The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, within the framework of the No Statute of Limitations project, has opened on its website a multimedia section “Gratitude for Freedom: Delete, Forget, Destroy”, dedicated to preserving the memory of the Red Army soldiers who died during the liberation of the Lithuanian SSR.

It contains documents from the Central Archive of the War Department: combat reports and combat logs, award lists of combatants and photographs of soldiers, orders for personnel.

In addition, the site contains information about Soviet military graves and the state of memorial structures located on the territory of Lithuania.

The Ministry of Defense emphasizes that the current authorities of the Baltic republic not only impede the maintenance of the monuments, but also turn a blind eye to numerous acts of vandalism organized by local nationalists.

"The company went on the attack"

The Nazis occupied the territory of the Lithuanian SSR in the first days of the Great Patriotic War.

During this time, the Nazis and collaborators killed about 350 thousand local residents in the republic, of which 200 thousand were Jews, as well as 230 thousand Soviet prisoners of war.

Lithuania was almost completely liberated from the enemy in the summer and autumn of 1944 during the Belarusian and Baltic strategic offensive operations.

Soviet troops expelled the German army group "North" from almost the entire Baltic territory, as a result of which the Third Reich lost an important industrial and food base.

  • Soviet memorial in the town of Obeliai (left) and a monument at the Officers' cemetery in Marijampole (right)

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

At the same time, as historians note, the Soviet command carefully planned operations to liberate the Baltic states, which made it possible to avoid significant destruction in the capitals of the republics.

“The Soviet troops have always been very responsible for the inhabitants of big cities and planned the liberation of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn as important strategic operations that would drive out the enemy and not destroy the city.

And so it happened - Vilnius was saved, although it could have happened differently, "Vladimir Simindey, head of research programs at the Historical Memory Foundation, explained in a conversation with RT. 

In the battles for Lithuania, the Red Army faced a deeply echeloned defense and fierce resistance from German troops, who were trying to prevent the Soviet military from reaching the borders of East Prussia.

During the liberation of the Lithuanian SSR, the Red Army achieved significant successes as a result of the front-line Shauliai offensive operation, which lasted from 5 to 31 July.

In the course of it, the troops of the 1st Baltic Front advanced 100-400 km forward, liberating most of Lithuania, including the large railway junction - Šiauliai.

Among the documents released by the Ministry of Defense is an award list for a participant in those battles - the commander of an artillery regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Sadofiy Evgrafov.

It reports that he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

According to the document, while at the observation post, he called in artillery fire when German tanks and infantry came close to him.

  • Award list for Lieutenant Colonel Sadofiy Evgrafov

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

As a result, the enemy retreated, and Evgrafov himself survived.

He died in one of the subsequent battles.

Published documents testify to the fierceness of the battles in the Siauliai area.

Thus, in the combat log of the 267th Infantry Division of the 1st Baltic Front, it is reported that the German garrison of the city opposing the Red Army received an order from the Nazi command "to hold on to Shauliai at all costs."

One of the most important and bloodiest operations of the Soviet troops for the liberation of Lithuania was the Kaunas offensive operation.

It began on July 28, 1944 and ended a month later, on August 28.

As a result, the Red Army captured a powerful fortified area of ​​the enemy - the fortress city of Kaunas, which the Germans were preparing for a long-term defense.

The Ministry of Defense has published documents about 15 Heroes of the Soviet Union who were buried in the Aukstein Shanchai district of Kaunas. So, in the award list for private Ilya Shishmakov, one of the episodes of the storming of this city is described in detail.

“Private Shishmakov, on the outskirts of Kaunas, moved ahead of the company’s battle formations. The Germans opened a hurricane of fire. The company lay down, but the brave fighter crawled forward. Hiding in the grass, he crept into the location of the enemy trenches and point-blank shot the enemy's machine-gun crew from his machine gun. Capturing a machine gun, Shishmakov opened fire on the Nazis from it, exterminating over 30 soldiers. Panic began in the enemy's camp, but the machine gun soon fell silent: they ran out of cartridges. Shishmakov himself was wounded. The Germans came to their senses, seeing a Soviet machine gunner, they rushed at him. Then Shishmakov threw up his machine gun and blocked the way for the Nazis. Meanwhile, the company launched an attack and successfully captured the German trench, ”the document says.

In addition to materials about the exploits of the Red Army, the section contains reports and journals of combat actions of the 3rd Belorussian Front units that stormed Kaunas.

These and other operational documents testify to the difficult combat conditions in which the Soviet troops launched an offensive.

As noted in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the irrecoverable losses of Soviet troops in the battles for the liberation of the Lithuanian SSR amounted to 137,200 people.

However, much more Red Army soldiers are buried on these lands, since in addition to those who died in 1944, the remains of tens of thousands of Soviet prisoners of war, as well as soldiers who died in defensive battles in the summer of 1941, are buried there.

As Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, noted in an interview with RT, the Red Army actually saved Lithuania from destruction.

“The Nazi occupation brought huge losses to Lithuania.

The liberation of the territory of the republic by the Red Army actually meant that Lithuania would continue to exist, that its people would not perish.

Therefore, today, those who say that the Red Army were invaders, let them remember how many people died.

Let them think what would have happened to Lithuania if it had not been for the liberation Soviet army, ”said Myagkov.

"Fight against monuments and memorials"

Now in the republic there are 269 memorial signs and burials from the times of the Great Patriotic War.

However, as stated in the Ministry of Defense, official Vilnius openly prevents them from taking care of them and leaves unpunished the actions of vandals against them.

Some monuments are being destroyed.

After the war, a memorial to Soviet soldiers was created in the center of Siauliai.

It was installed at the site where the remains of more than 50 Soviet soldiers were reburied.

In December 2019, the Lithuanian authorities, despite protests from veteran organizations and the Russian Embassy, ​​demolished the monument.

The website of the Ministry of Defense published a photo of the liquidated monument, as well as a list of soldiers buried there.

  • Monument to Soviet soldiers in Siauliai, which was demolished in 2019

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Several Soviet mass graves are in Kaunas.

One of them is located in the Aukstein Shanchai district.

Photos on the ministry's website show that the memorial has not been properly cared for for several years.

The “Grieving Mother” sculpture is also gradually being destroyed - urgent repair of marble slabs and concrete elements is required to preserve it.

And the monument to the Soldier-Liberator suffered at the hands of vandals: unknown persons sawed down the top of the banner. 

The Ministry of Defense also provides photographic evidence of the deplorable state of Soviet monuments in Obeliai, Marijampolė, Bartininkai and the village of Zaleyi.

At the same time, the Lithuanian side opposes any memorial work on the territory of the republic.

A typical example of this is the monument located at a Soviet military grave in the city of Kybartai, Vilkavishki region.

Recently, experts have been able to establish the identities of several soldiers buried there, thanks to which their names were engraved on the monument at the request of their relatives.

However, the Lithuanian authorities primed and painted over them.

  • Painted names on the Soviet memorial in the city of Kybartai

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

“Since the middle of 2008, the struggle against monuments and memorials to the fallen soldiers-liberators has intensified in the Baltics.

Since December 2017, the Lithuanian side has effectively blocked Russian activities to repair memorials and restore the burial sites of Red Army soldiers.

Thus, the country's authorities are striving for the complete destruction of monuments to Soviet soldiers and officers, which, in turn, becomes a pretext for the transfer and even removal of graves, ”the defense ministry stressed.

At the same time, memorials to Lithuanian collaborators who helped Nazi criminals and "victims of the Soviet occupation" during the war years began to appear more and more in the cemeteries of the Baltic country.

Lithuania spares no money for their maintenance.

  • Burial of Lithuanian nationalists in Obeliai

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

According to experts, the reason for such an attitude towards Soviet monuments lies in the fact that nationalists came to power in Lithuania and therefore one should not expect positive changes in this matter in the foreseeable future.

At the same time, Mikhail Myagkov stressed that by demonstrating a disdainful attitude towards Soviet monuments, the Lithuanian authorities thus betray the memory of thousands of Lithuanians who fought against the Nazi invaders.

“There was collaboration in the country, but there were also real Lithuanian patriots, those who fought on the side of the Red Army.

And these are true patriots, not those who are extolled in Lithuania today, ”the expert added.