Rūdninkai Forest

In the forest's north is the town of Baltoji Vokė and roughly 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to the southeast is Šalčininkai.

[1] Two-thirds of the forest is considered to be of state importance, of which a part belongs to the Ministry of National Defence, while the rest is privately owned.

The forest stretches along the southern part of the sandy southeast plain [lt], which consists of Merkys old valley.

In the vicinity of Pirčiupiai and Rūdninkai, the terraced plain is about 135 metres (443 ft) in absolute height and very wet.

There are large marshes, those of Maceliai, Raudonelė, Rūdninkai, Šakos [lt], Žygmantiškės; the tributaries of the Merkys begin in them.

Groundwater is located shallow; it is rich in iron.Rūdninkai Training Area operates in the northern part of the forest, where open sands and heaths predominate.

[1] The hunting lodges and menageries of the Lithuanian grand dukes existed until the 17th century, when they were destroyed during the Deluge.

[1] The last bear in Lithuania was shot in this forest in 1885 During the uprising of 1831, the Vilnius University's Students' Legion was formed.

On 3 June 1944, German soldiers, in revenge for the killing of several of their comrades by Soviet partisans, burned the village of Pirčiupiai together with 119 inhabitants.

At the same time, the village's inhabitants and the people who fled from Belarus that stayed in the estate were killed.

A cross was erected for the fallen AK insurgents, the inscription of which indicates the burial location of 25 Home Army members, who died in an unequal struggle against the NKVD on 1945 January 6–7.

Since 1944, the Lithuanian partisans of the Dainava military district's Kazimieraitis territorial unit were active in Rūdninkai forest.

[1] During the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, a military training area was set up in the Rūdninkai forest, where bombing exercises took place, leaving holes and sand dunes full of explosives.