Battle of Merkinė

The Battle of Merkinė was a partisan battle that took place on December 15, 1945, in the town of Merkinė.

The idea for the attack on Merkinė was born in October 1945. A. Ramanauskas Vanagas came up with the idea. The reconnaissance work before the fighting was carried out by a gymnasium student, who prepared a detailed plan of the town, marked all the houses, ruins, trenches, bunkers, houses of the partisans, Russians and communists, possible directions of fire and objects of important importance: the Russian headquarters, the NKVD headquarters, the prison, the village hall, the post office, the cooperative, warehouses, etc. The final decision to attack Merkinė was made at the headquarters of the commander of the Lithuanian Partisan A District, Juozas Vitkus - Kazimieraitis, after three partisans were killed in Puvočiai on December 4, 1945.

The attack on Merkinė began on December 15 at 11 a.m., during heavy snow. Partisans led by A. Ramanauskas-Vanagas and Rokas Bingelis Vaidevutis attacked the town from two directions, capturing the NKVD headquarters, post office, and parish and militia institutions. The partisan attack was stopped by machine gun fire from NKVD fighters who had established themselves in the church and the church. The two German Panzerfaust grenade launchers in the partisans' possession were not used out of respect for the church buildings. The unit led by Antanas Grušauskas Siaubas, which was supposed to join from the other side of the Nemunas, failed to cross the river over the bridge defended by NKVD fighters. Around 2 p.m., when the counterattacks began, the partisans began a scattered retreat to the Subartonys forest, where, after a review of the battle conducted by A. Ramanauskas-Vanagas, they dispersed into the forests.