Petras Kubiliunas
Encyclopedia
Petras Kubiliūnas was a Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 and Chief of Lithuanian General staff in 1929–1934.

World War I

Kubiliūnas graduated from a gymnasium in Riga and continued his education in Vilnius military school, graduating in 1914. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 he participated in military operations in Riga's Latvian regiment.

In August 1919, Kubiliūnas was mobilized to the Lithuanian Armed Forces and participated in the Lithuanian–Soviet War
Lithuanian–Soviet War
The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War was fought between newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic in the aftermath of World War I. It was part of the larger Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919...

 until December 1919. He commanded a battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment and later became deputy commander of 4th Infantry Regiment. In February 1920 Kubiliūnas was transferred to the 1st Border Guards Regiment, and in 1923 became a commander of its battalion. In 1924 Kubiliūnas became commander of tank battalion, later motorized battalion.

Independent Lithuania

Kubiliūnas continued his education: in 1925 he completed Advanced Courses for Officers in Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

, in 1927 he attended the Czechoslovakian General Staff Academy, in 1929 he took courses in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. From 1927 to 1929 Kubiliūnas a member of Lithuanian General Staff. In 1929 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and took the position of Chief of the Lithuanian General Staff and also Chief Commander of the Lithuanian Army. He was active in military education reforms, establishing a school of higher military education.

In 1934 for his support to the unsuccessful coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 against President Antanas Smetona
Antanas Smetona
Antanas Smetona was one of the most important Lithuanian political figures between World War I and World War II. He served as the first President of Lithuania from April 4, 1919 to June 19, 1920. He again served as the last President of the country from December 19, 1926 to June 15, 1940, before...

 by followers of Augustinas Voldemaras
Augustinas Voldemaras
Augustinas Voldemaras was a Lithuanian nationalist political figure. He served as the country's first Prime Minister in 1918, and again from 1926 to 1929.- Biography :...

, Kubiliūnas was sentenced to death by a military tribunal
Military tribunal
A military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors...

. Later the punishment was changed to a life sentence in a heavy labor prison. Kubiliūnas was released form the prison in 1937.

World War II

Under Soviet occupation he was arrested and mauled, his fingernails were torn out. He was released from prison after revolt against Soviet troops in June 1941.

When in 1941–1944 Lithuania was occupied by Nazi forces
Occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany refers to the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany from the start of the German invasion of Soviet Union to the end of the Battle of Memel . At first the Germans were welcomed as "liberators" from the repressive Soviet regime which occupied Lithuania...

, he was the first General Counsel, an institution formed by the occupation administration of General District Lithuania in the Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland, literally "Reich Commissariat Eastland", was the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany in the Baltic states and much of Belarus during World War II. It was also known as Reichskommissariat Baltenland initially...

 from late August 1941 (formally from March 1942) till July 1944. He signed several documents on forced mobilization of Lithuanians into Nazi SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

 forces, actively resisted by Lithuanian anti-Nazi underground. His actions were multiple times criticized by Lithuanian anti-Nazi resistance press.

Kubiliūnas fled to Germany and reached British occupation zone, but in 1945 he was kidnapped by Soviet agents, tried and executed in Moscow.
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