4. Kalniškės Battle Site and Educational Trail
Battle site

On May 16, 1945, the Battle of Kalniškės took place. This was one of the largest battles of the Lithuanian partisan war, in which the partisans led by Jonas Neifalta-Lakūnas and Aleksandras Padimanskas-Šarūnas participated. The partisans fought surrounded by several times more numerous soldiers of the 220th Border Regiment of the NKVD and broke out of the encirclement. The losses of the NKVD forces were several hundred killed and wounded. Albina Neifaltiene-Pušelė, the wife of one of the commanders, also fought bravely in the battle, causing great losses to the enemy with accurate light machine gun fire, but she herself was hit by an enemy bullet.

The Battle of Kalniškės was a defensive battle, in which the partisans failed to break out of the encirclement and were forced to defend themselves on Meškakalnis Hill against the NKVD forces that were combing the forest and surrounding the partisans. After intense shelling by NKVD units, the partisan resistance weakened, and NKVD assault groups tried to push the partisans out of their positions and completely destroy them, but about 20 men broke through the encirclement ring. About 44 partisans and several times more NKVD forces were killed in the fighting.

In 1990, Jurgis Nevulis from Marijampole erected a monument to the fallen partisans in the Kalniškė forest, at the site of the battle. The monument was unveiled on May 13, 1990. During the event, the Russian army's Alytus paratroopers were conducting military exercises very close by, and soon, on the night of May 21 to 22, the monument on the mountain was blown up. Only the memorial plaque remained intact. On May 29, J. Nevulis, with the help of D. Krakauskas, A. Akelis and K. Savičius, rebuilt the monument. Every year, a number of events are organized to commemorate the battle, and the battle memorial and its surroundings become an attraction for people, where people come not only to official events, but also organize various educational events for young people, and often families come here simply to spend their free time and be surrounded by a wonderful spirit. A cognitive trail has also been installed at the site of the battle.