| Schutzmannschaft Battalion 258 | |
|---|---|
| Lithuanian language: 258-asis lietuvių policijos batalionas | |
| Active |
|
| Allegiance |
 Nazi Germany |
| Type | Infantry |
258th Lithuanian Police Battalion (German language: Litauische Polizei-Ersatz-Bataillon Nr. 258;[1] Lithuanian language: 258-asis lietuvių policijos batalionas ) was a Lithuanian auxiliary police battalion formed on 27 April 1944.[1][2] The unit was disbanded in Tilsit at the end of July that same year.[2]
Formation[]
The battalion was formed on April 27 by Order of the Day No.5 that was issued by the Ordnungspolizei leader under the SS- und Polizeiführer in Lithuania.[1] In this order, the 258th Lithuanian Police Battalion was formed by transforming the Training Units (Mokymo dalis) of the LAD into the battalion.[1]
History[]
This unit, or at least its headquarters, were deployed in Kaunas from April to mid-June, judging from the orders issued to the Training Units and the 258th Battalion.[3] According to other sources, the battalion was located in Prienai in May 1944.[3] At the time, two other battalions were deployed in Prienai barracks: one German, the other Lithuanian.[3] The 258th battalion then included about 250 soldiers, whose uniform was blue Wehrmacht infantry uniforms.[3]
On 1 April 1944, captain Albinas Lastauskas, the commander of the young soldiers' company, together with 21 other soldiers, was sent to the 259th Lithuanian Police Battalion, that was forming in Prienai.[2] Lastauskas' position was taken over by non-commissioned officer Jurgis Normantas.[4] The young soldiers' company, in terms of training supervision, was under the training company's commander.[4] The training company's lieutenant Nikodemas Reikalas was given special holidays for May 28-June 9.[4] The 258th Battalion included one construction and one assembly company.[4] The assembly company was commanded by lieutenant Petras Polekauskas.[4] On April 1, the assembly company received lieutenant Jonas Paliulionis, 55 NCOs and soldiers from the 8th Battalion.[4] On May 31, lieutenant Vytautas Andriuškevičius, also from the 8th Battalion, was also sent to the assembly company.[4] On April 4, by the order of captain Antanas Ruzgys, commander of the Training Unit, 245 soldiers of the construction company were sent to the 259th Battalion.[4]
On April 26, the Commander of the SiPo and SD ordered the arrests of Valerijonas Janulis, the 258th Battalion's staff junior non-commissioned officer, and private Antanas Plečkaitis.[5] They were to be given over to the Gestapo.[5]
On May 23, captain Viktoras Jarašiūnas from the 2nd Battalion, was appointed to serve in the battalion headquarters.[4] Four days later, on May 27, captain Vladas Patašius from the 253th Battalion was temporarily appointed the Battalion commander's adjutant.[4] For unknown reasons, the assembly company's private Antanas Strimaitis was arrested by the German police and imprisoned in the Kaunas Hard Labour Prison.[6] On May 29, the privates Kazys Urbonas, Albertas Katilevičius, Kazys Paškevičius and Edvardas Lileika left the battalion.[6]
At the beginning of June, the 258th Battalion was moved to Kaunas, where the soldiers guarded the military warehouses.[4] At summer's beginning, one platoon from the battalion served at the 11th resistance point, which guarded the railway section near Kazlų Rūda, the railway station and the railway bridge.[4] There were 16 soldiers armed with 1 light machine gun, 1 light mortar and rifles at this point of resistance.[4] As the Red Army occupied more and more of Lithuania, the battalion retreated to Tilsit.[7] At the end of July, the 258th Battalion was disbanded in Tilsit.[4]
Aftermath[]
From Tilsit, the battalion's remnants were moved to the town of Zinkst near the Belgium–Germany border to build fortifications there.[7] Three weeks later, Lithuanian soldiers were sent to build new power lines at the Swiss border.[7] The battalion's former soldiers were captured by the United States Army in early May 1945.[7]
Some of the battalion's soldiers were transferred to other military units, while other were sent to a special camp on the Rügen island, where Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Russians and Ukrainians were being taught military and intelligence subjects.[4]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Breslavskienė 2010.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bubnys 2017, pp. 282-283.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Bubnys 2017, p. 282.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 Bubnys 2017, p. 283.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bubnys 2017, pp. 283-284.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bubnys 2017, p. 284.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Bubnys 2009, p. 6.
Bibliography[]
- Breslavskienė, Laimutė (September 2010). "Pažyma apie 258-ojo lietuvių policijos bataliono fondą Nr. R-669" (in lt). Lietuvos centrinis valstybės archyvas. http://www.archyvai.lt/lt/fondai/viesosios_tvarkos_uztikrinimas/lcva_fr669.html.
- Bubnys, Arūnas (17 October 2009). "Lietuvių policijos batalionų nuginklavimas ir išformavimas Rytprūsiuose 1944 metais" (in lt). ISSN 1392-0677. https://www.voruta.lt/wp-content/uploads/voruta_20.pdf.
- Bubnys, Arūnas (2017) (in lt). Lietuvių policijos batalionai 1941-1945 m.. Vilnius: Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras. ISBN 978-609-8037-68-5.
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The original article can be found at 258th Lithuanian Police Battalion and the edit history here.