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Petras KubiliunasLithuanian General
Date of Birth: 16.05.1894
Country:  Lithuania |
Content:
- Lithuanian General and Collaborator: The Life of Povilas Plechavičius
- Lithunian Military Career
- Chief of General Staff and Attempted Coup
- World War II and Collaboration
- Imprisonment and Execution
Lithuanian General and Collaborator: The Life of Povilas Plechavičius
Early Life and Military ServicePovilas Plechavičius was born in Lithuania and studied at a gymnasium in Riga. He graduated from the Vilnius Infantry Cadet School in 1914 and fought in the First World War as a member of the Russian Imperial Army. In 1915, he joined the Riga Latvian Regiment and was awarded the George Cross in 1916.
Lithunian Military Career
After the war, Plechavičius was mobilized into the Lithuanian army in 1919 and fought in the Lithuanian-Soviet War. He served as a battalion commander and deputy commander of an infantry regiment. After the war, he remained in the army until 1934.
Chief of General Staff and Attempted Coup
In 1929, Plechavičius was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as Chief of General Staff of the Lithuanian army. However, he was involved in an unsuccessful military coup attempt in 1934 and was sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to a prison term and he was released in 1937.
World War II and Collaboration
During World War II, Plechavičius emerged as a collaborator with the Nazi occupation forces in Lithuania. He became the head of the Vertrauensrat (Trust Council), an advisory body to the German administration.
Imprisonment and Execution
After the war, Plechavičius fled to Germany. In 1945, he was kidnapped by a Soviet agent and taken to Moscow, where he was executed in 1946.
