Alfonsas Smetona

Alfonsas Smetona, also known by the codenames Ramūnas and Žygaudas (15 September 1913 – 5 July 1950) was an anti-Soviet Lithuanian partisan and commander of the Vytis military district.

Biography Early life Alfonsas Smetona was born on 15 September 1913 in to Baltramiejus Smetona and Marijona Dirsytė née Smetonienė. Baltramiejus Smetona was a half-brother to the Lithuanian president Antanas Smetona. Smetona attended primary school in . Later he attended middle school in Ramygala and an agriculture academy at Dotnuva. After graduating from another middle school in Krakės, Smetona served in the Lithuanian Army. Smetona was an active member of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union, creating and heading the Vadokliai riflemen squad. He also established the city's Young Farmer Circle. From 1939 to 1940, Smetona worked as a policeman in Ramygala. for which his family experienced repressions by Soviet authorities. Smetona participated in a battle in Lėnas on 12 January 1945, where the leader of the Vytis military district, Juozas Krikštaponis, was killed. Krikštaponis was succeeded by Danielius Vaitelis, under whom Smetona served as adjutant.

Smetona divided the military district into four smaller districts, establishing two partisan detachments named Krikštaponis and Vaitelis. A new partisan headquarters was established in the forest of Šilai. An underground newspaper entitled Lietuva brangi was published, and Smetona organized a web of distributors of press by the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters. The partisan headquarters also published a call for people not to join collective farms and the Komsomol. Smetona established an underground union that lived legally and supplied the partisans with food protection. Additionally, Smetona prepared a statute for the military district.

After his bunker was revealed and then surrounded by Soviet forces, Smetona killed himself with a grenade in the ensuing fight on 5 July 1950.

Remembrance In 1999, Smetona was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas and the rank of colonel. A memorial cross was also built at his death site.