Cemetery of Soviet troops

The cemetery is established at the end of Nepriklausomybės Street, near Šilalė pinewood. It is the final resting place for troops that have died in Pajūris, Kaltinėnai and Šilalė districts.
The total number of the buried is 250: 155 identified and 95 unidentified graves. The majority of them died in 1944, when the front line of World War II moved across Šilalė district. Aside from other troops, the Lithuanian 16th Rifle Division fought against the Germans here as well. Therefore, the inscriptions on the marble plates feature a dozen of Lithuanian names as well (Mašalas, Skavydas, Špokas, Žilionis and others). This cemetery is also the final resting place of two Soviet heroes – Boris Popov (1903-1941) died near Kaltinėnai and Mikhail Kuzmin (1922-1944) died not far from Šilalė. In 2002, the cemetery was reorganised.
The length of its territory is 78 and the width – 25 metres. The entrance to the cemetery from the street side has two concrete stairways and the entire territory is lined with concrete tiles. In the middle, there is a monument, consisting of interconnected 8 rods. At the top there are 4 shields with five-pointed stars and a brass ribbon with an inscription below: ‘Eternal glory to the fallen heroes’. The same text is written in Russian language as well. The monument stands on a 3 m wide and 88 cm high boulder foundation, surrounded by a concrete pedestal.
The cemetery is surrounded by small concrete walls of different heights, forming a fence with gaps. Their outer side works as a fence, while the inner side holds the memorial plates with the names of the dead. There are two types of these plates, made of cast iron: 135 smaller ones (42×30 cm) for private soldiers and larger ones (69×30 cm) – for officers.

Compiled in 2018