Lithuanian Partisans (1941)

Lithuanian Partisans (1941)

Lithuanian partisans were the fighters in the Lithuanian resistance during World War II consisting of Lithuanian Activist Front units reinforced by 3,600 deserters from 29th Lithuanian Territorial Corps of the Red Army, who jointly participated in the Holocaust in Lithuania in 1941. Lithuanian partisans is also a term used by historians to describe Lithuanian collaborators with the Nazis. These partisans, mostly fighters against retreating Soviet forces during the June Uprising, were organized into various groups by the Nazis to assist and actively participate in mass executions of Lithuanian Jews mostly in June–August 1941. The term applies equally to a few different formations such as:

1. A group led by Algirdas Klimaitis, active in Kaunas at the end of June 1941
2. Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas (TDA) formed in Kaunas as basis for independent Lithuanian army, but soon employed by the Nazis to execute Jews at the Seventh and Ninth Forts
3. Lithuanian Self-Defence Units (police battalions) formed in Vilnius from 3,600 deserters from 29th Lithuanian Territorial Corps of the Red Army
4. Ypatingasis būrys formed in Vilnius and participant in the Ponary massacre