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War Kaiser Wilhelm tried to subordinate Lithuania to the German plans and placed one of the German princes on the Lithuanian throne as King, Only the defcat of Germany 3&ved it fron being tumed into a German principality and thus a place d'arnBs for a further "Drong Nach Osten",

In 1540 tne Lithuanian people tore itsolf from the traitorous hands of the morcenary plutocr&c^ and declarcd it3 incorporation into the great Soviet Union, ful-filling its long-standing hopcs and expectations. Only in tho fratemity of the peoples of the mighty Soviet State did the Lithuanian people justly soe the guarantee of their national existence and devclopmont. How dcep and nation-vn.de thia fccling r.^ras han becn shown by the c*xpericnces of the prosent war,

Attacking the Soviet Union, the Hitleritcs tenporarily occupied the territory of Sovict Lithuania, ^hey came up against the unccasing resistance of the Lithuanian people, It can be said that under the mastery of tho Fascist usurpers the Lithuanian people votcd cvery day, by its struggle, for Sovict Lithuania, It voted in the gucrillas* bullcts, in act3 of diworsion and sabotage. It voted its irreconciliability to the imraders, The Hitleritcs felt on their o^;vn hides that the young Sowiet Repub-lic was fuli of tho same supremę patriotism and the same merciless hatred for the oc-cupationists as hor elder sisters, In the struggle against the Germsn-fascist hordes, the Lithuanian people dcmcnstratcd devotion to the Soviet Motherland and the Soviet flag, as did all the pcoplcs of the USSR.

Soviet Lithuania te came the sceno of a lifc and dceth struggle, The gucrilla detachmcnts daily rcmindod the invaders who tho real master was on Lithuanian soil.

Far beyond the frontiors of Lithuania thundered the glory Qf the railitary acts and deeds of the "Yilnius", "Gruenwald", ^MZa Rodinu" /for the Motherland/* "Narodny Mstitl", /People'r. Awenger/ and other guerilla detachncnts.

Sowiet peoplo pronourc ed the namft of the Lithuanian peoples heroinę, Maria Mil-nikaito, Hero of the Soviet Union, with revercnce, Hatred of the German occupation-ists, the urge to save their people from cat&strophe, confidence that the Red Amy, in its historie struggle, v;as bringing and would bring liboration from the Hitloritc tyrants to Soviet Lithuania - all thia led tho sons of the Lithuanian people to great deeds.

A Lithuanian division in the ranks of the Red An;\y is fighting the Hitloritc hordes, and many scorcs of Lithuanian soldiers hawe cowered thcmselwcs with glory in battles against the enerrry,    The Lithuanian division has tvri.ee bo on woifhy of the

thanks of the Suprema Conmandor-in-Chief, Karaimi of the Soviet Union, Comrade Stalin, for its successful military operations. About 3,500 offioers and men of the division iave baon awardod me dal s. We s«e the nanos of nons of the Lithuanian people in the glorious ranks of hcroo3 of tho Soviet Union.

The morę bittor becam: the struggle of the Lithuanian pooplo with the German inysders, the morę ferociously did the Hitleritcs wreak wengeancc on the civiiian population of Lithuania, Arbitrary rulc of force, e:cecutions, repression, looting of the country and the population everywhere on a mass scalę, marked the bloody mas tery of the Hitlerito usurpers,

The town of Vilnius bo car je the victimc of the most tciTiblc arbitrary rule of force. Of tho 250,000 population of the town, scarcely 50,000 rccaedned even a year ago. Tho station of Panerci near Yilniua was transfomed into a mass cemetery by tho Gerraans, covering 100,000 inhabitants of the Lithuanian Capital, killed by the Germans, in its graves.

But the rabid terror of the Fascist usurpers could not kill the Lithuanian people s oelief in victory and its confidence that the Red Anry 7/ould rescuC the country fror:. oitter captivity, Tiie Lithuanian people was profoundly conwinced that the fraternol peoples of the Sowiet Union would bring it salwation, and now tho hour of liboration has coms,

Today the Sowiet flag flics over the Lithuanian Capital. The liberation of Soviet Lithuania from the Hitlerite brigands has bogun!