Stasys Raštikis | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | September 13, 1896 |
| Died | May 3, 1985(1985-05-03) (aged 88) |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |
|
| Years of service | 1914–1940 |
| Rank |
|
| Commands | Commander of the Lithuanian Army |
| Battles / wars | |
Stasys Raštikis (September 13, 1896 – May 3, 1985) was aLithuanian military officer, ultimately obtaining the rank ofdivisional general. He wasthe commander of theLithuanian Army from September 21, 1934, to April 23, 1940.
DuringWorld War I, he served in theImperial Russian Army mostly in theCaucasus Campaign. After return to Lithuania in 1918, he joined the newly formedLithuanian Army and fought in theLithuanian–Soviet War. He was severely injured and spent 20 months in Soviet captivity. He returned to the5th Infantry Regiment and later joined the Intelligence Department of theGeneral Staff. Thecoup d'état of December 1926 brought his future wife's uncle,Antanas Smetona, to power, which propelled his career. Raštikis completed military education in Germany and, after thefailed military coup in 1934, becameChief of the General Staff andCommander of the Armed Forces. He undertook an extensive military reform to standardize, streamline, and modernize the army during the period of increasingmilitarization andrising tensions in Europe. He placed particular attention on soldiers' and officers' education, organizing and personally commanding variousmilitary exercises.
Raštikis attempted to distance himself and the army from politics and did not support the rulingLithuanian Nationalist Union. After thePolish ultimatum of March 1938, Raštikis became Minister of Defense and was increasingly drawn into the political arena. He was a negotiator of theSoviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty by which Lithuania regained a portion of theVilnius Region but virtually sacrificed its independence. A conflict with Prime MinisterAntanas Merkys led to Raštikis' resignation in April 1940. When the Soviet Unionpresented its ultimatum in June 1940, he was briefly considered for prime minister in the new pro-SovietPeople's Government. Fearing arrest by theNKVD, Raštikis escaped to Nazi Germany.
Raštikis returned to Lithuania whenGermany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. He was named Minister of Defense in the short-livedProvisional Government of Lithuania.[1] However, it soon became clear that the Germans would not allow Lithuanian autonomy, and Raštikis obtained a job organizing army archives at theLithuanian War Museum. Toward the end of the war, he retreated to Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1949. He taught Russian and Lithuanian languages at theDefense Language Institute inMonterey, California. Raštikis published a four-volume memoir.
Raštikis was born inKuršėnai, but his family soon moved toDūkštas where his father worked as asacristan.[2] Raštikis attended primary school in Dūkštas and then a progymnasium inZarasai.[2] At the time, Lithuania was part of theRussian Empire. At the outbreak ofWorld War I, he volunteered for theImperial Russian Army and was assigned to the 75th Infantry Regiment stationed inVarėna (part of the10th Army).[3] In summer 1915, the regiment withstood about ten days of German attacks alongMerkys but thenbegan retreating east towardsBerezina River.[3] After training inTula, the regiment was sent to thefront in Romania.[4] Raštikis completed training courses with the 10th Army, was promoted tonon-commissioned officer, and was sent for further studies toTbilisi.[5] After graduation, he was promoted to the rank ofpraporshchik[6] and spent the remainder of the war in theCaucasus campaign with the 279th Infantry Regiment.[5]
After theRussian Revolution, the Imperial Army slowly disintegrated and Raštikis began looking for a way back to Lithuania.Pranas Dailidė [lt], representative of theCouncil of Lithuania inCaucasus, obtained permission from the Germans for Lithuanian refugees and military personnel to return.[5] Raštikis traveled via ship fromPoti toConstanța, spent two weeks in quarantine in a prisoner camp inPitești, and reachedVilnius in June 1918.[5] Encouraged by his family, Raštikis entered the CatholicKaunas Priest Seminary.[5] TheLithuanian–Soviet War started in December 1918 and Lithuania began hastily organizing its own army by mobilizing all military officers. Raštikis reported for duty and was assigned to the Vilnius Battalion organized byKazys Škirpa (later the5th Infantry Regiment of Grand Duke Kęstutis).[7] The battalion was sent to the front nearŽiežmariai andŽasliai on March 31, 1919.[7] On April 27, he saw action nearVievis against the Polish.[8] On August 28, during the final attacks towardsTurmantas,[9] Raštikis was shot in the shoulder and leg in the present-day Latvia.[10] He was taken prisoner by theRed Army and spent 20 months in captivity.[11] He was transported to hospitals inDaugavpils andRybinsk, later to prison camps inTula andLubyanka prison in Moscow.[10]
Released from captivity in April 1921, Raštikis received a warm welcome inKaunas – the train with the 17 former prisoners was greeted byguards of honor, a choir, and a banquet hosted by Minister of DefenseKonstantinas Žukas.[2] Raštikis was assigned to the same 5th Infantry Regiment, now stationed along theLithuania–Poland border, as adrill instructor.[12] He broke the same leg that was injured in 1919 – it continued to bother him for the rest of his life – and spent time recovering in a hospital.[12] He returned to the same duties, but due to conflicts with the regiment's commander was reassigned to the Intelligence Department of theGeneral Staff in March 1922.[12] His participation in theKlaipėda Revolt of January 1923 is little understood: he did receive two state awards conferred to participants of the revolt,[13] but his involvement is not mentioned in his extensive memoirs or known from other documents.[14] While working, he attended an evening school and obtained a high school diploma. In 1925, he enrolled in theKaunas University.[15]
During thecoup d'état of December 1926, Raštikis was promoted from the director of the Polish Section to the director of the entire Intelligence Department byPovilas Plechavičius.[15] The promotion was made official by a March 1927 decree ofAntanas Merkys,Minister of Defense.[15] On August 1, 1927, he was promoted to the rank ofmajor.[15] Raštikis continued his university studies and graduated with a veterinary degree in spring 1929.[16] In June 1929, he married Elena Marija, niece ofAntanas Smetona,President of Lithuania. The wedding took place at theSt. Michael the Archangel Church, Kaunas and was officiated byVladas Mironas.[17] This family connection proved instrumental in his future career. From early 1930 to June 1932, Raštikis attended the officer's courses of the General Staff ofReichswehr (German:Führergehilfenausbildung).[16] He did not complete the courses, but obtained a recommendation that allowed him to work at the General Staff.[18] In exchange for the financial support during his studies, he had to complete six years of military duty.[16]
Upon his return, he was promoted tolieutenant colonel (pulkininkas) and assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment as a trainee of its commander Colonel Juozas Vidugiris.[16] In September 1933, Raštikis took over the command of the regiment.[19] At the same time he lectured at theHigher Officers' Courses (including a course on military history)[18] and contributed to military press becoming a member of the editorial board ofKarys, the magazine of the Lithuanian military.[20] In early 1934, mutinous moods spread in the military and commanding officers were reshuffled in an attempt to forestall further disturbances. Raštikis became the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division stationed inŠiauliai.[21] On June 7, 1934, GeneralPetras Kubiliūnas, commander of the General Staff, and other members of theIron Wolf organizationattempted a coup d'état against President Smetona.[21] In an attempt to find trustworthy and reliable officers, Smetona replacedZenonas Gerulaitis [lt] with Raštikis as the director of the General Staff Directorate.[22] At the same time,Jonas Jackus [lt], the newChief of the General Staff, was ill and resigned in September 1934.[3] Raštikis was promoted in his place. He was also promoted to colonel (pulkininkas) in November 1934.[19] In his memoirs, Raštikis later wrote that he was not satisfied with these promotions as he felt he did not have enough education and command experience.[22]
The first task of Raštikis as the newChief of the General Staff was to prepare a military reform. Within a month together with other officers he prepared a proposal which emphasized the need to modernize the army – enlargearmored units, increaseanti-aircraft artillery, improvemilitary aviation (led byAntanas Gustaitis), establish the 2nd Engineer Battalion, strengthen officers' education, and other measures.[19] At the same time, the command structure was reorganized to more clearly separate the duties and responsibilities of the Ministry of Defense (political representation, military tribunal, and defense procurement) and the General Staff (command and structure of the army).[23] A new position of the Commander of the Armed Forces was established and Raštikis took the role effective January 1, 1935. One of the goals of the new structure was to make the General Staff less politically involved hoping that it would make the command more stable: there were 20 commanders of the General Staff before Raštikis and the army lagged behind the newest developments.[24] The reforms were opposed byJuozas Tūbelis, Minister of Finance, as they required significant additional funding[25] to the army that already consumed about 18–19% of the Lithuanian budget.[26] But President Smetona approved the reforms, except for the proposed military alliance with Latvia and Estonia, and they proceeded.[27]
Raštikis first undertook the issue of military education. Numerous new statutes were prepared (some 90 statutes were issued in 1935–40)[28] and the education program was revamped to standardize and coordinate activities of the various branches of the armed forces (artillery, infantry, aviation, etc.)[29] Raštikis personally commanded mandatorymilitary exercises andsimulations.[27] He emphasized discipline and loyalty within the army and built the trust and authority of the army within the civilian population.[27] He opposed themartial law which was in effect in Lithuania since 1918 as the military was forced to intervene in civilian law enforcement which distracted military officials from their primary duties and earned distrust of the general population.[30] (The martial law was lifted in November 1938 due to German pressure in the months before theultimatum of March 1939.)[31] The army also acquired new equipment, includinglight tanks (including 36Carden Loyd tankettes) and anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery (including 9Vickers Model 1931 and 151Oerlikon 20 mm cannons).[32] TheLithuanian Riflemen's Union was restructured so that it fell more easily at the disposal of the Commander of the Armed Forces.[33] Great efforts were made to reduce the time formobilization from 8–10 days to less than 48 hours,[34] and to develop comprehensive defense plans code-namedL (against Poland) andV (against Germany).[35]
.jpg)
Raštikis had a tenuous relationship with theLithuanian Nationalist Union, the ruling political party in Lithuania.[36] He was not a member of the party and was generally favorable to the opposition. The Union disapproved of Raštikis' attempts at keeping the army impartial, his prohibition of officer involvement in politics, and his growing prestige and popularity among Lithuanians.[36] In particular, the Union wanted to turn theLithuanian Riflemen's Union into the party organ by merging it with Young Lithuania, party's youth organization,[2] but Raštikis opposed such plans and the Riflemen remained open to everyone.[37]
In March 1938, whenPoland presented an ultimatum, Raštikis spoke decisively for its acceptance and against armed resistance.[2] In the ensuing government crisis, he became the actingminister of defense in the government ofVladas Mironas. He refused to take the position permanently, perhaps afraid that he would lose the position of the Commander of the Armed Forces.[37] After eight months, he was replaced byKazys Musteikis. After theGerman ultimatum in March 1939 and loss of theKlaipėda Region, Mironas's government resigned and Raštikis was offered to become the new prime minister, but refused.[37] The new government included four generals, including Prime MinisterJonas Černius. Raštikis, as Commander or the Armed Forces, had great influence over these ministers, and his relationship with President Smetona became increasingly tense.[37] Smetona resented Raštikis' popularity.[2]
During his tenure, Raštikis made several official visits to foreign countries. In May 1937, Raštikis attended thecoronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London.[38] In February 1939, during the celebration of the 20th anniversary ofEstonia's independence, Raštikis visitedJohan Laidoner, commander of theEstonian Army, and inspected several Estonian military installations. On his way back, he stopped in Latvia and met withJānis Balodis andKrišjānis Berķis.[38] More politically sensitive, in light of the two ultimatums, were the visits toNazi Germany on the occasion ofHitler's 50th birthday in April 1939 and to theSecond Polish Republic in May 1939.[39]
World War II started on September 1, 1939, with theInvasion of Poland. Lithuania declared strict neutrality but, as the war was approaching its borders, it declared and executed partial mobilization on September 17.[39] Citing financial difficulties, the mobilized men were released on October 2.[39] At the same time, negotiations began for theSoviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty: Soviet Union promised to cede a portion ofVilnius Region to Lithuania in exchange for stationing 20,000 Soviet troops in the country.[40] Raštikis was a member of the Lithuanian delegation to Moscow, but he did not lead the Lithuanian troops who entered Vilnius for the first time since 1920 on October 28.[41] It was the first public sign that Raštikis was losing favor with Smetona's regime.[41] In November, Černius was replaced byAntanas Merkys who had been openly critical of Raštikis in the past.[42] In addition to being prime minister, Merkys wanted to become minister of defense (a position he already held in 1919 and 1927), but Raštikis protested and Musteikis retained his post.[42]
Around the New Year, Raštikis published his thoughts on the recent developments in the magazineKardas. In it, he complained that a mayor (Merkys' position before becoming Prime Minister) or other civil servants earned more than theCommander of the Armed Forces.[41] The issue was taken out of circulation and Raštikis tendered a letter of resignation.[43] However, fearing public backlash, he was officially given a three-month vacation for "health reasons".[44] In his duties, Raštikis was replaced not by his deputy divisional generalStasys Pundzevičius, but byVincas Vitkauskas who had no higher military education.[45] After the vacation, Raštikis resigned and refused any other military positions.[46] On April 23, 1940, Smetona promoted him todivisional general and accepted the resignation.[46] Raštikis used the free time to visit his family inDūkštas which was part of the ceded Vilnius Region.[47]
As theWinter War between Finland and Soviet Union concluded by March 1940, Soviet Union began increasing diplomatic pressure on Lithuania. Raštikis was invited back to the military, but he agreed only to take the position of director of theHigher War School of Kaunas on June 7.[48] A week later he was called to the emergency government meeting discussing theSoviet ultimatum. He opined that mounting military resistance when Soviet troops were already in the country was impossible.[48] He also opposed diplomatic protests as such empty actions would do no more than antagonize the Russians and invite repressions.[49] In accordance with the Soviet demand of a new more pro-Soviet government (which became known as thePeople's Government of Lithuania), Raštikis was slated to become the new prime minister, but he was not acceptable to Moscow and the selection of another candidate was supervised by Molotov's deputyVladimir Dekanozov.[50]
Lithuania lost its independence and was gradually converted into asoviet socialist republic. Concurrently, the Lithuanian army was gradually transformed into units of theRed Army. The work at the military academy ceased when men were called back to their units, but Raštikis was not allowed to resign.[48] He was assigned to the29th Rifle Corps and appointed deputy chairman of the commission in charge of the liquidation of the Lithuanian military. He was discharged from active duty only on December 20.[51] On February 13, 1941, fearing an arrest byNKVD as an "enemy of the people", Raštikis left his wife and three young daughters in Kaunas and departed towards Germany.[52] It was the last time he saw his daughters who weredeported to Siberia in June. He crossed the border during the night of March 19 and was well received by the Germans. With the help of various Lithuanians, he settled in Berlin.[52] There he joinedKazys Škirpa in organizing theLithuanian Activist Front (LAF). In particular, he edited the statute of LAF and drafted plans on liberating Lithuania.[53]
On June 22, 1941,Germany invaded the Soviet Union. At the same time, Lithuanians organized ananti-Soviet uprising and organized theProvisional Government of Lithuania in hopes of reestablishing independent Lithuania. Raštikis was named as the minister of defense.[54] Together withHeinz Gräfe [de], an officer withAusland-SD, Raštikis flew to Kaunas on June 27.[54] He joined the Provisional Government but there was no ministry or army for him to command – as minister of defense he issued only two orders, the second being disbandment of the ministry.[55] According to Raštikis memoirs, he, as a member of the Provisional Government, approached the Kaunas War Field Commandant GeneralOswald Pohl and the Military Command Representative GeneralKarl von Roques in an attempt tohelp the Jews, however they replied that theGestapo was handling these issues and that the German military could not help.[56][57] The government was not recognized by the Germans and was gradually deprived of any meaningful authority and self-disbanded on August 5.[58] Raštikis was offered a position as General Counsel in theReichskommissariat Ostland but refused (the position was taken byPetras Kubiliūnas).[59]
Raštikis was left without a job. With the help of GeneralVladas Nagevičius, he got a job at theLithuanian War Museum and began organizing army archives.[59] In early 1943, Germans unsuccessfully attempted to organize a LithuanianWaffen-SS unit and called for a Lithuanian conference to discuss the recruiting. Raštikis was a chairman of the five-member organizational committee for the conference.[60] Once it became clear that the conference was meant only torubber-stamp German directives, Raštikis and the rest of the committee resigned.[59] The Gestapo started spying on Raštikis due to suspicions that he joined theresistance.[61]
In summer 1944, theEastern Front was closing in on Lithuania and Raštikis and his wife retreated toRegensburg in Germany. He worked at a factory and his wife worked as a nurse.[62] He later got a job at an office of an electrical company until the city fell into theAmerican occupation zone.[59] At that point he joined a Lithuanian Committee and Lithuanian Section of theRed Cross helping Lithuanian refugees.[63] In May 1946, Raštikis and other Lithuanians were moved to adisplaced persons camp inScheinfeld.[63] In May 1949, he and his wife emigrated to the United States.[2]
In the United States, Raštikis obtained a job as a factory worker and became an active member of variousLithuanian American organizations.[63] He delivered speeches and lectures, contributed articles to the Lithuanian press, and participated in various events. In April 1951, he got a teaching position atSyracuse University. He taught the Russian language to military aviation students.[63] From November 1952 to September 1953, Raštikis was employed by theSupreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (VLIK) and lived in London andReutlingen.[63] He was also associated with the AEPOLE project of theCIA, which was active in 1949–1959 and sought to strengthen anti-communist resistance in Lithuania via radio broadcast, mailing operations, emigre organizations, and political and psychological briefings for legal travelers.[64]
Upon his return to the United States, Raštikis moved toMonterey, California, and joined theDefense Language Institute as an instructor of Russian and Lithuanian.[65] Monterey was far from centers of Lithuanian culture and Raštikis became a lot less active in Lithuanian cultural life. He concentrated on writing his memoirs. He retired in 1968 and died ofmyocardial infarction in 1985.[65] Originally interred inLos Angeles, his and his wife's remains were returned toKaunas in November 1993 and reburied inPetrašiūnai Cemetery withfull military honors.[2]
Raštikis married Elena Marija Smetonaitė, niece ofAntanas Smetona, on 29 June 1929. She was a teacher and worked inŽiežmariai,Jonava, Kaunas.[66] They had three daughters: Laima, Meilutė Marija, and Aldona. When Raštikis escaped to Germany in February 1941, he left his family behind.[67] His wife was arrested on May 27 and interrogated in an attempt to find out his location.[68] She was imprisoned inKaunas Prison and awaited deportation to agulag in Kazakhstan but was freed during theuprising of June 1941.[67] Their daughters (at the time, ages 11, 4, and 1) and their maternal grandparents were deported toKamen-na-Obi andPavlovsk inAltai Krai during theJune deportation.[69] Other family members were deported as well, including two brothers of Smetonaitė[66] and parents and three siblings of Raštikis,[2] a total of 15 people.[70] The youngest daughter Aldona and her grandfather died in exile.[69]
The two elder daughters and their grandmother were returned to Lithuania in 1946. Agents ofMGB made them write letters to Raštikis asking him to return to Lithuania.[67] When the pace ofSoviet deportations picked up in 1948, the grandmother was deported to Siberia for the second time and died in exile.[69] Laima and Meilutė went into hiding, changing their names and obtaining fake papers.[69] Meilutė graduated fromKaunas Medical Institute and became a pediatrician.[67] The sisters reconnected with their parents in 1957 and exchanged a few letters.[65] Raštikis died before seeing his daughters again. The sisters visited their ill mother in a Los Angeles hospital in 1989.[69] Smetonaitė died on January 14, 1990.[67]
Raštikis contributed about 1,000 articles to various Lithuanian newspapers and magazines[65] on various topics ranging from veterinary to military strategy to official proclamations.[71] He wrote five military textbooks.[65] He kept detailed diaries for most of his life. Some of the pre-1941 diaries were destroyed by him to avoid their falling into the Soviet hands,[69] but he recreated some of the key moments as soon as he fled to Nazi Germany in 1941.[71] While in United States, he published four volumes of valuable memoirs:[72]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
