Šauliai – 1941 m. birželio sukilėliai: Kretingos apskrities atvejis

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Antrasis pasaulinis karas, 1939-1945 (World War II); Birželio sukilimas; Kretingos apskritis; Kretingos šaulių rinktinė; Lietuvos šaulių sąjunga; XV Kretingos šaulių rinktinė; June Uprising; June Uprising in Lithuania; Kretinga Riflemen's Team; Kretinga district; Lithuanian Riflemen's Union; Lithuanian riflemen's Union, World War II; WW2; World War II; XV Kretinga Riflemen's team.

ENOn 22 June 1941, following the attack of the Nazi Germany on the USSR, an anti-Soviet uprising in Lithuania began. Kretinga district was occupied by the Nazis as well. During the interwar period, Lithuania was exemplified by increasing and strengthening one paramilitary organization, the selected 15th Kretinga Riflemen’s Team of Lietuvos Šaulių Sąjunga (Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, abbreviated as LRU) that was comprised of a protective battalion of the borderline with Germany. After Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, LRU was dismembered, although its network continued to exist. The former riflemen were actively involved in the anti-Soviet resistance and in the June Uprising afterwards. The purpose of the present analysis is to identify quantitative and qualitative influence of the former riflemen on the 1941 June Uprising in Kretinga district. In pursuit of this aim, the following objectives were raised: to investigate the role that the former LRU structural network and its members played in the organized processes of the rebel groups in Kretinga district; to identify the leaders of rebel groups in Kretinga district as well as their common dependence on LRU; to analyse the procurement of armament of Kretinga district’s rebels. In conclusion, the development of more than half of anti-Soviet insurgent groups in Kretinga district was based on the selected group network of the15th Kretinga Riflemen’s Team during the interwar period whose structure was retained under the conditions of the Soviet occupation. More than half of insurgent groups in Kretinga district were organized by former LRU members. In addition, former riflemen executed an administrative function in trying to eliminate the problem of absence of governmental structures. More than half of the leaders of insurgents in Kretinga district belonged to LRU before World War II.Those insurgents in Kretinga district who belonged to LRU comprised one third of the total number of insurgents identified. The armament of insurgents of Kretinga district consisted of the guns that had been hidden by the former riflemen and the guns retained during the Soviet period as well as those taken after seizing the depots of the Red Army or after disarming it. In contrast to other anti-Soviet insurgents in Lithuania, the distinctive feature of the insurgents in Kretinga is that some of them received guns from the German armed military forces. [From the publication]