Independence day for Lithuanians

The flag of Lithuania is flying on the Auckland Harbour Bridge today to celebrate the republic's independence.

Although only a limited territory managed to secure independence in 1918, the new republic still had battles to face, with annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940, invasion by Germany later in World War II, and finally falling again to the Soviet Union in 1945. Fifty years of communist rule followed, and Lithuania finally proclaimed renewed independence in 1990.