K. Meškauskas' memories of the Plungė district missile bases
The former missile bases in the Plungė district hide an impressive history of the Cold War - from the secret transportation of rocket fuel at night to the construction of underground shafts with artificial pressure. The memoirs of doctor Kajetonas Meškauskas reveal little-known details about the activities of the Soviet military and the lives of the builders. His story is not only about the base, but also about a man who found himself in the middle of history.
Memoirist Eugenijus Bunka met Kaunas resident Kajetanas Meškauskas completely by chance, but his memories of the construction of the Plokštinė missile base became a real treasure in filling the holes in history related to this military facility.
After graduating from Kaunas Medical Institute in 1959, Kajetonas Meškauskas did not want to join the only party at that time and soon received a draft to the army. Not for the three years of mandatory service, but an appointment to work for life. From the first day, he was assigned to a military construction unit, which he soon established in the Šateikiai forests of the Plungė district. A ground-based missile launch site was being built here, and an underground one in Plokštine near Lake Plateliai. In 1960, four military construction battalions were formed. Each had four companies, and each company had 125 construction workers. Although the Plateliai residents tell their guests that, in order to keep the secret, they did not take a single Lithuanian into the construction units, Kajetonas Meškauskas knows very well that it was the other way around. At the beginning, only Lithuanians served in one battalion, Estonians in another, and Latvians in the third, and they were recruited into the road construction battalion regardless of nationality; it was important that there was a driver, tractor operator, or excavator operator.
Another legend is about why construction structures and base equipment were transported to Plokštinė only at night. A “scooter” would drive ahead of the column, from which soldiers would jump out and chase late passers-by or onlookers away from the windows so that they would not see the cargo. In fact, according to K. Meškauskas, rocket fuel was transported at night. Due to the increased pressure in the tanks, its poisonous vapors would seep through the safety valves, which is why the fuel was transported at a time when there were no people on the roadside. For the same reason, the soldiers would chase everyone away from the road, and they would tell the residents of the houses along the road not to go near the windows and to close them.
Šateikiai railway station was closed to passenger trains during construction and turned into a loading yard for construction structures and military equipment. Powerful MAZ tractors, which had been in service for only a year, transported heavy loads northwest of the station - to Šateikiai forests and east - to Plokštinės forest on the eastern shore of Lake Plateliai.
Hangars for mobile missiles were built in the fields, their launch pads were concreted and painted green, and the bushes and trees that camouflaged them grew in special pots. If necessary, they could be quickly moved aside.
Despite all the security measures, as soon as work began in Šateikiai, the Voice of America immediately reported on the construction of the base, telling in detail about the technical characteristics of the missiles and the future equipment of the site. As K. Meškauskas said, military counterintelligence resorted to investigating. At first, they took up the local pastor and his entourage, but it soon turned out that the wife of the construction unit commander was bragging to the local women about her husband and what he was doing here. The words easily reached the person who needed the information.
The base in Šateikiai was built quickly, but in Plokštine, the construction workers worked until 1962. One battalion rented residential houses for officers in Plungė, later a barracks town in the forest, and the other two worked at the missile launch site.
While digging shafts at the Plokštinė missile base, the pits were flooded with water. Water was rushing through the sand into the dug pit 12 meters in diameter. Then it was decided to undertake a unique job. A cover was poured in the future shaft, and about twenty mobile compressors were brought in, which maintained a pressure of two atmospheres in the cavity under the cover. The water stopped flowing. Five soldiers and their supervisor would climb into the pit through a special chamber. The excavated sand was lifted to the top through a special sluice. Sometimes Kajetonas Meškauskas also had to visit the pit. The soldiers would work for three and a half hours, and would spend two hours in the chamber getting used to the pressure before and after work. According to the doctor, there would be some clever people who would try to open the tap more after the shift inside the chamber so that the pressure would decrease faster and they could climb out. However, the paramedic on duty sitting outside would immediately turn off the tap, because nitrogen bubbles formed in the blood at higher than normal pressure could clog the blood vessels.
Until now, visitors were told that the 4 shafts were built in 8 months, but K. Meškauskas clarified that the soldiers dug the first one alone for a year. The doctor does not know when the construction was completed, because he was transferred to another unit.
K. Meškauskas remembers that the diameter of the pit for the shafts was originally 12 meters, and the depth was about 30 meters. Now the shafts are 6 meters in diameter, 27 meters deep. The bottom and walls have three meters of concrete and metal.
According to the construction project, gravel for road construction and repair had to be transported from a quarry near Kartena - almost fifty kilometers. The chief engineer of the road construction company, Captain Motiejūnas, looked around the area and found excellent gravel in Stirbaičiai, just outside Plateliai towards Gintališkė. The distance to the road under construction was about five times shorter than to Kartena. The local authorities did not dare to oppose the military, so the excavators rushed closer to Plokštīne.
However, Russian negligence put a foot in. From the army headquarters, the flag of the winners of the socialist race arrived for the builders of Plokštīne, followed by inspectors. It turned out that, according to K. Meškauskas, the drunken commander of the mechanization company, Captain Kapelka, had not written off the excess fuel. Kapelka happily entertained the inspectors for a week and treated them well until he covered up his mistake. After her, they distributed fuel left and right, but mostly poured it directly into the ditches.
Related timeline
Related objects
Cold War Exposition
The exposition is arranged in the former ballistic missile launch complex of the Soviet Union, which is the only well-equipped facility of its kind in Europe. The Plokštines missile base was completed in 1962. on December 31. It was placed in the largest forest massif, east of Lake Plateļi. There were 4 SS-4 "Sandal" medium-range ballistic missiles equipped with 2-megaton thermonuclear warheads, aimed at Western European countries. 1978 after the base was discovered by US intelligence, it was closed with the removal of armaments. 2012 after reconstruction, an exhibition of relevant content was opened here.
Plokštinė Military Town
in 1962 "Dvina", one of the first underground R-12 ballistic missile launch complex in the Soviet Union, started operating in the Ploštinė forests (Plungė district).
A military town has been established 0.5 km from the missile launch base. On the territory of 12 hectares, about 30 buildings of various purposes were built: residential houses (barracks), officers' headquarters, 2 canteens, a boiler room, a power plant, a medical station, a club, a pig farm, warehouses, garages and other buildings.
The platform's underground missile launch complex operated until 1978. June 18 The soldiers left the area, taking only their weapons with them. in 1979 the management of the former military complex was handed over to the Association of Republican Agricultural Recreational Institutions of the Plungė district, and the Platelia Pioneers' Rest Camp "Žuvėdra" was established in the military town. The area was remodeled and adapted to the needs of the camp, which operated until 1990. After Lithuania regained its independence, the Pioneer Camp was closed.
Since 1993 the facility is managed by the Žemaitija National Park Directorate. Many buildings of the military campus were demolished in 2017 due to their state of emergency. Currently, there are about 10 buildings left in the area, which can be viewed from the outside by visitors. There are information stands that tell about the former buildings and their purpose.
Šateikiai ground missile base
In the Plunge district, on both sides of Šateikiai town, in the forest massifs, in 1960. The Šateikiai ground-based medium-range missile launch base was built. One of the 4 bases of this type that operated in Lithuania.
The base was equipped with ground launch sites for four R-12, R-12U (SS-4 Sandal) medium-range ballistic missiles (one of the most popular in the USSR). Ballistic missiles were stored in reinforced concrete hangars on the territory of the Šateikiai forest military unit. The machines were parked in the hangars, and one R12U missile was installed on their platforms. According to the command, the machines had to go to the specified place, and the rockets were launched in the direction of the dictated coordinates. At the signal, the missiles were about to be launched into the countries of the European part of the NATO bloc.
in 1962 September - 1963 in January, during the Caribbean crisis, when the tension between the USA and the USSR reached its peak, nuclear missiles from the Shateikii missile launch base were transported by train cars to Sevastopol, where they were loaded onto cargo ships and transported to Central Cuba (Havana). Soldiers were building rockets in the forests of the center of the island of Cuba. This operation was called Operation Anadyris, the shipment of missiles and other weapons to Cuba.
The next date when the highest level of readiness was announced at the base was 1968. the Prague Spring (events in Czechoslovakia), when rockets were directed towards the West German Federation, because it was expected that the countries of the NATO bloc would support the Czechoslovak rebels with arms.
Missiles were removed from the Šateikiai ground-based missile launch base around 1978, when it was already considered obsolete, and its maintenance was irrational. The closure of the base was also prompted by the fact that in the 20th century 8 Dec. help it was already clear that the locations of the stationary missile launch bases had been identified by US intelligence.
It is interesting that later in the base, in a small reinforced concrete hermetic building surrounded by several barbed wire fences, tactical projectiles with a nuclear charge, intended for firing from "Pions", were stored. The explosive power of one such projectile is estimated at 2 kilotons. For comparison: nuclear bombs "Little Boy", 1945 August 6 dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima (Japan), the equivalent yield of energy released was equal to 13-16 kilotons. They could have appeared in Šateikia in 1981. at the end
The 384th High Power Artillery Brigade was also stationed in Šateikiai. The brigade had self-propelled howitzers 2S7 "Pion" of 203 mm caliber. Their purpose is to attack the rear of the enemy, destroy important objects at a distance of 47-55 kilometers. These tactical projectiles with a nuclear charge could have been exported from the territory of Lithuania in July 1992. The plan of the withdrawal of the troops of the Russian Federation by railway transport provides information that the chemical assets of the 384th Heavy Artillery Brigade were transported in 36 covered wagons. It was probably nuclear explosives.
After the missile launch base was abandoned, the structures fell into disrepair. Currently, when visiting the territory, you can still find the remains of 6 reinforced concrete warehouses (hangars), as well as endless ground rocket launch sites that were overgrown with bushes. The entire area of the former base is still carved out by a network of roads covered with concrete slabs.
Šateikiai railway station
Šateikiai railway station is built on the Kužiai-Telšiai-Kretinga railway line in the Plungė district.
In 1918, after the Republic of Lithuania declared its Independence, the formation of railway infrastructure began: an administration system was created, and preparatory courses for railway workers were organized. In 1923, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to build the Kužiai-Telšiai-Kretinga route. The densely populated Samogitia region was chosen, which did not yet have adequate connections with Klaipėda and other centers.
The stations were built after the rail network had already been laid and using standardized architectural designs. The passenger hall of Šateikiai station was built in a typical design, with 1 floor and a roof, and a warehouse was also located in the same building.
During the Cold War, Šateikiai railway station also became important in the military industry. In the period 1960-78, Šateikiai ground-based and Plokštinė underground thermonuclear missile launch bases operated in the Šateikiai and Plokštinė forests. Both during their construction and later, during the period of operation, construction materials, weapons and everything else were transported by train to Šateikiai and Plungė railway stations. It is believed that a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons was deployed at the Šateikiai ground-based base. This is confirmed by the fact that in 1962, missiles were transported to Russia from the Šateikiai ground-based missile base, Šateikiai and Plungė railway stations, and later by ship to Cuba (Cuban Crisis).
Šateikiai railway station currently operates as a regular railway station, with passenger and freight trains arriving and departing. Only fragmentary stories have survived, linking the station's history with the activities of former military missile bases.
