliai to Klauseikiai, someone threw a grenade into his carriage, but Plechavičius grabbed it and threw it away, with the grenade exploding and not harming anyone.
The Bolsheviks tried to murder Plechavičius in his bed while sleeping, by shooting through the wall, but this failed because the assassin missed. The Bolsheviks infiltrated a maid in Plechavičius' house, who was supposed to kill Plechavičius. Wherever Plechavičius and his partisans went, they encountered resistance, which led them to suspect the maid of being an informant. Feliksas Veitas discovered that the maid was a Bolshevik agent. The maid was arrested, sentenced to death by a court-martial and publicly shot in the middle of the town of Seda, for everyone to see.
After eliminating the danger of Bolshevism in Samogitia, a court case was fabricated against Plechavičius, allegedly for fighting his enemies too brutally. The Social Democrat Liuda Purėnienė, a member of the Seimas, supported the accusation in court. When the floor was given to the accused, Plechavičius laconically stated: "Respected Court, if I had not been there at that time or another similar person, you would not be sitting here today." Plechavičius was acquitted.
In November 1919, Plechavičius was appointed the Commandant of Mažeikiai town and district.
1920.
From January 1920, Plechavičius commanded a company and then a battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment. As an officer in the Lithuanian Army, he participated in the Polish–Lithuanian War in the battle for Seinai, Augustavas and Varėna in late 1920. At the end of 1920, he served in the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Regiments.
Interwar.
From May 1921, Plechavičius was the acting commander of the 1st Cavalry Regiment. From March 1922, Plechavičius was the colonel commanding the 1st Cavalry Regiment. His regiment was renamed to the 1st Hussar Regiment in April 1922. In 1924, Plechavičius graduated from the Higher Officers' Courses in Kaunas, in which he later taught himself. In 1926, Plechavičius graduated from the War College in Prague.
1926 Lithuanian coup d'état.
After the Lithuanian parliamentary election in May 1926, the political regime in Lithuania softened and the communist movement became stronger. Convinced that it was necessary to protect Lithuania from a Bolshevik coup, Plechavičius, who was freed from prison, where he was serving a 20-day sentence for a fistfight with another officer, became one of the leaders of the military coup of December 17, 1926. The coup removed the democratically elected government, assumed power and then handed it to Antanas Smetona.
Smetona period.
On January 1, 1927, he was appointed Chief Cavalry Inspector of the Army Headquarters, and at the same time held the position of Chief of the General Staff Board. In July 1927, he was appointed Chief of Cavalry. From August 1927, Plechavičius was the Chief of the General Staff of the Army. He wrote a textbook in 1928 called the (Cavalry service, Divisional Squadron and Mixed Reconnaissance Team). He was given the rank of lieutenant general in 1929. On February 13, 1929, Plechavičius was released to the reserve against his will. He lived as a farmer thereafter.
The Tiškevičiai noble family deeply respected Plechavičius. One of their family members, Kazys Tiškevičius was a Senior Lieutenant in the 1st Hussar Regiment and also a member of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union.
World War II.
After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Plechavičius withdrew to Germany in June 1940. He returned to Lithuania in June 1941 after the Operation Barbarossa began, which was the start of the Eastern Front.
Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force.
A Waffen-SS unit was never created in Lithuania due to a mass national boycott in 1943 by the Lithuanian anti-Nazi resistance. After German defeats on the Eastern Front and the Red Army approaching Lithuania, the German occupiers of Lithuania were more willing to accept Lithuanian demands for their own military units compared