Lithuanian soldiers' stories about everyday life in war

In the memoirs of Lithuanian soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and sometimes junior officers, we find more descriptions of the routine of war. When telling about the battles with the Red Army, the poor living conditions of the soldiers, the help and favor of the Lithuanian population to the soldiers are highlighted, and participation in battles is often presented as a tension that violates the usual routine. For example, the late Alfonsas Bartininkas wrote about the battles of Žąsliai as follows: "We spread out in chains, shots are heard, we attack hard, in the evening we dig in, in the morning we attack again, we retreat from Žąsliai, we cross to Eglainė, we eat boiled peas and tough meat."

Anonymous memoirs about participation in the Battle of Kėdainiai mention poor food, a clash with the Red Army near the Aristavas Manor, the death and funeral of Povilas Lukšys, the capture of Šėta, and an expedition to Ramygala and Truskave. In 1921, the memoirs of a soldier of the 4th Infantry Regiment tell of horses frightened by Red Army fire, carts that had escaped, bullets whistling through the ears, disorder in the ranks of the soldiers, the search for Red Army soldiers in farmsteads and the interrogation of their prisoners, delayed salaries, and injuries to soldiers[1]. As for the soldiers' daily life, J. Macelis' memoirs describe a plot in which Red Army soldiers were digging potatoes and harassing the residents, and were therefore attacked while they were baking potatoes. Stasys Butkus also presented a curious incident at the front, when four volunteers, while on reconnaissance, attacked the bushes, with a dose of humor metaphorically wanting to show that the front is not a “slaughterhouse”. In addition to stories about direct clashes with the Red Army, we also find information about indirect clashes in the memoirs, but they are not very frequent. For example, K. Gutautas described how he went to Vilkaviškis to suppress the Bolsheviks and look for communist literature and weapons. His memoirs are dominated by searches, arrests and images of catching robbers. In 1937, the anonymous memoirs published in “Lietuvos Aide” were dominated by episodes of the arrest of Bolshevik spies.