Lithuanian Army in the 1930s - KLUVIK ARCHIVES

Roughly 3000 officers and soldiers were listed as unreliable by the NKVD. Initially consisting of 28,005 servicemen and officers, the Lithuanian military was reduced to roughly 12,000 men and officers to serve in the 29th Territorial Corps. A total of 414 officers were sent to Soviet camps, of which 195 were executed.
June of 1941 brought the German invasion of the east, Operation Barbarossa. The German forces entered Lithuania through the port city of Memel and across the border of East Prussia. The 29th Territorial Corps was quickly ordered to retreat to Russia. Roughly 20,000 officers and men had no desire to leave Lithuania and a revolt ensued. Approximately 120 Lithuanians were killed during the desertions. The majority of troops that deserted congregated in Vilnius and were organized by the German Occupational force into a few Lithuanian “self defense” battalions. Despite this, Lithuanians failed to rally in massive numbers to the Germans as occurred in the other Baltic States.