Samogitian Partisan District
III National Partizans, IV Soviet Occupation

Samogitia Region – a Lithuanian partisan military territorial unit that operated in 1946-1953, fighting the Soviet occupation regime in Samogitia. The region operated in the territories of Telšiai, Kretinga, Mažeikiai and part of Tauragė counties. It was formed on the basis of the Lithuanian Freedom Army detachments – in April 1946, 10 detachments were formed in eight rural municipalities, which were merged into the Samogitia Legion. On April 17, 1946, this legion became the Samogitia Region.

The district consisted of three main detachments: Alka, Karda and Šatrija. The Alka detachment operated in Mažeikiai County in 1945-1949. It was formed by A. Narmontas (Ivanauskas), a member of the Lithuanian Freedom Army, from the companies of the Vanagai military organization. From October 1946, K. Venckus (Adomaitis) became the temporary commander, and from July 25, 1947, the permanent commander. By 1947, only the Seda, Ylakiai, Židikai and Viekšniai companies had the required number of members, the others operated as detachments. At the beginning of 1948, the Soviet security formed a special group of agent hitmen, which declared itself the Mažeikiai company. In January-April 1948, 60 partisans and supporters were arrested, and in August, agents destroyed the headquarters of the detachment, and the commander K. Venckus was also killed. In 1949, the team practically ceased to function.

The Kardas (Sword) detachment operated from 1945. November 15. - early 1953 in Darbėnai, Endriejavas, Gargždai, Kartena, Mosėdzis, Palanga, Plateliai, Salantai, Veiviržėnai parishes, Kretinga city and parish. The detachment was established by order of the commander of the Samogitian Legion of the Lithuanian Freedom Army J. Semaška (Liepa), and K. Kontrimas was appointed as the first commander. The partisans of the detachment fought actively - participated in several battles with the NKVD and security units, including the attacks on the town of Endriejavas (May 25, 1945 and 1950) and the capture of Veiviržėnai (June 7, 1948). The detachment published the newspapers "Laisvės aukuras", "Tiesos ir kovos keliu". During its existence, it had several commanders: K. Kontrimas, J. Ožeraitis, J. Kėkštas, J. Jucius, and J. Paulauskas.

The Šatrija detachment, which operated in 1945-1953, was the most important detachment of the Samogitian region. It was founded on August 1, 1945 on the basis of the Wolf detachment of the Samogitian Legion and operated in Telšiai, Plungė, Rietavas and other counties. In 1946-1947, the detachment consisted of 10 companies: Alsėdžiai, Janapolė, Luokė, Nevarėnai, Plungė, Rietavas, Telšiai, Tvera, Varniai and Žarėnai. In June 1948, the detachment was divided into 3 homelands, and at the beginning of 1953 there were 5 of them. The number of members of the detachment varied: in April 1946 it had about 200 fighters, in October 1946 and April 1947 - about 120, in September 1948 and 1949 - In January 1945 – about 110, in early 1951 – about 40, in late 1952 – about 20 fighters. The detachment was notable for its active actions: on May 10, 1945, it attacked Luokė, on June 24, 1946, near Luokė, it killed the operational representative of the Telšiai County Security Department and two guards, and on April 12, 1949, on the Telšiai-Nevarėnai road, it killed two junior lieutenants of the militia.

The district belonged to the Western (from July 1948 – Jūra) region. The first district commander was the chief of staff of the Samogitian Legion, F. Ašoklis (Vilkas), and A. Ruzgys (Margis) was appointed as the chief of staff.

During its existence, the district had several commanders: Jonas Semaška-Liepa (November 1945 - April 1946), "On the Path of Truth and Struggle" (April - September 1946), Kazimieras Antanavičius-Tauras (until April 1947), Kazimieras Juozaitis-Meteoras and the last commander - Vladas Montvydas-Žemaitis (1948-1953).

In September 1946, after the security forces arrested F. Ašoklis and B. Staliūnienė (Vyšnia), a crisis began in the activities of the district. The restored headquarters in Plungė rural municipality was headed by K. Antanavičius (Tauras) until April 1947, but on April 9, the headquarters was destroyed. With no staff members left, the district fell apart. The commander of the Šatrija squad, K. Juozaitis (Meteoras), and the commander of the Alka squad, J. Vygantas (pseudonyms Ivanauskas, Narmontas), who had disobeyed him, declared themselves leaders. The security forces provoked a conflict between them. J. Vygantas fell under the influence of the Joint Democratic Resistance Movement Committee controlled by the security forces, which was led by agent JA Markulis (pseudonyms Erelis, Ąžuolas). In 1947, In October, after traveling to Vilnius, J. Vygantas prepared declarations calling for an end to armed resistance. Samogitian partisan leaders condemned his treacherous behavior.

After the district collapsed, support was provided by the Kęstutis district led by J. Žemaitis (Vytautas). The Samogitian district headquarters was restored, with A. Milaševičius (pseudonyms Radvila, Ruonis, Vairas) as its commander, and V. Montvydas (pseudonyms Žemaitis, Etmonas, Algimantas, Dėdė) as its chief of staff, who later, from June 1948 to August 23, 1953, was the district commander.

The propaganda department was active in the district. The newspaper "Laisvės balsas" (published until April 20, 1953) was edited by I. Petkutė (pseudonyms Neringa, Vilnelė, Lakštingala). She also edited the newspaper "Malda giriojė" (1951-1952). The district partisan chaplain, the pastor of the Pašilė parish, V. Stirbys, until his arrest in April 1950, together with others, published and distributed the district headquarters newspapers. In 1952, a collection of poems "Laisvės kovų aidai" was published in a circulation of 1,000 copies.

The Samogitian region suffered huge losses: in 1947-1950. 624 partisans were killed, 1972 partisans, liaison officers and supporters were arrested. In 1952-1953. another 161 were destroyed, 49 were arrested, 4 partisans legalized. During that time, the partisans liquidated 37 security agents. The region ceased to exist in August 1953, after the death of commander V. Montvydas together with adjutant B. Alūza (Bedalis) and editor I. Petkutė. Printing supplies, a loom and many newspapers were found in their bunker. The last partisan of the region and one of the last Lithuanian partisans, Pranas Končius-Adomas, was betrayed and died on July 15, 1965 near Kūlupėnai.