Vytautas Bulvičius (5 May 1908 – 17 December 1941) was a Lithuanian military officer,

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

, and leader of the anti-Soviet

Lithuanian Activist Front The Lithuanian Activist Front or LAF () was a Lithuanian underground resistance organization established in 1940 after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940), Soviets occupied Lithuania. Its goal was to free Lithuanian Soviet Socialist ...

(LAF). Educated at

War School of Kaunas War School of Kaunas () was a military school for junior officers in Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. It was established in January 1919 during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence copying the example of Russian 4-month ''praporshchik'' ...

and Higher Officers' Courses, Bulvičius became major of the General Staff in September 1938. He taught military discipline and resistance tactics at the

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (, VDU) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known as the University of Lithuania, but ...

and published a treatise ''Karinis valstybės rengimas'' (Preparing the State for War) in 1939 (republished in 1994 and 2018) discussing the upcoming war. After the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in June 1940, he created the so-called "Bulvičius group", which in 1941 evolved into the

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

branch of the

(LAF). The group planned an anti-Soviet uprising (see

June Uprising in Lithuania The June Uprising () was a brief period in late June 1941 between the first Soviet and the Nazi occupations. A year prior, on June 15, 1940, the Red Army occupied Lithuania and established the unpopular Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, w ...

) at the outbreak of the

German–Soviet War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a theatre of World War II fought between the European Axis powers and A ...

. Vilnius LAF was to lead the uprising and Bulvičius was reserved the seat of Minister of Defense in the

Provisional Government of Lithuania The Provisional Government of Lithuania () was an attempted temporary government, provisional government to form an independent Lithuanian state in June Uprising in Lithuania, the last days of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940), first Sovi ...

. The group established radio contact with Germany, but this radio signal was detected by the Soviet

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

and Bulvičius was arrested on 9 June 1941. Fifteen other people were arrested leading to the near liquidation of Vilnius LAF command. At the outbreak of the war on 22 June, the prisoners were transported to Gorky (now

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

) and tried by the Military Tribunal of the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

. Bulvičius and seven others were sentenced to death and executed on 17 December 1941.

Interwar Lithuanian Army

Vytautas Bulvičius was born to the family of

book smuggler Lithuanian book smugglers or Lithuanian book carriers (, singular: ) smuggled Lithuanian language books printed in the Latin alphabet into Lithuanian-speaking areas of the Russian Empire, defying a Lithuanian press ban, ban on such materials in ...

and large farmer Juozas Bulvičius and his wife Marija Bulvičienė. Juozas Bulvičius owned the estate of . Vytautas was one of seven children. His elder brother Albinas was an aviation captain and was killed in a German aviation raid on 23 June 1941. In 1925, Bulvičius graduated from the gymnasium of

Vilkaviškis Vilkaviškis () is a city in southwestern Lithuania, the administrative center of the Vilkaviškis District Municipality. It is located northwest from Marijampolė, at the confluence of and rivers. The city got its name from the Vilkauj ...

. On 7 September 1925, after graduating from the

, Bulvičius was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

and assigned to the 9th Infantry Regiment in

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by Marijampolė#Names, several other names) is the Capital city, capital of Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The city's population stood ...

. On 25 September 1928, he was transferred to the armoured vehicle detachment in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

. On 23 November 1929, he was promoted to senior lieutenant. On 31 March 1931, Bulvičius transferred to the War School of Kaunas and graduated from machine gun courses at the Higher Officers' Courses on 1 February 1933. The same year he was promoted to captain. In 1934, Bulvičius married Marija Danevičiūtė. In June 1937, he was one of the twenty graduates of the second class of the Officers' Courses of Vytautas the Great. He was then assigned to the

General Staff of Lithuania The Defence Staff () is the main staff (military), staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Since 2008, the staff has reported to the Chief of Defence (Lithuania), Chief of Defence. Its main tasks are to plan, lead, and support military operations as ...

and promoted to major of the General Staff in September 1938. From 12 March to 19 July 1940, Bulvičius was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment, deployed in

. In October 1938, he started teaching military discipline and resistance tactics at the

. The course covered basic principles of war, improvements in weaponry, security and defence of small nations,

total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all (including civilian-associated) resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilises all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare ov ...

, armed forces, World War I, the upcoming war and Lithuania's situation in this war, preparation of armed forces, economic war, and the role of the society in preparing for war. Bulvičius also published articles on military and patriotic themes in military journals ''Kardas'' (The Sword) and '' Mūsų žinynas'' (Our Manual). In 1939, he published

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

''Karinis valstybės rengimas'' (Preparing the State for War) based on his university lectures. In the book, Bulvičius emphasized the importance of moral and psychological preparedness of the military personnel. The truncated work was republished by the

Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces The National Defence Volunteer Forces or NDVF ( [], previously []) is a branch of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Volunteer forces were officially established on 17 January 1991 by the law of the Supreme Council of Lithuania on the National Defenc ...

(SKAT) in 1994 and in full by the

Ministry of National Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

in 2018. An English translation is being prepared by the Ministry.

Lithuanian Activist Front

After the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in June 1940, the Soviets started the gradual liquidation of the Lithuanian Army. As a result, Bulvičius was sent to the

179th Rifle Division The 179th Vitebsk Red Banner Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. World War II Formation Established at Vilnius on 17 August 1940 as part of the 29th Lithuanian Territorial Rifle Corps o ...

of the Red Army's 29th Lithuanian Territorial Rifle Corps. At the same time, he was assigned as lecturer to the War School of Kaunas which was moved to Vilnius and reorganized as the Infantry School. He also taught military preparedness at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

. In fall 1940, along with other Lithuanian officers and resistance activists, he created the so-called "Bulvičius group", which in 1941 evolved into the Vilnius branch of the

(LAF). The core of Vilnius LAF comprised thirty people with Bulvičius as their leader. The main task of Vilnius LAF was to start an uprising relying on trustworthy personnel from the liquidated Lithuanian Army at the outbreak of the war between the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. The initial plan was to retreat to the woods of

Valkininkai Valkininkai () is a historic town in (Valkininkai) Elderships of Lithuania, eldership, Varėna District Municipality, Alytus County, Lithuania, located about northeast from Varėna and about southwest from Vilnius. At the Lithuanian census of 2 ...

and launch a guerilla war against the Soviet forces. The group acquired a portable radio and cyphers and established contact with Germany in hopes of receiving ammunition and arms. They prepared a map with 77 locations where the Germans could drop the munitions. During February and March 1941, Bulvičius, together with K. Antanavičius and Juozas Vėbra prepared a plan for the LAF insurrection. According to the agreement between LAF groups in Kaunas and Vilnius, Kaunas group should solve organisational matters of the uprising, and Vilnius group should focus on political and military matters as most of the members of the former Lithuanian Army were stationed in Vilnius and its environs. During a meeting on 22 April, members of Vilnius and Kaunas LAF agreed on the composition of the

Lithuanian Provisional Government The Provisional Government of Lithuania () was an attempted temporary government, provisional government to form an independent Lithuanian state in June Uprising in Lithuania, the last days of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940), first Sovi ...

in which Bulvičius was foreseen as a Minister of Defense.

Arrest and execution

Bulvičius' group was tracked down by detecting their radio sessions. The radio was confiscated on 6 June. Bulvičius was arrested by the

on 9 June. In total, the NKVD arrested a total of 16 people connected with "Bulvičius group". After almost the entire leadership of Vilnius LAF was arrested, the Kaunas LAF took the leading role in the planned uprising. During the

June deportation The June deportation of 1941 (, , ) was a mass deportation of tens of thousands of people during World War II from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, present-day western Belarus and western Ukraine, and present-day Moldova – territories which had been ...

which took place a week after Bulvičius' arrest, 236 Lithuanian officers were arrested. On 22 June, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The arrests made the June Uprising against the retreating

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

weaker in Vilnius. Nevertheless, Lithuanian rebels engaged in shootouts with the retreating Red Army and the Germans were able to enter the city without resistance on 24 June. As Germans were rapidly advancing, the NKVD hurried to evacuate 1,700 political prisoners into the interior of Russia. The prisoners were placed in train wagons at the

Vilnius railway station Vilnius Central Railway Station () is an LTG Link train station in Vilnius, Lithuania. The railway station situates between two neighbourhoods of Vilnius — Naujininkai and Naujamiestis — and on the edge of the Old Town. History The statio ...

. After a German aviation attack, anti-Soviet insurgents managed to uncouple several wagons thus saving some of the prisoners. At 4am on 24 June, twenty wagons with more than 600 political prisoners, including Bulvičius' group, were deported deep into Russia. On 9 July, Bulvičius was transported to the Prison no. 1 in Gorky (now

). After long torture and interrogation on 26–30 September and trial on 26–28 November 1941, Bulvičius was sentenced to death by the Military Tribunal of the

. Bulvičius was likely executed in the prison and possibly was buried in the nearby . Seven other members of Vilnius LAF were also executed the same day – Antanas Skripkauskas, Juozas Kilius, Juozas Radzevičius, Leonas Žemkalnis, Jurgis Gobis, Aleksas Kamantauskas and Stasys Mockaitis. Seven others were sentenced to 7 to 20 years in prison, and Aleksas Vainorius was acquitted (however, he was not released and died of tuberculosis in July 1942). Marija Bulvičienė, wife of Bulvičius, retreated to the U.S. after the war with their two daughters.

Awards

* 1928: Independence Medal * 16 February 1938:

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

(4th degree) * 19 November 1997: Grand Cross of

Order of the Cross of Vytis The Order of the Cross of Vytis () is a Lithuanian presidential award conferred for heroic defence of Lithuania's freedom and independence. November 23 is a holiday in honour of the Order of the Cross of Vytis. History Interwar period Reje ...

(posthumously)

Legacy

On 20 June 2009, a bas-relief by sculptor Stasys Žirgulis of the leaders of the June Uprising was unveiled in the building of the

. The relief honors six professors and students of the university who were the most active leaders of the Lithuanian Activist Front – Vytautas Bulvičius, Adolfas Damušis, Juozas Vėbra,

Leonas Prapuolenis Leonas Prapuolenis (9 June 1913 – 23 July 1972) was a Lithuanian public figure, commander and leader of the June Uprising of 1941 in Lithuania. Born to a family of affluent farmers in Suvalkija, Prapuolenis was an active member of the Ateit ...

, Pilypas Narutis, and Juozas Ambrazevičius. A training centre of the

is named after Major Vytautas Bulvičius.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulvicius, Vytautas 1908 births 1941 deaths 29th Territorial Rifle Corps personnel Lithuanian Activist Front members Lithuanian resistance members executed by the Soviet Union Lithuanian people of World War II Officer's Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Vytis Academic staff of Vytautas Magnus University Executed military leaders