Description
In October 1944, the Lokys (Bear) unit, led by Mykolas Kazanas, was formed in the vicinity of Antazavė village. In the Antazavė pine forest, near the small lake Vinčežeris, on a rise overgrown with young spruces and pines, the partisans built 5 dugouts. In a short time they carried out several combat missions, replenished their stocks of weapons and food, and fought several times with the stribai (Soviet destruction battalions) and Soviet activists. On 26 December 1944, units of the Zarasai and Utena garrisons, as well as Soviet troops stationed in the Antazavė district, were concentrated at the approaches to the Antazavė forest. The partisans' entrenched camp was encircled by two converging horseshoe-shaped rings. The battle lasted all day. After dark, 85 partisans miraculously managed to break out of the encirclement. They were led by eighteen-year-old Mykolas Kazanas-Mutka, a participant in the June 1941 Uprising and a cadet of the Local Lithuanian Detachment's military school. The battle of 26 December 1944 in the Antazavė forest was perhaps the largest clash of that time in Zarasai County. In 2014, an oak memorial plaque, a cross and benches were erected at the site where the partisans of the Vytis company were stationed and where the 1944 battle took place, and two partisan dugouts were reconstructed. A road sign on the Antazavė–Dusetos road points the way.
