“Gauskit, trimitai, auštantį rytą,
Skelbkite pavojų gimtajai šaliai,
Laikas ateina užpildysim būrius”
“Hear the trumpets on the dawn of the morning,
Declare danger to our homeland,
The time has come, we will fill the units”
- A Lithuanian war song.
While the Germans debated what will be done to the Lithuanian provisional government, there also was a debate on what to do with the Lithuanian units already formed. While in this certain debate there was no question about disbanding them, unlike the one about the provisional government, but there was a debate on what will be done with them. After some time it was decided, the units will form “Litauische Bataillone”*, which, despite holding on their old pre war uniforms, will fight alongside with the Germans mainly as anti partisans units, but there were exceptions to that which we will talk about later.
Germans inspecting the men in their marching uniforms
The first large time where the new Lithuanian battalions were deployed on the frontline was during the Demjansk pocket, where they often had to hold the line. They performed extremely well in this battle and despite the fact it was much harder to win medals for non Germans, 102* Lithuanians were awarded medals, most of them awarded for when Lithuanians had defended a hole in the defence for a entire day without any support. Most notable was Kazys Petronis*, who still manned his MG despite being wounded. After they broke out the Germans were much more brave to deploy them, one of the most impressive examples was in Stalingrad, where Jonas Semaška broke out of with only 700 men*, for which he was awarded the iron cross first class.
Jonas Semaška
Back in Lithuania there was mainly just political chaos, with each side trying to win over as much influence as possible and even a coup being attempted! But after that Rosenberg had intervened and stopped it. He had somehow managed to convince Hitler* to grant autonomy to the Lithuanians. Hitler had single handedly destroyed the chaos that was happening and managed to make the local Balts view the Germans in even better light, as they believed that they will get the same rights the Lithuanians got. The provisional government was eager to help the Germans in every way and even managed to get the Lithuanian battalions to be recognized as “Lithuanian Military units under German command”. This however, brought no advantages, just more possible propaganda. The provisional government in actuality didn’t have all that much power when it came in military matters, sure they could now govern their own lands but the units were still often German led. But the event did grant a morale boost for the men.
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* - A Lithuanian commander had complained to the Germans that the name of the Lithuanian auxiliary police battalions does not match their duties. The name change in this alt history won’t change any event but I still decided it could be added.
* - I decided to pick the number of 102 men because irl there were 41 Lithuanian soldiers awarded the Demjanskschild, but since the Germans are much more ready to deploy them near the front I decided to increase the number of men there.
* - Kazys Petronis was a real soldier fighting for the Germans awarded the medal for bravery of eastern European troops. I do not know why he was awarded it but decided he’d make a nice flavour bit in the story.
* - Jonas Semaška in real life did break out of Stalingrad with a Lithuanian battalion, which is often overlooked. He also later broke out from the Curonian pocket and became a partisan.
* - Rosenberg almost convinced Hitler to make the Baltics independant in real life according to Petras Stankeras’s book “Lithuanian Police in the second world war”. This is the same but instead of independance its autonomy.