Early life Vitkauskas was born in the village, then part of the
Congress Poland, a puppet state of the
Russian Empire. His parents were poor peasants. His father traveled to United States where he worked as a
coal miner in Pennsylvania for seven years to save up enough money to buy of land in . He continued to work the farm until his death in 1937. Between ages of 7 and 11, Vitkauskas attended a primary people's school in Lankeliškiai but financial difficulties did not allow to continue the education. He remained home and helped his father with farm work. During the
Russian Revolution of 1905, Vitkauskas and his elder brother helped smuggling publications and weapons from
East Prussia to
Marijampolė. in
Oryol and obtained a high school diploma. He then became a mathematics student at the
Moscow State University. In the evenings, he also took classes at the
Stroganov Academy of Arts. In January 1917, he was sent to
machine gun courses at the . There he organized a company and faced the threat of the
Bermontians. On 21 October, an ammunition shipment to Raseiniai was attacked by the Bermontians near
Šimkaičiai. The Lithuanians defended and killed six attackers. In retaliation, the Bermontians attacked
Jurbarkas on 25 October and Raseiniai on 26 October. That cast a doubt on Vitkauskas' loyalties and on 15 January 1920 he was demoted to commander of a machine gun company with the
7th Infantry Regiment. On 10 July, he was promoted to the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment. At the time, the battalion had 500 men and only 5 officers and no telephones. In Hoža, Vitkauskas learned that Lithuanian forces moved to
Druskininkai where Polish forces concentrated their attack. Vitkauskas contacted the commander of Russian forces in
Grodno who promised to send 48th and 49th Infantry Regiments but they never showed. The battalion turned to
Vasilishki and pushed to
Lida where it found some men from the 1st Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment. Vitkauskas managed to get permission from the Russian commander to gather the men and continue to
Ashmyany which they reached on 30 September 1919. From there, they turned to Vilnius and reunited with Lithuanian forces. In total, to escape the encirclement and capture, Vitkauskas led some 750 men who marched in 7 days in very difficult circumstances due to lack of food for the men and feed for the horses. While the 7th Infantry Regiment was recuperating and regrouping in Vilnius, Polish General
Lucjan Żeligowski began an attack towards the city on 8 October 1920. The action became known as the
Żeligowski's Mutiny. Vitkauskas commanded the 1st and the 3rd Battalions of the 7th Infantry Regiment and took the positions across the
Vilnius–Ukmergė road north of Vilnius.
Interwar Lithuania Stalling career Despite success in the field and evaluation as a capable officer, Vitkauskas was demoted to commander of a company of the 7th Infantry Regiment on 2 August 1921. Minister of Defence
Konstantinas Žukas thought that Vitkauskas was a
Bolshevik sympathizer. However, on 6 September, he was transferred to the
staff of the Lithuanian Military Brigade (), At the time, the brigade was commanded by
Antanas Merkys, a friend from the Romanian Front, In April, he was called to become commandant of
Klaipėda. This position was also Merkys' doing – he was a secretary to
Antanas Smetona, the Commissioner of the
Klaipėda Region. A month later he was promoted to major. When the office of the commandant of Klaipėda was liquidated in November 1923, he was reassigned to the 3rd military district as commander of the 1st general
staff. Concurrently, from January to September 1924, he was the commander of the staff of the 3rd Infantry Division. In February 1925, he was temporarily assigned as the commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment, stationed in
Marijampolė. After the May 1926 elections to the
Third Seimas,
Christian Democrats lost their majority and Vitkauskas' command was made permanent and he was awarded the
Order of the Cross of Vytis (2nd type, 1st class). When he did not report on time, rumors started spreading about his political leanings reviving old suspicions of his socialist sympathies. The new government did not trust Vitkauskas and started gathering intelligence on him. The armed forces were reorganized by
Stasys Raštikis and Vitkauskas once again became the inspector of the infantry in August 1935. He continued to improve his military knowledge by inspecting German
proving grounds and observing their
military exercises, learning about
anti-aircraft defense in Switzerland, and touring infantry schools and shooting rages in the Soviet Union. In 1938, Vitkauskas was elected chairman of the officers' club (
Karininkų ramovė). Vitkauskas was appointed as the commander of the 1st Division on 4 April 1939 and promoted to
divisional general in June. He had no formal military education, but
Stasys Raštikis,
commander of the army, valued his hard work, initiative, and dedication. In September 1939, after the
Invasion of Poland, the Lithuanian Army was mobilized and Vitkauskas was commended for the smooth mobilization of his division and effective guard of the Lithuanian borders between
Neris river and
Latvia. In October, Lithuania gained a portion of the
Vilnius Region according to the
Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty. On 28 October, the Lithuanian Army entered Vilnius, which was fiercely contested between Poland and Lithuania, for the first time since 1920. The troops were commanded not by Raštikis but by Vitkauskas – the first public sign that Raštikis was losing favor with the Smetona's regime. This high-profile appointment was also linked with Merkys, who was appointed the Lithuanian representative to the region. On 17 November 1939, Merkys became
Prime Minister and offered Ministry of Defence to Vitkauskas, but he refused. Merkys' relationship with Raštikis was poor and Raštikis was forced into a three-month vacation for "health reasons" on 22 January 1940. It was a surprising appointment as he gained prominence only after the takeover of Vilnius, but he was described as a non-political candidate which was important to Smetona. Delayed by the
Winter War with Finland,
Soviet Union began heightening tensions in late spring 1940 just as
Nazi Germany was winning the
Battle of France. Though the Lithuanian government and army had several months to plan for a contingency, the reaction was sluggish and no decisive steps were taken. The military developed a defensive plan against Russia (known as Plan R), but it was just a slightly modified Plan L for defense against Poland. Before midnight on 14 June 1940,
Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Lithuania. The Lithuanian government, given less than 12 hours to respond, held an emergency meeting that night. Vitkauskas, as commander of the army, opposed calls for armed resistance. The government voted to accept the ultimatum and Lithuania lost its independence. Vitkauskas departed to station on the
Libau–Romny Railway to meet the new Soviet contingents. Two days later, as directed by Soviet envoy
Vladimir Dekanozov, a new government led by Prime Minister
Justas Paleckis was formed. It became known as the
People's Government. Vitkauskas continued his role as Minister of Defense. Merkys no longer had any role in the government and attempted to escape to Sweden a month later. Soviet officials began rapid
Sovietization of Lithuania and its military. Already in July, the
purge of the army started – Lithuanian officers were dismissed and replaced by more communist-leaning personnel, more vocal opponents of the Soviet regime were arrested. On 2 July 1940, People's Government issued order to reorganize the Army into the People's Army. This, among other things, introduced
political commissars and a propaganda section. On 11 July, even before the elections to the
People's Seimas,
Soviet Commissar of Defense Semyon Timoshenko announced the creation of the
Baltic Military District. On 14–15 July, Vitkauskas was elected in the
show election to the
People's Seimas. Vitkauskas was elected a member of the 20-member delegation to present the petition to the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, which was approved on 3 August. Vitkauskas, together with
Justas Paleckis,
Icikas Meskupas-Adomas, and
Antanas Sniečkus, was personally received by
Joseph Stalin on 9 August. On 17 August, it was officially declared that the Lithuanian People's Army was to be liquidated and reorganized into the
29th Rifle Corps of the
Red Army. On 27 August, two days after the adoption of the new constitution copied from the
1936 Soviet Constitution, the order to liquidate the Ministry of Defense was given. The process of liquidating the Lithuanian Army continued until December 1940. According to data provided by Raštikis, during that time, about 15% of lower and 30% of higher officers as well as almost 50% of the generals were purged. On 23 February 1941, Vitkauskas swore allegiance to the Red Army. Two explanations are given – as a preparation for the German invasion or a precaution against a possible mutiny due to the
June deportation. According to Vitkaukas' wife, the orders to depart to Moscow were urgent and Vitkauskas was placed under armed guard at the railway station. After the completion of the courses in December 1941, he taught tactics of the great military formations. He was a member of the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1954. He became a member of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1950 and was a member of the
Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR from 1955 to 1963. Vitkauskas contributed articles, mostly memoirs and commentary on current events, to communist press, including
Tiesa and
Kauno tiesa. He wrote several poems for children, which were published in 1927, 1965, and 1980. He also translated plays by
Alexander Ostrovsky (including
The Storm published in 1948) and short stories by
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (first published in 1949). He died in 1965 and was buried in the
Petrašiūnai Cemetery.
Evaluation Vitkauskas is a controversial figure in the
history of Lithuania. On one hand, he loyally served in the Lithuanian Army for over two decades (1919–1940). On the other hand, he actively collaborated with the Soviet regime that arrested and executed many Lithuanian officers. Opinions range widely: from a traitor and a sleeper Soviet agent to a desperate man who contemplated suicide (according to
Jonas Černius) and mourned the loss of independence (according to his daughter). Historians further point out that Vitkauskas destroyed most sensitive and damning military archives before turning them to the Soviets. An objective evaluation is not possible due to lack of archival data (most relevant archives are kept in Russia). ==Awards==