[1] He is best known for his actions during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence when the partisans he led fought against the Soviet invasion of northwest Lithuania, liberated Seda, Mažeikiai and Telšiai, and later forced out the Bermontians.

[1] The situation in Lithuania in 1918 was chaotic due to the rampage of robbers as well as the requisitions and robberies by the Imperial German Army units.

[8] On July 25, 1918, Povilas and Aleksandras returned to their farmstead, from where they had not heard from for a long time while serving in the Russian army.

[10] The May Day had a great significance for the local residents, as it strengthened their patriotism, united them and encouraged them to fight for freedom.

[11] The Council of Lithuania appointed Plechavičius as the Seda County Commander on November 15 and authorized him to organize the militia, military headquarters (komendantūra), self-defence units and local administration in Samogitia and to strengthen the Lithuanian state there in all ways.

[2][11] After receiving the wide-ranging mandate from the Lithuanian government, Plechavičius started an uncompromising fight against the Bolsheviks, whose foremost enemy he became.

[8][12] By the end of 1918, they had formed Soviets in Skuodas, Salantai, Ylakiai, Leckava, Tirkšliai, Viekšniai, Plungė and Židikai.

[1][2][12] Plechavičius began organizing the partisans after first receiving weapons from the inhabitants and, later on, also from the German military units in Latvia.

[12] Plechavičius was assigned military commander of Skuodas and its surroundings by the Council of Lithuania.Plechavičius' organizational talent, awareness of his responsibility and duty, combined with the public support for him and his fighters, soon gave tangible achievements.

[13] In the first half of 1919, the threat posed by Bolshevism to Lithuania was huge, because the Red Army had invaded up to the line along Mažeikiai, Seda, Telšiai, Šiluva, Kėdainiai, Jonava, Kaišiadorys, Alytus and Merkinė.

[13] With the help of a German battalion and an artillery battery, the partisans liberated Seda and Mažeikiai by the end of February.

[14] The word about Plechavičius as a brave and fearless commander of Samogitian soldiers spread throughout the land and led to him being called the "ruler of Samogitia".

[2] After eliminating the danger of Bolshevism in Samogitia, a court case was fabricated against Plechavičius, allegedly for fighting his enemies too brutally.

[2] When the floor was given to the accused, Plechavičius laconically stated: "Respected Court, if I had not been there at that time or another similar person, you would not be sitting here today.

[3] He wrote a textbook in 1928 called the Jojų tarnyba, divizijos eskadronas ir mišri žvalgomoji rinktinė (Cavalry service, Divisional Squadron and Mixed Reconnaissance Team).

[19] The LTDF was a volunteer military unit led only by Lithuanian officers and was supposed to stay within the borders of Lithuania to defend the country against the Red Army.

[20] The subject of the LTDF generates controversy between Lithuanian and Polish historians due to their incompatible views on its actions in the Vilnius Region in 1944.

On March 22, 1944, SS Obergruppenführer and police general Friedrich Jeckeln called for 70–80,000 men for the Wehrmacht as Hiwis.

Chief-of-Staff of Army Group North Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model demanded 15 battalions of men to protect the German military airports.

The most tragic incidents took place on May 4–6, in the villages of Pawłowo, Adamowszczyzna and Sienkowszczyzna, where a number of Lithuanian soldiers killed eleven people.

[3] In 1946, the NKVD demanded the extradition of Plechavičius from the British Zone of Occupation and accused him of being a "war criminal", "former Nazi-collaborator" and leading "the recruitment and deployment of paramilitary units which were involved in numerous actions against Jews and Soviet partisans".

[26] The British Foreign Office dismissed this, stonewalling the Soviet demands, and said that there were "vital intelligence reasons which preclude the possibility of our handing him over to the Russians.

[29] Still, in Vilnius, the city councillors from the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania blocked the naming of one of its streets after Plechavičius in 1998.

[30] In 2001, a room-museum for Povilas Plechavičius was established in the Kaunas Garrison Officers' Club Building by the Soldiers' Union of the Lithuanian Territorial Defence Force (LVRKS).

[29] On the occasion of March 11, the day of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania in 1990, a bust of Povilas Plechavičius, sculpted by Merūnas Varnauskas, was ceremoniously unveiled there, which was later handed over to the Marijampolė Museum.

[31] However, Waldemar Tomaszewski, the leader of the Electoral Action of Poles, said in 2008 that "I personally look at these things in a Christian way" and that "he [Plechavičius] had many supporters and must be honored.

[34][35] On 4 October 2008, due to the initiative and funds of the LVRKS, a monumental bust of Plechavičius was unveiled in the memorial park of Vytautas the Great War Museum (sculptor Juozas Šlivinskas, architect Kęstutis Linkus).

[36] Among others, the unveiling ceremony of the bust was attended by Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas and Kaunas Mayor Andrius Kupčinskas [lt].

[39] On August 27, 2022, in Stoties street, Mažeikiai, a memorial plaque, consecrated by priest Donatas Stulpinas of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mažeikiai [lt], was unveiled on the wall of the former commandant's office building, where Povilas Plechavičius worked when commanding the local military headquarters.

[40] On 15 August 2023, memorial plaques commemorating Aleksandras and Povilas Plechavičius, consecrated by Remigijus Monstvilas, senior chaplain of the Military Ordinariate of Lithuania, were unveiled in Palanga in the presence of the retired general Arvydas Pocius.