Participants in the armed resistance against Soviet rule in Lithuania, 1944–1953. During the period of partisan warfare, 30,000 Lithuanian partisans and their supporters were killed. Throughout the partisan war, approximately 50,000 residents of Lithuania actively engaged in armed resistance, while around 100,000 civilians provided support to the partisans. Lithuanian partisans were well organized: fighters wore uniforms, and a unified command structure was established. Civilians who supported the partisans were strictly persecuted by the Soviet authorities, tried for “assisting bandits,” and their families were deported to Siberia.
In July 1944, Molėtai region was occupied by the Red Army. Two main centers of resistance organization emerged here: the Tigras (Tiger) team of the Lithuanian Liberty Army (LLA), active in the Labanoras forests, and the LLA organization of Ukmergė County. In 1944, the territory of Ukmergė County was divided into six districts: Balninkai volost belonged to the second district, while Giedraičiai volost was part of the sixth district. The first partisan units were composed of former military personnel, riflemen, policemen, and participants of the 1941 uprising. Their ranks were later joined by men hiding from mobilization into the occupying Soviet army. In Molėtai, Inturkė, and Joniškis areas, a squad led by Jurgis Straižys–Gediminas was active, while Captain Jonas Tumėnas’ squad established a fortified camp in Ažumakis Forest. The chief of staff was Juozas Šibaila–Diedukas (Merainis). Bunkers fortified in Ažumakis and Šilas forests were used by the squads of Kazys Šmigelskis–Diemedis (Balninkai), Jonas Tumėnas or the headquarters (Alanta), Alfonsas Morkūnas–Plienas (Žemaitkiemis), and Alfonsas Bagdonas–Aras (Kurkliai). Each bunker hosted 60–80 armed partisans.
To intimidate the occupiers and their collaborators and to liberate those imprisoned, attacks on settlements were launched: Balninkai on September 4, 1944 and Alanta on November 28–29, 1944. To suppress the resistance, the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) troops were deployed. In December 1944, mass hunts for men avoiding conscription into the army took place, and those of draft age who were found were executed. In the village of Miežonys, near Dubingiai–Giedraičiai road, 13 local men were shot. On December 29, 1944, the largest battle between the occupying forces and resistance fighters took place in Molėtai region. The partisans successfully repelled the attack and withdrew to the nearby Žardiniai Forest, where they dispersed into separate units.
Organized resistance against the occupiers in Molėtai region ended on September 26, 1951, when the headquarters of the Didžioji Kova (the Great Fight) team in Ažumakis Forest was destroyed; on December 20, 1951, the leader of Vytautas Military District, Bronius Kalytis–Siaubas, was captured; and on December 22, 1951, the last headquarters of Vytautas Military District was eliminated in Peleniai marsh.
