Nazi crimes. The slaughter in Dzūkija in June of 1941

The war between Germany and the Soviet Union started on June 22, 1941. The German Army entered the territory of Lithuania coming across the weak resistance of the Red Army. The armed clashes took place in Alytus, Kelmė, Raseiniai, Ariogala, Kaunas region and in some other places. The Third Mechanical Corpus of the Fifth Armoured Division of the Soviet Army was located in Alytus. There were a number of tanks and the airport, therefore the town was bombarded. The regions of Alytus, Raseiniai and Tauragė suffered severe damages. At the beginning of the war three Lithuanian partisans platoons were formed in Alytus. They were commanded by captain D. Jėčys, reserve lieutenant V Šimoliūnas and reserve lieutenant B. Meškelis. The B. Meškelis’ platoon was disarmed and executed by Germans on June 23.8 policemen from temporary Alytus Police Station, 2 partisans and a number of civilians were shot at night on June 24,25. There are differences regarding the number of people killed in several sources, the numbers vary from 42 up to 400