Adolfas Ramanauskas Adolfas Ramanauskas codename Vanagas ( March 6 , 1918 in New Britain , Connecticut – November 29 , 1957 in Vilnius ) was one of the prominent leaders of the Lithuanian partisans . Ramanauskas worked as a teacher when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1944 – 45 . He joined anti - Soviet resistance , advancing from a platoon commander to the chairman of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters . From 1952 he lived in hiding with fake papers . Ramanauskas was the last partisan commander to be captured . Betrayed , he was arrested , tortured , and eventually executed by KGB . After Lithuania regained independence in 1990 , Ramanauskas was posthumously awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis and promoted to brigadier general . His daughter , Auksutė Ramanauskaitė - Skokauskienė , was elected to the Seimas ( Lithuanian parliament ) in 2008 . Early life . Ramanauskas was born to Lithuanian immigrant family in the United States . In 1921 , his family returned to Lithuania , bought of land in Bielėnai near Rudamina , and took up farming . Ramanauskas graduated from Galiniai primary school in 1930 , and from Lazdijai secondary school in 1937 . He continued his studies at the Klaipėda Pedagogical Institute ( now Vilnius Pedagogical University ) . Just before graduation the Klaipėda Region ( Memel Territory ) was ceded to Nazi Germany ; therefore the institute was evacuated to Panevėžys . The same year , Ramanauskas enrolled into the Kaunas War School . He graduated with the rank of second lieutenant in the reserve forces . His class of 1940 was the last class to graduate from the war school before Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940 . After graduation Ramanauskas moved to Krivonys near Druskininkai where he became a teacher . He participated in the anti - Soviet June Uprising at the start of the 1941 German invasion of Russia . During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania , Ramanauskas lived in Alytus and taught mathematics , Lithuanian language , and physical education at the Alytus Teachers ' Seminary . As the Red Army was winning over the Wehrmacht , Lithuania was once again occupied by the Soviet forces . In spring 1945 , Ramanauskas joined the Lithuanian partisans who waged an armed guerrilla warfare against the Soviets . He chose codename " Vanagas " ( Hawk ) and joined partisan formations in southern Lithuania ( Suvalkija and Dzūkija ) , which were most active among Lithuanian partisans . Guerrilla warfare . Ramanauskas joined a partisan platoon operating in the environs of Nemunaitis and Alovė and was immediately elected its commander . He organized disorganized resistance members into a 140 - men Merkinė company ( later reorganized into a battalion ) . The early stages of resistance saw open battles with the NKVD and destruction battalion forces . Two of such encounters was in the Varčios Forest between Alovė and Daugai on June 14 and 23 , 1945 . During the shootout , 30 – 47 partisans were killed and 6 – 14 taken prisoners . On July 1 , 1945 , Ramanauskas was promoted to commander of Merkys Brigade ( composed of three battalions – Merkinė , Marcinkonys and Druskininkai ) . In October 1945 , in Nedzingė he married Birutė Mažeikaitė , a former student at the Alytus Teachers ' Seminary and fellow partisan fighter ( codename " Vanda " ) . On December 15 , 1945 , he led a daring but unsuccessful attack on Merkinė . The partisans destroyed Soviet records , but were unable to free prisoners , or overpower the Soviet troops entrenched in the local church . Ramanauskas strove to improve organization and centralized command of the partisans . He became commander of the Dainava Command ( Lithuanian : " Dainavos apygarda " ) after the death of Dominykas Jėčys - Ąžuolis in September 1947 and of the South Lithuania Region ( Lithuanian : " Pietų Lietuvos sritis " ) in 1948 . He also wrote , edited , and published numerous partisan newspapers , including " Mylėk Tėvynę " ( 1946 – 47 ) , " Laisvės varpas " ( 1947 – 49 ) , Свободное слово ( Russian - language newspaper for Soviet soldiers ; 1947 – 49 ) , " Miško brolis " ( 1951 – 52 ) . In February 1949 , he participated in a meeting of all partisan commanders in the village of Minaičiai . The Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters , chief command of the partisans , was established during the meeting . Ramanauskas was elected to the presidium of the Union and as first deputy of its chairman Jonas Žemaitis . He was also promoted to the rank of Major . In fall 1949 , Ramanauskas was further promoted to Colonel and chief commander of the defensive forces of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters . When Žemaitis resigned due to poor health in 1952 , Ramanauskas became the leader of the Union . However , by that time the armed resistance had diminished . Due to heavy losses organized structures broke down and partisans continued their struggles individually . Ramanauskas officially ordered cessation of armed struggle in favor of passive resistance . He obtained fake documents and lived in hiding . While in hiding he wrote three - part memoirs , which were hidden by trusted people and uncovered only in 1988 – 89 during the era of " glastnost " and first published as " Daugel krito sūnų … " ( Many Sons Have Fallen … ) in 1991 . KGB operatives , led by Petras Raslanas and Nachman Dushanski , continued to search for Ramanauskas . He was betrayed by Antanas Urbonas , former classmate at the Kaunas War School , and arrested on October 11 , 1956 . He was taken to KGB prison in Vilnius ( now Museum of Genocide Victims ) and tortured . On October 12 , barely alive , he was transferred to a hospital , where doctors noted his many wounds – punctured eye , missing testicles , bruised stomach , etc . Ramanauskas was sentenced to death on September 25 , 1957 , and executed on November 29 , 1957 . The place of his burial is unknown . His wife Birutė Mažeikaitė was sentenced to 8 years in Gulag .