Where three partisans broke through a ring in 1949

Why does this piece of dark, natural granite look like a jagged piece of the earth itself? The monument in Žibininkai sits on the northern slope of Vilimo kalnas, hidden away in a wood off the Palanga-Darbėnai road.

In 1949, the MGB internal troops and Palanga parish deputies surrounded the Narimanto kuopos base with seventy armed men. During the battle, partisans Alfonsas Knistautas, Stasys Lisauskas, Pranas Budrys, Vytautas Daugintis, Vytautas Gricius and Bronius Salys broke through the ring of the encirclement, but were quickly caught and killed, though Bronius Salys managed to hide from the pursuers.

The remains of those who died were buried in the courtyard of the MGB Palanga branch headquarters, though the exact burial site is unknown. If you visit, you see the monument and a low, reconstructed grave about fifteen metres to the south. It was restored in 2009 to mark the original base.

Sculptor Julius Vertulis created the monument in 1995. It carries an inscription listing names of those who died for Lithuanian freedom in 1949. It is a heavy stone in a silent forest.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons