War School of Kaunas was a military school for junior officers in Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. It was established in January 1919 during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence copying the example of Russian 4-month praporshchik schools established during World War I. Despite difficult circumstances and lack of some of the basic supplies, between March 1919 and October 1920, the school prepared three classes of 434 men who were sent to the front. 15 of these graduates were killed in action. The cadets also participated in suppressing several anti-government coups, including by the Polish Military Organisation in 1919 and by the Voldemarininkai in 1934. As a reliable and loyal force, they were used to guard the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania when it convened in 1920 or the former Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras during his trial.
Cadets at the gate of the school in 1938. The gate is decorated with monogram AS for President Antanas Smetona and with Columns of Gediminas.
Graduation insignia, 1919
President Antanas Smetona visiting the war school in 1934
Lectures in 1925
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413. In the Russian Empire, it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915.
Image: Kauno senamiestis by Augustas Didzgalvis
Image: Kaunas Castle, Lithuania
Image: House of Perkūnas, Kaunas, Lithuania Diliff
Image: Kauno rotuse 2006 06 11