Litauische Bau-Bataillonen
They were sent to the Eastern Front where they constructed and repaired roads, bridges, bunkers, anti-tank obstacles, and other military fortifications.
A few times, Lithuanian formations were used to plunder and burn Russian villages according to German scorched earth tactics.
[4] The process was supervised by Major General Emil Just [de] (1885–1947), chief military commandant in occupied Lithuania.
[5] His proclamations were better received by the Lithuanians: the Wehrmacht was still somewhat respected unlike the SS or the civil administration (Generalbezirk Litauen).
[10] However, the Germans lacked the manpower to enforce the registrations while Lithuanian officials quietly sabotaged the efforts.
[12] Most of the registered men were taken to Bau-Bataillonen, the rest to Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft or auxiliary German air-defense battalions.
Later, when Soviet partisans became more active, the battalions received more weapons, including light machine guns.
Germans and their Lithuanian auxiliaries confiscated and destroyed property, burned villages, forcefully evacuated residents towards Germany, etc.
After an incident, that was variously described as either a mutiny or a drunken shootout, unit's commanders were replaced, several men arrested, and few others executed for desertion.
[28] In September 1943, the 2nd battalion was moved near Pskov where they built bunkers, dug anti-tank trenches, and constructed bases for mortars.
[29] Colonel Adolfas Birontas officially inspected the unit in February 1944 and was impressed by men's discipline and satisfied with their living conditions.
[31] In September 1943, it was moved to the Velikaya River about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Ostrov, Pskov Oblast, where it was assigned to the 510th Pioneer Battalion.
Several members of the battalion, including lieutenant Jonas Borevičius, joined Soviet partisans that were active across the Velikaya River.
[33] Realizing the propaganda potential, Lithuanian communist leader Antanas Sniečkus asked the partisans to send Borevičius to Moscow, but it was done only in May 1944 when the Red Army had gained control of the territory.
[34] There is no summarizing data on post-war activities of the men that served in Bau-Bataillonen, only fragmentary individual stories that show a great variety of fates.
[38] For example, in July–September 1949, eight former members of the first battalion were arrested, tried according to the Article 58 of the Penal Code, and sentenced to 25 or 10 years of corrective labor.
[40] An exceptional case was Major Aleksandras Milaševičius-Ruonis [lt], who retreated to Germany but his family was killed in the Dresden bombing.
[42] Documents related to battalion activities are most likely spread among various Russian and German archives and await further examination.
The contemporary press wrote quite extensively about the battalions, but those articles were vague to protect military secrets, and had a clear bias, either pro- or anti-German.
[42] Post-war documents, produced by various Soviet authorities, have a clear anti-German bias; most are KGB interrogation protocols of former battalion soldiers; these prisoners were often tortured to extract confessions.
