page_title: June Uprising in Lithuania
section_title: German advances and Soviet retreat
hierarchical_section_title: June Uprising in Lithuania / June Revolt / German advances and Soviet retreat
context_page_description: The June Uprising was a brief period in the history of Lithuania between the first Soviet occupation and the Nazi occupation in late June 1941. Approximately one year earlier, on June 15, 1940, the Red Army invaded Lithuania and the unpopular Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was soon established. Political repression and terror were used to silence its critics and suppress any resistance. When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, a diverse segment of the Lithuanian population rose up against the Soviet regime, declared renewed independence, and formed the short-lived Provisional Government. Two large Lithuanian cities, Kaunas and Vilnius, fell into the hands of the rebels before the arrival of the Wehrmacht. Within a week, the German Army took control of the whole of Lithuania. The Lithuanians greeted the Germans as liberators from the repressive Soviet rule and hoped that the Germans would re-establish their independence or at least allow some degree of autonomy. No such support came from the Nazis, who steadily replaced Lithuanian institutions with their own administration. The Reichskommissariat Ostland was established at the end of July 1941.
context_section_description: At 3:15 am on June 22, the territory of the Lithuanian SSR was invaded by two advancing German army groups: Army Group North, which took over western and northern Lithuania, and Army Group Centre, which took over most of the Vilnius Region. The Germans amassed some 40 divisions, 700,000 troops, 1,500 tanks, and 1,200 airplanes for the attack on the Lithuanian SSR. The Soviets had about 25 divisions, 400,000 troops, 1,500 tanks, and 1,344 airplanes in the Baltic Military District. 7 rifle and 6 motorized divisions from the 8th and 11th Armies were located within the Lithuanian territory.
  The first attacks were carried out by Luftwaffe against airports, airfields, and Lithuanian cities (Kėdainiai, Raseiniai, Karmėlava, Panevėžys, Jurbarkas, Ukmergė, Šiauliai, and others). These attacks claimed the lives of some 4,000 civilians. Most of the Soviet aircraft were destroyed on the ground (322 airplanes were lost in air versus 1,489 destroyed on ground). The Germans rapidly advanced forward encountering only sporadic resistance from the Soviets near Kaltinėnai, Raseiniai, Šiauliai and assistance from the Lithuanians. In the Battle of Raseiniai, the Soviets attempted to mount a counterattack, reinforced by tanks, but suffered heavy losses. Within a week, the Germans sustained 3,362 casualties, but controlled the entirety of Lithuania. Soviet losses were heavy and not known precisely; the estimates put them at 12–15 divisions. The Red Army also lost numerous aircraft, tanks, artillery, and other equipment.
  Despite the generally friendly Lithuanian attitude, the Germans carried out several punitive executions. For example, 42 civilians from Ablinga village were murdered in response to German deaths. After two German guards in Alytus were shot by unknown perpetrators, the Nazis shot 42 Lithuanian rebels. The terror in Alytus continued to the next day: the Germans selected men, age 15–50, and executed them in groups of 20–25. More atrocities were carried out by the retreating Red Army. About 4,000 political and criminal prisoners, arrested during the first Soviet occupation, were to be transported to Russia. NKVD organized prisoner massacres in Rainiai, Pravieniškės, Panevėžys. A total of 40 locations of mass killings have been identified in Lithuania. Many others were killed en route to Soviet prisons. The largest such massacre took place near Chervyen in present-day Belarus. A list of NKVD victims in Lithuania, compiled during the Nazi occupation, includes 769 people that did not participate in the uprising.
caption: Soviet POWs escorted by German soldiers in Vilnius, June–July 1941
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