Forest Brothers

Forest Brothers
Participant in the guerrilla war in the Baltic states
Active	1940–41, 1944–1956
Ideology	National liberation
Area of operations	Baltic states
Strength	~50,000
Part of	Occupation of the Baltic states
Allies	British, American and Swedish intelligence services, Finnish army
Opponents	Red Army, NKVD

The Forest Brothers (also Brothers of the Forest, Forest Brethren, or Forest Brotherhood; Estonian: metsavennad, Latvian: meža brāļi, Lithuanian: miško broliai) were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partisans who waged a guerrilla war against Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic states during, and after, World War II. Similar anti-Soviet Eastern European resistance groups fought against Soviet and communist rule in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and western Ukraine.

The Red Army occupied the independent Baltic states in 1940–1941 and, after a period of German occupation, again in 1944–1945. As Stalinist repression intensified over the following years, 50,000 residents of these countries used the heavily forested countryside as a natural refuge and base for armed anti-Soviet resistance.

Resistance units varied in size and composition, ranging from individually operating guerrillas, armed primarily for self-defense, to large and well-organized groups able to engage significant Soviet forces in battle.

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