Higher Officers' Courses
In July 1923, the courses were named after Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, who commanded Lithuanian forces in the 1410 Battle of Grunwald.
Due to difficult post-war conditions, the new school lacked qualified lecturers and teaching materials but steadily grew and improved.
[3] The courses were officially known as: When newly independent Lithuania began building its own armed forces in late 1918, it recruited Lithuanians who had previously served with the Russian Imperial Army during World War I.
[12] The permanent Higher Officers' Courses were established on 1 April 1921 by the order of the Minister of Defense in Kaunas.
[5] The courses were extended to eight months, placed greater emphasis on tactics and wargames, and added foreign language (English, French, German) lessons so that graduates could follow foreign military press.
At the same time, the courses organized its first celebration on 15 July commemorating the Polish–Lithuanian victory in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.
President Aleksandras Stulginskis renamed the courses in honour of the Grand Duke Vytautas the Great who commanded Lithuanian forces in the battle.
[21] Due to very different backgrounds and experience of the men, the courses had to spend a lot of time on teaching general subjects and in particular math before advancing to more specialized artillery topics.
In return, the men were required to serve in the Lithuanian Army for twice the length of their studies.
[29] The general section was suspended in November 1928 as the military determined there were enough officers with this kind of education.
[42] The idea for a Lithuanian higher military school was publicly raised by Petras Kubiliūnas.
[45] The section was finally established on 1 April 1932 which elevated the courses to the status of a higher military school.
[46] Candidates for the General Staff courses had to pass two rounds of examinations in spring and fall 1931 and complete a traineeship during the summer.
[48] The main military subjects were taught by the officers of the General Staff who had received education abroad.
[52] The second class was supposed to star its studies in fall 1934 but they were delayed to 1 March 1935 – as the military began implementing reforms initiated by Stasys Raštikis, commanders realized that they needed more trained officers and wanted to admit additional students to the military school.
[55] The academic studies emphasized practical exercises, war games, experiments over theory.
[61] The fourth class began its studies on 1 September 1939 – already after the start of World War II.
The school's name was changed to remove the reference to Vytautas the Great and then it was abolished on 30 September.
