From the history of the Movement for the struggle for Lithuania's freedom: the Battle of Užpelkiai Forest on 13 August 1949

1949 m. rugpjūčio 13 d. Šiaurės Lietuvoje, Užpelkių miške (Radviliškio apskr., Grinkiškio ir Baisogalos valsčių paribyje), jvyko Lietuvos partizanų kautynės, turėjusios didelę įtaką Prisikėlimo apygardos istorijai (šioje apygardoje veikė ir Lietuvos Laisvės Kovos Sąjūdžio Vyriausioji vadovybė). Remdamiesi mūšių vietų archeologijos prieiga, 2014-2017 m. straipsnio autoriai su talkininkais nustatė Užpelkių miško kautynių vietą (Grinkiškio sen., Radviliškio r.), surinko daug naujų archeologinių ir istorinių duomenų MGB kareivių puolimo ir partizanų pasipriešinimo eigai atkurti. Remiantis kompleksinio tyrimo rezultatais, straipsnyje Pirmą kartą skelbiamos visų šiose kautynėse dalyvavusių partizanų pavardės ir pareigos organizacijoje, aprašomos kautynių aplinkybės ir eiga, parodoma Užpelkių miško kautynių vieta pasakojime apie Lietuvos Laisvės Kovos Sąjūdį 1949-1950 m. pradžioje. Tai pavyzdinis partizaninio karo kautynių vietos tyrimų atvejis, kuris rodo, kaip kompleksiniai - istorijos ir archeologijos - tyrimai papildo partizaninio karo paveikslą faktais, artefaktais, patikslina arba paneigia senas interpretacijas ir veda prie naujų.The locations of battles and fighting in the Lithuanian partisan war attracted the attention of archaeologists more than a decade ago. So far, five locations of battles and fighting have been investigated. In 2014-2017, the authors of this article, together with volunteers, determined the location of the Battle of Užpelkiai Forest that took place on 13 August 1949, collecting a lot of archaeological and historical data. Our research showed that on 1 August 1949, exactly half a year after the first meeting of Lithuanian partisan commanders, a meeting of the Presidium Council of the Lietuvos Laisvės Kovos Sąjūdis (LLKS, Movement for the Struggle for Lithuania's Freedom) was held in the Prisikėlimas district command camp, in the 15th forest district of Užpelkiai Forest (on the border of the Grinkiškis and Baisogala rural districts). It is believed that another meeting of the command was scheduled in the same camp for 13 August. On 12 August, the first to come to the meeting were four partisans, led by Petras Bartkus-Žadgaila, a major and commander of the LLKS Defence Forces Organisational Unit. In the evening of the same day, seven full vehicles with 400 MGB (Ministry of State Security) troops arrived in Užpelkiai Forest. In the morning of 13 August, Captain Bronius Liesis-Naktis, the commander of a national sub-unit of the LLKS Public Unit, came to the camp with three other brothers-in-arms. After that, eight more vehicles with MGB troops arrived. Locals and partisans blamed Bronius Petrėtis, a resident of the village of Šarkučiai, which Was near the camp, for the betrayal, and executed him not long after the battle. None of them knew that the location of the partisan camp and the arranged meeting had already been reported to the security organisation by the agent Stasys Karanauskas from Jokūbiškiai on 9 August. It seems that the partisans were betrayed for a second time by Julija Kleivaitė from Eitviliai, on 12 August, or in the morning of 13 August. In 2016-2017, the area of the partisan camp, on a low hill, and the surrounding area in Užpelkiai Forest (a total of almost 0.6 hectares), was thoroughly explored: 221 archaeological finds were discovered in an area of 190 metres by 275 metres; the vast majority of them were ammunition (ten Russian and two German undischarged cartridges, 140 Russian and two German cartridge cases, and 38 Russian cartridge bullets). The finds that could be attributed to the partisan camp and battlefield included four rectangular and found ammunition belt buckles, parts of three shoe buckles, two trouser buttons from German uniforms, two syringe needles, a carabine, a cigarette holder, and the cover of a galvanic element. A special find was a silver alloy ring with a knight (assay standard 800). Having mapped the archaeological finds and analysed their spread, a few clusters of finds were determined (see figure 5): the first is considered to be the partisan camp; the second cluster of finds surrounded the first one on the southwest, west, north and east, and is regarded as the positions of MGB troops who attacked the partisans; the last two clusters of finds were southeast of the partisan camp. Enemy soldiers were shooting in the first one, retreating partisans in the second. During the battle next to the partisan camp, Petras Bartkus, Bronius Liesis, Jonas Gedminas, Jonas Lušas and Vytautas Šniuolis lost their lives. Although the archaeological finds do not say anything about the outcome of the battle, the map (see figure 1) drawn by Laurynas Mingėlas, a participant in the battle, shows that he was carried, seriously injured, by Vytautas Šniuolis, to the west towards the farmstead of Mikniai in the village of Minaičiai, where the bunker of the Prisikėlimas district headquarters was. Pranciškus Prūsaitis fled south across the Srautas stream, and the route taken by Vytautas Kuzmickas was not determined. The betrayal, the battle and the deaths of five freedom fighters (according to unconfirmed evidence, 18 enemy soldiers fell) had an influence on all the further progress of the history of the LLKS: the headquarters of the defence forces were never formed as had been envisaged by the partisan General Jonas Žemaitis in the summer of 1949, and the route between the eastern and southern partisan areas, to be used by members of the command to visit each other, was never established. Cooperation between historians, archaeologists, and specialists in ammunition and military tactics is a necessary prerequisite for research into the Lithuanian partisan war. The complex research essentially adds factual knowledge and artefacts to the picture of the partisan war, broadens old interpretations, and becomes a basis for new ones