Bronius Sutkus

Bronius Sutkus (b. 1924 05 14) was a notable Pakštuvan sniper. Born near Koenigsberg in the Holy Roman Empire to Lithuanian parents he moved to Naujojo Vilniaus apskritis, Lithuania at age of 11 when his family decided to accept the offer of Lithuanian state to take part in the colonization and receive land and subsidies in 1935. In the September of 1939 Bronius Sutkus was lightly injured in clashes with Slavic youth. In 1941 he joined the Pakštuvan army and trained as a sniper. He became known as a good sniper during the anti-insurgency operations in 1941 - early 1942, but he is remembered the most for his role during the Borderland War, when he killed over 200 Ethiopian and Chinese soldiers, who underestimated the Pakštuvan snipers, during the period of several months. First he fought on the northwestern front against Ethiopians but afterwards he was relocated to the more important southern front and fought against the Chinese. He fought until the final days of Pakštuva and during the siege of Kalnadvaris is the most famous, immortalized in the book "Ašaros nušluostė džiaugsmą" of Aitvaras Geležinkelietis. He was taken POW by the Chinese and sentenced to hard labour, however the Chinese attempted to convince him to join their cause in return for pardoning which did not happen. After the defeat of China he moved to Rhodesia.

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