There was a hell of a war in Sūduva a century ago

It has been a century, though one may claim more vividly: a whole era, since Ihese terrible and fateful events shook the world and led to the revival of the oppressed nations. It was also the period when a miracle to rebuild the independent State of Lithuania occurred. This miracle was the result of the efforts of many of the prominent men brought up in the spirit of ethnic Lithuanian culture. Alongside these prominent personalities of the Lithuanian nation, people from our region actively participated in events. However, all of them had to face an extremely difficult period of the war and German occupation. In this article, the author deals with the history of the Sūduva land dating back a hundred years. It was an extremely difficult period of World War I, which until the outbreak of World War II was called the Great War. The population of Sūduva felt the horrors of the war as the Russian and German armies of a hundred thousand men shunted back and forth through their land four times. Like in some horror film, Kalvarija, Marijampolė, Kudirkos Naumiestis, Virbalis and other places were being passed from hand to hand while people died. Kalvarija, Kudirkos Naumiestis, Virbalis, Liudvinavas, Igliauka and many other towns and villages were turned to ashes. Manors and villages located in the northern part of the Marijampolė district were swept away during the attack on the fortress of Kaunas. Thousands of men in their prime - sons of the nation - were killed in the Kaunas fortress, the Augustavas Forest and the battles of Stalupėnai and Gumbinė. This article is dedicated to their sacred memory