Guerrilla war in the Baltic states

The **guerrilla war in the Baltic states** refers to a series of armed resistance actions led by Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian partisans between 1944 and 1956 against the totalitarian Soviet occupation. Those who participated in the guerrilla war are commonly known as the **Forest Brothers**.

While the Soviets cracked down on the Forest Brothers, at least 505,000 Baltic states' residents (124,000 from Estonia, 136,000 from Latvia and 245,000 from Lithuania) were deported to forced labor camps in Russian mainland. The Baltic states lost 20% of their total population as a result, including 250,000 who fled to Western countries.

|Region of the Soviet Union|Families|People|Average family size|% of total deportees||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="right"|Amur Oblast|align="right"|2,028|align="right"|5,451|align="right"|2.7|align="right"|5.8|
|align="right"|Irkutsk Oblast|align="right"|8,475|align="right"|25,834|align="right"|3.0|align="right"|27.3|
|align="right"|Krasnoyarsk Krai|align="right"|3,671|align="right"|13,823|align="right"|3.8|align="right"|14.6|
|align="right"|Novosibirsk Oblast|align="right"|3,152|align="right"|10,064|align="right"|3.2|align="right"|10.6|
|align="right"|Omsk Oblast|align="right"|7,944|align="right"|22,542|align="right"|2.8|align="right"|23.8|
|align="right"|Tomsk Oblast|align="right"|5,360|align="right"|16,065|align="right"|3.0|align="right"|16.9|
|Total|align="right"|30,630|align="right"|93,779|align="right"|3.1|align="right"|99.0||

## Overview

Some research estimated that over 50,000 partisans (10,000 in Estonia, 10,000 in Latvia and 30,000 in Lithuania) joined the resistance against Soviet occupation. The partisans resisted the Soviet occupiers until 1956, when the stronger Soviet troops and their infiltration of the partisans made armed resistance hard to continue.

## Estonia

In Estonia, as many as 15,000 men were part of the Forest Brothers between 1944 and 1953. They were most active in the counties of Võru, Pärnu, Lääne, Tartu and Viru. From November 1944 to November 1947, they killed about 1,000 Soviets. They controlled dozens of towns and villages, disrupting Soviet supply routes. August Sabbe, one of the last surviving Forest Brothers, was found by the KGB in 1978 as a fisherman.

## Latvia

Latvian partisans fought both the Nazis (1941–44) and Soviets (from 1944 onwards), aiming at restoring the Republic of Latvia. As such, they were persecuted by both the Nazi and Soviet occupiers. About 40,000 Latvians were part of the Forest Brothers, killing 1,562 Soviets. They were active in Aloja, Dundaga, Līvāni, Lubāna and Taurkalne.

## Lithuania

Among the three countries, the Forest Brothers in Lithuania were the best organized. They dominated the whole countryside until 1949. They had assorted mortars, Czech Škoda guns, light machine guns and Russian M1910 Maxim heavy machine guns.

### Composition

The Forest Brothers in Lithuania consisted of the former members of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force, Lithuanian Liberty Army and Lithuanian Riflemen's Union, followed by farmers, students and teachers.

At least 30,000 Lithuanians were part of the Forest Brothers, many of whom were deported to forced labor camps in Siberia along with their relatives, with a few to no confirmed survivors. The Soviets also dumped some of their bodies at villages to scare others into obeying them.

On October 15, 1956, Adolfas Ramanauskas ("Vanagas"), chief commander of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters, released a report to highlight the brutality of the torture some of them had suffered:

### Notable fighters

Pranas Končius (code name _Adomas_) was one of the last few Lithuanian Forest Brothers, who was killed by the Soviets on July 6, 1965. He was awarded the Cross of Vytis posthumously in 2000. Benediktas Mikulis, one of the last known Lithuanian Forest Brothers to live in the forest, was kidnapped by the Soviets in the 1980s, and spent years in jail.

## Colonization during Cold War

The Soviet regime imported millions of colonizers from other parts of the Soviet Union, changing the Baltic states' ethnic composition forever.

|Ethnic breakdown|1939|1970|1989|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|88%|60%|61.5%||
|75%|57%|50.7%||
|85%|84.6%|80.6%||

Contrary to common Russian claims, the Baltic states were exploited subjects rather than beneficiaries from the decades-long Soviet colonization. Declassified archives showed that much more money was taken from the occupied Baltic states than ever invested back, including huge Soviet spending on military infrastructure to oppress the native population.

The myth of "generous Soviet aid in developing the Baltics" is said to be propaganda invented for justifying Soviet colonization under which the Baltic states' population went through decades of oppressive rule.

## Related pages

- Ruscism
- Polish Underground State
- Soviet persecution of Poles during World War II

## Infobox (military conflict)

- **conflict**: Guerrilla war in the Baltic states
- **image**: Lithuanian partisans from the district of Dainava (Southern Lithuania).jpg
- **image size**: 300px
- **caption**: Lithuanian Guerrilla, partisans from the Dainava military district
- **place**: Baltic states
- **date**: 1944–1956
- **result**: Soviet victory
- **combatant1**: *
*
*
- **combatant2**: Lithuanians, Lithuanian partisans
 Latvians, Latvian partisans
 Estonians, Estonian partisans
- **strength1**: Unknown
- **strength2**: ~50,000
- **casualties1**: ~13,000 Soviet fatalities:
In Latvia: 1,562 killed
560 wounded
In Lithuania: ~12.921
- **casualties2**: ~20,000 Forest Brothers killed
~20,000 arrested in Lithuania
- **casualties3**: In Lithuania: at least 4,000 Soviet Treason, collaborators were killed by the partisans. At least 505,000 Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians were Deportation, deported to Siberia. The Baltic states lost 20% of their total population to Soviet deportations and anti-partisan Campaign, campaigns.