258th Lithuanian Police Battalion (; ) was a Lithuanian auxiliary police battalion formed on 27 April 1944. The unit was disbanded in

Tilsit Sovetsk (russian: Сове́тск; german: Tilsit; Old Prussian: ''Tilzi''; lt, Tilžė; pl, Tylża) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. Geography So ...

at the end of July that same year.

Formation

The battalion was formed on April 27 by Order of the Day No.5, issued by the

Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction w ...

leader under the '' SS- und Polizeiführer'' in Lithuania. This order created and formed the 258th Lithuanian Police battalion from the training units () of the LAD.

History

This unit, or at least its headquarters, were deployed in Kaunas from April to mid-June, judging from the orders issued to the Training Units and the 258th Battalion. According to other sources, the battalion was in

Prienai Prienai () is a city in Lithuania situated on the Nemunas River, south of Kaunas. In 2011 the city had 9,867 inhabitants. The name of the city is a derivative from a surname ''Prienas''. Pociūnai Airport is associated with the city. History ...

in May 1944. Two other battalions were deployed at Prienai barracks: one German, the other Lithuanian. The 258th battalion included about 250 soldiers, whose uniform was blue Wehrmacht infantry

uniforms A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, ...

April

On 1 April 1944, captain Albinas Lastauskas, the commander of the young soldiers' company, together with 21 other soldiers, was sent to the 259th Lithuanian Police Battalion, that was forming in Prienai. Lastauskas' position was taken over by non-commissioned officer Jurgis Normantas. The young soldiers' company, in terms of training supervision, was under the training company's commander. The training company's lieutenant Nikodemas Reikalas was given special holidays for May 28-June 9. The 258th Battalion included one construction and one assembly company. The assembly company was commanded by lieutenant Petras Polekauskas. On April 1, the assembly company received lieutenant Jonas Paliulionis, 55 NCOs and soldiers from the 8th Battalion. On May 31, lieutenant Vytautas Andriuškevičius, also from the 8th Battalion, was also sent to the assembly company. On April 4, by the order of captain Antanas Ruzgys, commander of the Training Unit, 245 soldiers of the construction company were sent to the 259th Battalion. On April 26, the Commander of the

SiPo The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...

and SD ordered the arrests of Valerijonas Janulis, the 258th Battalion's staff junior non-commissioned officer, and private Antanas Plečkaitis. They were to be given over to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

May

On May 23, captain Viktoras Jarašiūnas from the 2nd Battalion, was appointed to serve in the battalion headquarters. Four days later, on May 27, captain Vladas Patašius from the 253th Battalion was temporarily appointed the Battalion commander's adjutant. For unknown reasons, the assembly company's private Antanas Strimaitis was arrested by the German police and imprisoned in the Kaunas Hard Labour Prison. On May 29, the privates Kazys Urbonas, Albertas Katilevičius, Kazys Paškevičius and Edvardas Lileika left the battalion.

June

At the beginning of June, the 258th Battalion was moved to Kaunas, where the soldiers guarded the military warehouses. At summer's beginning, one platoon from the battalion served at the 11th resistance point, which guarded the railway section near

Kazlų Rūda Kazlų Rūda () is a city in Lithuania. It is located north from Marijampolė. The city is surrounded by forests, but a railway line crosses the city and divides it into almost equal parts. Former Soviet Army Kazlų Rūda airbase is northeast ...

, the railway station and the railway bridge. There were 16 soldiers armed with 1 light machine gun, 1 light mortar and rifles at this point of resistance. As the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

occupied more and more of Lithuania, the battalion retreated to

. At the end of July, the 258th Battalion was disbanded in Tilsit.

Aftermath

From Tilsit, the battalion's remnants were moved to the town of

Zingst Zingst ( Polabian ''Sgoni'') is the easternmost portion of the three-part Fischland-Darß-Zingst Peninsula, located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, between the cities of Rostock and Stralsund on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. T ...

near the

Belgium–Germany border The border between the modern states of Belgium and Germany has a length of . Crossings The Belgium–Germany border is crossed by two railways, the railway between Liège and Aachen, as well as the railway between Tongeren and Aachen. Ther ...

to build fortifications there. Three weeks later, Lithuanian soldiers were sent to build new power lines at the Swiss border. The battalion's former soldiers were captured by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in early May 1945. Some of the battalion's soldiers were transferred to other military units, while other were sent to a special camp on the

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

island, where Lithuanians,

Latvians Latvians ( lv, latvieši) are a Baltic ethnic group and nation native to Latvia and the immediate geographical region, the Baltics. They are occasionally also referred to as Letts, especially in older bibliography. Latvians share a common La ...

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people ( et, eestlased) are a Finnic ethnic group native to Estonia who speak the Estonian language. The Estonian language is spoken as the first language by the vast majority of Estonians; it is closely related to oth ...

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

were being taught military and intelligence subjects.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Lithuanian Military Units in German Service 1941-1945 Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft Battalions Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944