Baltic Corps III

The corps was made up of 6 squads of three grades each. Each grade had 12 men. There was also a farmers squad, they were chauffers, cooks, sanitary works, interpreters. The head of the corps held the rank of Captain. Each corps had 240-250 men. The first corps was lead by Captain Drabišius and later Sukys. The second corps was captained by Andrašiunas and later Kriksčiunas.

Once training was over, the men went to Furth near Nurenburg. Both corps resided in one barracks. They guarded the dynamite factory, prison, motor pool, journalists and high ranking US army officer’s homes and other army objectives. The motor pool held tanks and jeeps.

From Furth both corps was moved to Zindorf. They guarded US general Taylor and Watson.

There were several excellent sportsmen among the corps. They had basketball, soccer and volleyball teams, as well as boxing and table tennis. Furth had a Baltic club, which also needed guarding. The club held dances and various programmes. Beer and other drinks could be brought with dollars or ‘scripts’ which were special money of the occupying army. It held the same value as American dollars. They would receive the scripts after five months. Some of the wages were in marks and also P.I.X ‘pieksa’ items such as toiletries, chocolate, lollies, biscuits etc.

The first corps was named after king Vytautas and the second after king Algirdas. Each corps had their own flag. Each corps also had their own number. Corps I was 4204, and II- 4129. The Baltic headquarters was in Heidelberg. February 12, 1947, corps II was transfer to Wurzburg, corps and later transferred to Bamberg. In Wurzburg the DP prison was guarded and received a new number 4065. December 17th, 1947 transferred to Bad-Kissingen.

The corps moved again and was renumbered 4200, June 26th 1948, a secret place in the French zone, not far from Kaiserslautern. They lived in a tent town.

Dogs were introduced into he corps, they underwent training, guards and dogs would only go on night duty.

Once immigration began, the corps underwent screening process. The majority of men from the corps immigrated to the USA. The corps in Germany was then filled by older Lithuanians and Germans.

Written by Balys Nemeika and printed in
Mūsų Pastogė Nr 13 1996.4.1 page 5 & 7
Nr, 14 1996.4.8 page 6
Nr 15, 1996.4.15 page 4