Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas

The Lithuanian TDA Battalion or TDA, was a paramilitary battalion organized in June–August 1941 by the Provisional Government of Lithuania at the onset of Operation Barbarossa. Members of the TDA were known by many names such as Lithuanian auxiliaries, policemen, white-armbands, nationalists, rebels, partisans, or resistance fighters. TDA was intended to be the basis for a future independent Lithuanian Army, but it was soon taken over by Nazis and reorganized into the Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions. The original TDA eventually became the 12th and the 13th Police Battalions. These two units took an active role in mass killings of the Jews in Lithuania and Belarus. According to the Jäger Report, the TDA battalion's members killed about 26,000 Jews between July and December 1941. Formation As Nazi Germany declared war on the Soviet Union and invaded Lithuania, the Provisional Government of Lithuania declared independence on June 23, 1941. Lithuanians hoped to restore independent Lithuania that existed before the Soviet occupation or at least gain some autonomy from Nazi Germany. In an effort to re-establish Lithuanian Army, the Provisional Government announced the formation of the TDA in Kaunas on June 28. Plans for such a formation were made as early as March 24, 1941. TDA wore a white armband with black letters TDA on their sleeves. Andrius Butkūnas became the first commander of the newly formed battalion. The formation's original goals were to protect strategic objects (like bridges or railways), guard Soviet prisoners of war, establish general order in Kaunas and in the vicinity. By July 4, 724 men, mostly former Lithuanian soldiers and partisans fighting in the June Uprising against the retreating Soviets, responded to the announcement and signed up for the battalion. By the end of July, seven companies were formed. At the time of its formation TDA was the only armed and organized group in Kaunas and Nazi authorities took advantage of it.