258th Lithuanian Police Battalion

258th Lithuanian Police Battalion
Lithuanian: 258-asis lietuvių policijos batalionas
Active	April 27–July 1944
Country	German-occupied Lithuania
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Branch	Ordnungspolizei
Type	Infantry
Size	~250 (May 1944)

258th Lithuanian Police Battalion (German: Litauische Polizei-Ersatz-Bataillon Nr. 258, lit. '258th Lithuanian Police Ersatz Battalion';^[1] Lithuanian: 258-asis lietuvių policijos batalionas) was a Lithuanian auxiliary police battalion formed on 27 April 1944.^[1][2] The unit was disbanded in Tilsit at the end of July that same year.^[2]

The battalion was formed on April 27 by Order of the Day No.5, issued by the Ordnungspolizei leader under the SS- und Polizeiführer in Lithuania.^[1] This order created and formed the 258th Lithuanian Police battalion from the training units (Mokymo dalis) of the LAD.^[1]

This unit, or at least its headquarters, were deployed in Kaunas from April to mid-June, judging from the orders issued to the Training Units and the 258th Battalion.^[3] According to other sources, the battalion was in Prienai in May 1944.^[3] Two other battalions were deployed at Prienai barracks: one German, the other Lithuanian.^[3] The 258th battalion included about 250 soldiers, whose uniform was blue Wehrmacht infantry uniforms.^[3]

On 1 April 1944, captain Albinas Lastauskas, the commander of the young soldiers' company, together with 21 other soldiers, was sent to the 259th Lithuanian Police Battalion, that was forming in Prienai.^[2] Lastauskas' position was taken over by non-commissioned officer Jurgis Normantas.^[4] The young soldiers' company, in terms of training supervision, was under the training company's commander.^[4] The training company's lieutenant Nikodemas Reikalas was given special holidays for May 28-June 9.^[4]

The 258th Battalion included one construction and one assembly company.^[4] The assembly company was commanded by lieutenant Petras Polekauskas.^[4] On April 1, the assembly company received lieutenant Jonas Paliulionis, 55 NCOs and soldiers from the 8th Battalion.^[4] On May 31, lieutenant Vytautas Andriuškevičius, also from the 8th Battalion, was also sent to the assembly company.^[4] On April 4, by the order of captain Antanas Ruzgys, commander of the Training Unit, 245 soldiers of the construction company were sent to the 259th Battalion.^[4]

On April 26, the Commander of the SiPo and SD ordered the arrests of Valerijonas Janulis, the 258th Battalion's staff junior non-commissioned officer, and private Antanas Plečkaitis.^[5] They were to be given over to the Gestapo.^[5]

On May 23, captain Viktoras Jarašiūnas from the 2nd Battalion, was appointed to serve in the battalion headquarters.^[4] Four days later, on May 27, captain Vladas Patašius from the 253th Battalion was temporarily appointed the Battalion commander's adjutant.^[4] For unknown reasons, the assembly company's private Antanas Strimaitis was arrested by the German police and imprisoned in the Kaunas Hard Labour Prison.^[6] On May 29, the privates Kazys Urbonas, Albertas Katilevičius, Kazys Paškevičius and Edvardas Lileika left the battalion.^[6]

At the beginning of June, the 258th Battalion was moved to Kaunas, where the soldiers guarded the military warehouses.^[4] At summer's beginning, one platoon from the battalion served at the 11th resistance point, which guarded the railway section near Kazlų Rūda, the railway station and the railway bridge.^[4] There were 16 soldiers armed with 1 light machine gun, 1 light mortar and rifles at this point of resistance.^[4]

As the Red Army occupied more and more of Lithuania, the battalion retreated to Tilsit.^[7] At the end of July, the 258th Battalion was disbanded in Tilsit.^[4]

From Tilsit, the battalion's remnants were moved to the town of Zingst near the Belgium–Germany border to build fortifications there.^[7] Three weeks later, Lithuanian soldiers were sent to build new power lines at the Swiss border.^[7] The battalion's former soldiers were captured by the United States Army in early May 1945.^[7]

Some of the battalion's soldiers were transferred to other military units, while other were sent to a special camp on the Rügen island, where Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Russians and Ukrainians were being taught military and intelligence subjects.^[4]

• Breslavskienė, Laimutė (September 2010). "Pažyma apie 258-ojo lietuvių policijos bataliono fondą Nr. R-669" [CENTRAL STATE ARCHIVES OF LITHUANIA CERTIFICATE ABOUT THE 258TH LITHUANIAN POLICE] (in Lithuanian). Lietuvos centrinis valstybės archyvas. Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
• Bubnys, Arūnas (17 October 2009). "Lietuvių policijos batalionų nuginklavimas ir išformavimas Rytprūsiuose 1944 metais" ["Disarming and disbanding Lithuanian police battalions in East Prussia in 1944"] (PDF). Voruta (in Lithuanian). 20 (686). ISSN 1392-0677.
• Bubnys, Arūnas (2017). Lietuvių policijos batalionai 1941-1945 m. [Lithuanian police battalions 1941-1945] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras. ISBN 978-609-8037-68-5.