Stasys Raštikis (September 13, 1896 – May 3, 1985) was a Lithuanian military officer, ultimately obtaining the rank of divisional general. He was the commander of the Lithuanian Army from September 21, 1934, to April 23, 1940.
During World War I, he served in the Imperial Russian Army mostly in the Caucasus Campaign. After return to Lithuania in 1918, he joined the newly formed Lithuanian Army and fought in the Lithuanian–Soviet War. He was severely injured and spent 20 months in Soviet captivity. He returned to the 5th Infantry Regiment and later joined the Intelligence Department of the General Staff. The coup d'état of December 1926 brought his future wife's uncle, Antanas Smetona, to power, which propelled his career. Raštikis completed military education in Germany and, after the failed military coup in 1934, became Chief of the General Staff and Commander of the Armed Forces. He undertook an extensive military reform to standardize, streamline, and modernize the army during the period of increasing militarization and rising tensions in Europe. He placed particular attention on soldiers' and officers' education, organizing and personally commanding various military exercises.
Raštikis attempted to distance himself and the army from politics and did not support the ruling Lithuanian Nationalist Union. After the Polish ultimatum of March 1938, Raštikis became Minister of Defense and was increasingly drawn into the political arena. He was a negotiator of the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty by which Lithuania regained a portion of the Vilnius Region but virtually sacrificed its independence. A conflict with Prime Minister Antanas Merkys led to Raštikis' resignation in April 1940. When the Soviet Union presented its ultimatum in June 1940, he was briefly considered for prime minister in the new pro-Soviet People's Government. Fearing arrest by the NKVD, Raštikis escaped to Nazi Germany.
Raštikis returned to Lithuania when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. He was named Minister of Defense in the short-lived Provisional Government of Lithuania. However, it soon became clear that the Germans would not allow Lithuanian autonomy, and Raštikis obtained a job organizing army archives at the Lithuanian War Museum. Toward the end of the war, he retreated to Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1949. He taught Russian and Lithuanian languages at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. Raštikis published a four-volume memoir.
Biography Active military duty Raštikis was born in Kuršėnai, but his family soon moved to Dūkštas where his father worked as a sacristan. Raštikis attended primary school in Dūkštas and then a progymnasium in Zarasai. At the time, Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire. At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for the Imperial Russian Army and was assigned to the 75th Infantry Regiment stationed in Varėna (part of the 10th Army). In summer 1915, the regiment withstood about ten days of German attacks along Merkys but then began retreating east towards Berezina River. After training in Tula, the regiment was sent to the front in Romania. Raštikis completed training courses with the 10th Army, was promoted to non-commissioned officer, and was sent for further studies to Tbilisi. After graduation, he was promoted to the rank of praporshchik and spent the remainder of the war in the Caucasus campaign with the 279th Infantry Regiment.
After the Russian Revolution, the Imperial Army slowly disintegrated and Raštikis began looking for a way back to Lithuania. , representative of the Council of Lithuania in Caucasus, obtained permission from the Germans for Lithuanian refugees and military personnel to return. Raštikis traveled via ship from Poti to Constanța, spent two weeks in quarantine in a prisoner camp in Pitești, and reached Vilnius in June 1918. Encouraged by his family, Raštikis entered the Catholic Kaunas Priest Seminary. The Lithuanian–Soviet War started in December 1918 and Lithuania began hastily organizing its own army by mobilizing all military officers. Raštikis reported for duty and was assigned to the Vilnius Battalion organized by Kazys Škirpa (later the 5th Infantry Regiment of Grand Duke Kęstutis). The battalion was sent to the front near Žiežmariai and Žasliai on March 31, 1919. On April 27, he saw action near Vievis against the Polish. On August 28, during the final attacks towards Turmantas, Raštikis was shot in the shoulder and leg in the present-day Latvia. He was taken prisoner by the Red Army and spent 20 months in captivity. He was transported to hospitals in Daugavpils and Rybinsk, later to prison camps in Tula and Lubyanka prison in Moscow.
From drill instructor to commander of the General Staff Released from captivity in April 1921, Raštikis received a warm welcome in Kaunas – the train with the 17 former prisoners was greeted by guards of honor, a choir, and a banquet hosted by Minister of Defense Konstantinas Žukas. Raštikis was assigned to the same 5th Infantry Regiment, now stationed along the Lithuania–Poland border, as a drill instructor. He broke the same leg that was injured in 1919 – it continued to bother him for the rest of his life – and spent time recovering in a hospital. He returned to the same duties, but due to conflicts with the regiment's commander was reassigned to the Intelligence Department of the General Staff in March 1922. His participation in the Klaipėda Revolt of January 1923 is little understood: he did receive two state awards conferred to participants of the revolt, but his involvement is not mentioned in his extensive memoirs or known from other documents. While working, he attended an evening school and obtained a high school diploma. In 1925, he enrolled in the Kaunas University.
During the coup d'état of December 1926, Raštikis was promoted from the director of the Polish Section to the director of the entire Intelligence Department by Povilas Plechavičius. The promotion was made official by a March 1927 decree of Antanas Merkys, Minister of Defense. On August 1, 1927, he was promoted to the rank of major. Raštikis continued his university studies and graduated with a veterinary degree in spring 1929. In June 1929, he married Elena Marija, niece of Antanas Smetona, President of Lithuania. The wedding took place at the St. Michael the Archangel Church, Kaunas and was officiated by Vladas Mironas. This family connection proved instrumental in his future career. From early 1930 to June 1932, Raštikis attended the officer's courses of the General Staff of Reichswehr (). He did not complete the courses, but obtained a recommendation that allowed him to work at the General Staff. In exchange for the financial support during his studies, he had to complete six years of military duty.
Upon his return, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel (pulkininkas) and assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment as a trainee of its commander Colonel Juozas Vidugiris. In September 1933, Raštikis took over the command of the regiment. At the same time he lectured at the Higher Officers' Courses (including a course on military history) and contributed to military press becoming a member of the editorial board of Karys, the magazine of the Lithuanian military. In early 1934, mutinous moods spread in the military and commanding officers were reshuffled in an attempt to forestall further disturbances. Raštikis became the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division stationed in Šiauliai. On June 7, 1934, General Petras Kubiliūnas, commander of the General Staff, and other members of the Iron Wolf organization attempted a coup d'état against President Smetona. In an attempt to find trustworthy and reliable officers, Smetona replaced with Raštikis as the director of the General Staff Directorate. At the same time, , the new Chief of the General Staff, was ill and resigned in September 1934. Raštikis was promoted in his place. He was also promoted to colonel (pulkininkas) in November 1934. In his memoirs, Raštikis later wrote that he was not satisfied with these promotions as he felt he did not have enough education and command experience.
Commander of the Armed Forces Military reforms
The first task of Raštikis as the new Chief of the General Staff was to prepare a military reform. Within a month together with other officers he prepared a proposal which emphasized the need to modernize the army – enlarge armored units, increase anti-aircraft artillery, improve military aviation (led by Antanas Gustaitis), establish the 2nd Engineer Battalion, strengthen officers' education, and other measures. At the same time, the command structure was reorganized to more clearly separate the duties and responsibilities of the Ministry of Defense (political representation, military tribunal, and defense procurement) and the General Staff (command and structure of the army). A new position of the Commander of the Armed Forces was established and Raštikis took the role effective January 1, 1935. One of the goals of the new structure was to make the General Staff less politically involved hoping that it would make the command more stable: there were 20 commanders of the General Staff before Raštikis and the army lagged behind the newest developments. The reforms were opposed by Juozas Tūbelis, Minister of Finance, as they required significant additional funding to the army that already consumed about 18–19% of the Lithuanian budget. But President Smetona approved the reforms, except for the proposed military alliance with Latvia and Estonia, and they proceeded.
Raštikis first undertook the issue of military education. Numerous new statutes were prepared (some 90 statutes were issued in 1935–40) and the education program was revamped to standardize and coordinate activities of the various branches of the armed forces (artillery, infantry, aviation, etc.) Raštikis personally commanded mandatory military exercises and simulations. He emphasized discipline and loyalty within the army and built the trust and authority of the army within the civilian population. He opposed the martial law which was in effect in Lithuania since 1918 as the military was forced to intervene in civilian law enforcement which distracted military officials from their primary duties and earned distrust of the general population. (The martial law was lifted in November 1938 due to German pressure in the months before the ultimatum of March 1939.) The army also acquired new equipment, including light tanks (including 36 Carden Loyd tankettes) and anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery (including 9 Vickers Model 1931 and 151 Oerlikon 20 mm cannons). The Lithuanian Riflemen's Union was restructured so that it fell more easily at the disposal of the Commander of the Armed Forces. Great efforts were made to reduce the time for mobilization from 8–10 days to less than 48 hours, and to develop comprehensive defense plans code-named L (against Poland) and V (against Germany).
Foray into politics
Raštikis had a tenuous relationship with the Lithuanian Nationalist Union, the ruling political party in Lithuania. He was not a member of the party and was generally favorable to the opposition. The Union disapproved of Raštikis' attempts at keeping the army impartial, his prohibition of officer involvement in politics, and his growing prestige and popularity among Lithuanians. In particular, the Union wanted to turn the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union into the party organ by merging it with Young Lithuania, party's youth organization, but Raštikis opposed such plans and the Riflemen remained open to everyone.