Stakliškės is a township ca. 40 km north-east of Alytus. In World War One, it was taken by infantry of German XXI. Armeekorps in early September 1915 during the battle for Vilnius, which fell on September 18.
During the German army’s withdrawal from Russia at the end of 1918, a temporary demarcation line between the Soviets and withdrawing Germans gave Stakliškės to the former. When in February 1919 the Red Army tried to move further west, some German Grenzschutz units struck back, and Stakliškės was taken by Abteilung Heeger (Frw. Bataillon 21) on February 19.
For a few months Stakliškės was in Lithuanian hands but in early July 1919 was occupied by Polish troops as part of Marshall Pilsudski’s vision of a greater, confederated Poland. Polish occupation lasted until the Russo-Polish war when Lithuanians regained Stakliškės in early July 1920. The Lines of Demarcation left Stakliškės deep on the Lithuanian side.
In the czarist period, Stakliškės had a post office (Stoklishki). A Lithuanian postal facility, probably first as an agentūra, was set up ca. 1921 (year and other details not known). Early stamp stock consisted of the Sėjėjas Issue, though a common De Jure value has also been noted.
Having no standard canceller to begin with, Stakliškės resorted to provisional markings. A one-liner “Stakliškių” [possibly as an “agentūra”] is reported by Fugalevičius (No. 1798).
By 1922 cancelling was done by means of a regular double-framed cachet indicating place-name in capitals “STAKLIŠKĖS”. This mode of cancelling was used on early Litai/Centai overprints as well. A standard calendar-type postmarker was supplied in ca. 1923.
Known provisional markings:
Use of one-liner “Stakliškių”:
No date, no details [reported Fugalevičius]Cancelling by boxed cachet “STAKLIŠKĖS”
No date single, De Jure 8a [colln. Doniela]
No date single, 15ct/4a [formerly Norton]