Lithuanian TDA Battalion

[2] Members of the TDA were known by many names such as Lithuanian auxiliaries, policemen, white-armbands, nationalists, rebels, partisans, resistance fighters or Schutzmannschaften.

Lithuanians hoped to restore the independent Lithuania that existed before the Soviet occupation or at least gain some autonomy from Nazi Germany.

[3] The formation's original goals were to protect strategic objects like bridges or railways, guard Soviet prisoners of war, establish general order in Kaunas and its vicinity.

[3] By July 4, 724 men, mostly former Lithuanian soldiers and partisans fighting in the June Uprising against the retreating Soviets, responded to the announcement and signed up for the battalion.

[3] According to extensive post-war investigations by Soviet authorities, as executions of Jews grew in number, more companies of TDA were involved in the murders.

[3] On August 30, 1941, according to German records, they shot 662 people in Ariogala; 207 men, 260 women and 195 children who were told they were being transported to Palestine.

The coup, organized by members of the Iron Wolf Association and supported by the German Gestapo, succeeded in replacing the leadership of the TDA.