Justinas Lelešius Grafas's memoirs about the discovery and destruction of a partisan hideout
It tells the story of how the Stribs and MGB officers discovered a partisan bunker in the post-war years and liquidated the partisans hiding inside.
The headquarters was deciphered by chance. Two spies returned from the girls' party at dawn and stopped by the Daunoras homestead to steal something to eat. While rummaging through the potato patch, which was right next to the hideout, they heard the sound of a typewriter through the hole in the hideout that was open at the time and, apparently, noticed the hole itself with interest. At that time, Survila was busy with the affairs of the department he led. The spies, having thoroughly inspected the hideout, left as quietly as possible without doing anything and reported everything to the MGB headquarters. The hideout remained unattacked for several more days, but they seemed to be watching closely to see when it would be sufficiently full.
The Stribas had seen that the partisans would not be able to get out of the hiding place, so the Emgiebists who had now arrived deliberately waited in the room so that the partisans, thinking that it was a regular entry, would rush into the hiding place. And so it was. After an hour and a half, large additional Emgiebist units poured in around the Daunoras homestead. The Russians who were in the room fled into the courtyard. Now the previously suspected disaster was only becoming clear.
The Russians grabbed the eighty-year-old owner, dragged him to the hiding place, and ordered him to dig it up. The owner tried to defend himself by saying that he didn't know of any hiding places. But not for long. After a few hard blows, he had to resort to a shovel. As the ground began to turn, the partisans fired a series of SSVs from inside. No one dared to dig further or force others to do so. The Bolsheviks quickly peeled the kitchen boards off. The partisans' situation was hopeless. Six against several hundred could only die bravely. They had to accept the idea of their last hours of life and began destroying documents and stationery inside. They burned all the documents, smashed typewriters and other tools, cut up shoes and other things so that the enemy could not use anything.
The Bolsheviks, unable to dig up the hiding place, decided to take it with grenades. Grouping themselves into groups of about seven, they would run after each other past the hiding place and throw grenades on top of it. After that, everyone would collapse, and the machine gunners would carve long bursts of crossfire over the hiding place, so that any partisan trying to get out would have no chance of surviving. From inside the hiding place, the words of the songs and anthems of the last hours of the partisans' lives would pour out, mixing with Russian curses, commands, and the song of the machine guns playing.
After some time, grenades pierced a hole in the top of the shelter. Survila and Vaidila appeared from inside the shelter in the balls of dust and grenade smoke they created. However, the series of shots they started with their machine guns quickly stopped and both partisans fell on top of the shelter. Grafas, Šermukšnis, Anbo and Montvila, who were left inside, blew themselves up with grenades. For a good half hour, the Bolsheviks threw grenades at the corpses lying on top and into the hole they had made, still not daring to approach the shelter.
Only after such a break did the Bolsheviks force the owner into the hiding place. He had to remove the remains of the partisan corpses and the material in the hiding place. When the Bolsheviks recognized that it was a headquarters hiding place, they tried to wash the partisan corpses, sew up individual body parts, especially near the face, and put them into the uniforms they found. After photographing them several times, they took the corpses to the town of Veiveriai and threw them near the chicken coop of the former rectory. The "feast" began. The village's active population gathered to rejoice. The Bolshevik activists caught and brought out suspected residents and, having brought them to the corpses, beat them and demanded that they give out the names of the fallen partisans and their relatives who were at large. It was impossible for anyone who wanted to know, because two of them had their heads completely cut off. And the real parents would not have recognized their son.
- Justinas Lelešius Grafas, Diary of a Partisan Chaplain, Kaunas, 2006.
Related objects
Partisan Bunker in Žadeikiai Forest
The area is accessible via a forest road, which is located by taking road No. 3111 past Rinkūnai and crossing the River Pyvesa.
After the War of Independence (1918–1940), northern Lithuania, especially Pasvalys and Joniškis districts, had a strong tradition of partisan fighting. The first partisan units were organised here. This tradition, although not very pronounced, continued after the Second World War, and, in 1944, separate partisan units began to form in the region.
From 1944–1946, Jonas Alenčikas-Dragūnas was the commander of the partisan unit operating in Žadeikiai Forest. In 1945, the partisans led by him set up a rather large bunker in Žadeikiai Forest – it was 30 metres long and 6 metres wide. Such type of bunker perfectly reflects the first phase of the Lithuanian partisan struggle, when the partisans operated in large units and lived in large bunkers or forest camps. The bunker was destroyed during a battle, but when Lithuania regained its independence, it was rebuilt by the Pasvalys Infantry Company. The bunker is currently maintained by the Pasvalys Museum of Local History. A partisan settlement has been restored next to the bunker, and a new memorial cross and information stand have been installed.
