On the morning of June 3, 1944, near Pirčiupiai, Soviet partisans placed mines in the path of two trucks carrying SS men, then fired on the survivors.[3] Only a few Germans escaped the ambush.[3]
"Mother of Pirčiupiai"
The Germans sent a punishment squadron and burned alive almost all inhabitants of Pirčiupiai. On that day 119 people (including 49 children under age of 16) were killed and only 9 escaped from the Pirčiupiai massacre. The SS Commander Walter Titel of the 16th SS Police Regiment ordered that the civilians be burnt alive. The bodies were allowed to be buried only after a week on June 11, 1944. The 39 former residents of the village had eventually rebuilt it.[3]
In 1960 a monument, called "Mother of Pirčiupiai" was erected to commemorates the event. Its author Gediminas Jokūbonis [lt] was awarded the Lenin Prize for it in 1963. The 1981 Lithuanian film Faktas recreates the events of the day.
Several fire site sites are fenced off and have memorial plaques.[3]
