A year prior, on June 15, 1940, the Red Army occupied Lithuania and established the unpopular[5] Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, which silenced its critics and suppressed resistance with political repression and state terrorism.

[1] For many Lithuanians, even a somewhat autonomous status, akin to the Slovak Republic, was appealing compared to the Soviet occupation.

[6] This was not granted by the German occupiers, who steadily replaced Lithuanian institutions with their own and established the Reichskommissariat Ostland on July 17, 1941.

These arrests targeted many prominent politicians such as Aleksandras Stulginskis, Juozas Urbšys, Leonas Bistras, Antanas Merkys, Pranas Dovydaitis, Petras Klimas, government officials, military officers, and members of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union.

A year later, just a week before the uprising, some 17,000 Lithuanians, mainly the intelligentsia, were taken with their entire families and deported to Siberia, where many died of the inhumane living conditions.

It was the single most important precipitating event that incited popular support for the uprising and a positive predisposition toward the German invasion.

Those who escaped the deportations or arrests spontaneously organized themselves into armed groups hidden in the forests and waited for the wider uprising.

Started by Kazys Škirpa in Berlin, the LAF sought to unify the Lithuanian resistance, and organize and conserve resources for the planned uprising against the Soviets.

In March 1941, the LAF in Berlin published a memorandum, titled Brangūs vergaujantieji broliai (English: Dear Enslaved Brothers), with instructions on how to prepare for the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

[15] Insurgents were asked to secure strategic objects like prisons, railroads, bridges, communication hubs and factories, guarding them against potential sabotage by the retreating Red Army, while Central Headquarters was to organize a provisional government and declare independence.

[19] On June 14, the Nazi authorities in Berlin insisted that Škirpa and his activists not form any government or make any public declarations without their prior approval.

[20] The first attacks were carried out by the Luftwaffe against airports, airfields, and Lithuanian cities (Kėdainiai, Raseiniai, Karmėlava, Panevėžys, Jurbarkas, Ukmergė, Šiauliai, and others).

[21] The Germans rapidly advanced, encountering only sporadic resistance from the Soviets near Kaltinėnai, Raseiniai, and Šiauliai, and assistance from the Lithuanians.

It decided that its main goal was not to fight the Soviets but to secure the city (i.e. organizations, institutions, enterprises) and declare independence.

[28] By the evening of June 22, the Lithuanians controlled the Presidential Palace, post office, telephone and telegraph, radio stations and radiophone.

[33] When the Soviets retreated from Lithuanian fire, Juozas Savulionis ran to the middle of the bridge, cut the wires, and saved it from destruction.

The Metalas factory became the headquarters of Šančiai insurgents who attempted to stop Soviet soldiers from crossing the Neman River by boat, or from building a pontoon bridge.

[40] In Vilnius, the LAF, commanded by Vytautas Bulvičius, had been dismantled by Soviet arrests just before the war and at the time Lithuanians formed only a small minority of the city's population.

The 7th Panzer Division, commanded by Hans Freiherr von Funck, had expected Red Army resistance in Vilnius and made plans to bombard that city.

[43] Taking advantage of chaos among the Soviet officers, Lithuanians separated from the main corps with only a few losses and gathered in Vilnius.

In most areas the insurgents followed the pattern set in Kaunas and Vilnius: to take control of local institutions, most importantly, the police, and secure other strategic objects.

In front of the pure conscience of the whole world, the young state of Lithuania enthusiastically promises to contribute to the organization of Europe on a new basis.

[48] LAF member Leonas Prapuolenis read independence declaration Atstatoma laisva Lietuva (Free Lithuania is Restored).

LAF activist Juozas Ambrazevičius replaced Kazys Škirpa, who was under house arrest in Berlin, as the prime minister.

The new government attempted to take full control of the country, establish the proclaimed independence, and start a de-Sovietization campaign.

As they retreated from Lithuania, the Nazis burned to the ground hundreds of buildings, plants, bridges and railways before the advancing Soviet troops, and transported some of the disassembled machinery, inventories, and raw materials to Germany.

At the time, Lithuanian diplomats abroad, including former president Antanas Smetona and Stasys Lozoraitis, described the uprising as "Nazi-inspired".

[56] These statements might have been attempts to persuade the United States, Great Britain, and other Western powers that Lithuania was not an ally of the Nazis.

[57] The Provisional Government has been criticized for antisemitic slogans and decrees, particularly the Žydų padėties nuostatai (Regulations on the Status of Jews) of August 1.

[58] Jewish survivors and Lithuanian historians have documented that members of the LAF, especially in Kaunas but also in other towns, committed indiscriminate and gruesome excesses against Jewish residents, including mass killings of unarmed civilians, including women and children, often before the Nazis arrived to take control,[citation needed] most notably characterized by the Kaunas pogrom but also in many other towns throughout Lithunania.