Lithuanian General. He led the overthrow of the left-wing Lithuanian government of President Kazys Grinius in December, 1926. Plechavicius was a 1914 graduate of the Cavalry Academy of Moscow, and a 1926 graduate of the Staff Academy of Prague. A staunch anti-Communist, he led Lithuanian forces against the Bolsheviks, Bermondists, and Poles as company and battalion commander at the end of World War I, in the wars for Lithuanian independence. He was a recipient of the highest Lithuanian decoration, the Cross of Vytis, for his bravery. Plechavicius' successful planning and leadership in the 1926 coup d'etat resulted in the Nationalist Party regime of President Antanas Smetona being established, which ruled the country until the 1940 Soviet invasion. During the first Soviet occupation (1940-41), he fled to Germany. He later was allowed to organize a Lithuanian detachment to defend the country against the imminent second Soviet invasion in 1944. Refusing to integrate it into the German army, Plechavicius was placed in a German concentration camp until the end of the War. He emmigrated to the United States in 1949, eventually settling in Chicago. There he headed the Lithuanian Veterans' Association "Ramove."
Lithuanian General. He led the overthrow of the left-wing Lithuanian government of President Kazys Grinius in December, 1926. Plechavicius was a 1914 graduate of the Cavalry Academy of Moscow, and a 1926 graduate of the Staff Academy of Prague. A staunch anti-Communist, he led Lithuanian forces against the Bolsheviks, Bermondists, and Poles as company and battalion commander at the end of World War I, in the wars for Lithuanian independence. He was a recipient of the highest Lithuanian decoration, the Cross of Vytis, for his bravery. Plechavicius' successful planning and leadership in the 1926 coup d'etat resulted in the Nationalist Party regime of President Antanas Smetona being established, which ruled the country until the 1940 Soviet invasion. During the first Soviet occupation (1940-41), he fled to Germany. He later was allowed to organize a Lithuanian detachment to defend the country against the imminent second Soviet invasion in 1944. Refusing to integrate it into the German army, Plechavicius was placed in a German concentration camp until the end of the War. He emmigrated to the United States in 1949, eventually settling in Chicago. There he headed the Lithuanian Veterans' Association "Ramove."
Bio by: Frank Passic, Albion Historian
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See more Plechavicius memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
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