Lithuanian partisans (1944–1953)

Guerrilla war in Lithuania

Date	1944–1953
Location	Lithuanian SSR
Result	Lithuanian partisans destroyed

Belligerents

Lithuanian partisans
(Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters)

Soviet Union
(NKVD, MGB, destruction battalions)

Lithuanian SSR

Commanders and leaders

Jonas Žemaitis
Adolfas Ramanauskas

Casualties and losses

30,000

19,000

Soviet Union
(NKVD, MGB, destruction battalions)

The Lithuanian partisans (Lithuanian: Lietuvos partizanai) were partisans who waged a guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Galicia. It is estimated that a total of 30,000 Lithuanian partisans and their supporters were killed.

At the end of World War II, the Red Army pushed the Eastern Front towards Lithuania. The Soviets invaded and occupied Lithuania by the end of 1944. As forced conscription into Red Army and Stalinist repressions intensified, thousands of Lithuanians used forests in the countryside as a natural refuge. These spontaneous groups became more organized and centralized culminating in the establishment of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters in February 1948. In their documents, the partisans emphasized that their ultimate goal is recreation of independent Lithuania. As the partisan war continued, it became clear that the West would not interfere in Eastern Europe (see Western betrayal) and that the partisans had no chance of success against the far stronger opponent. Eventually, the partisans made an explicit and conscious decision not to accept any new members. The leadership of the partisans was destroyed in 1953 thus effectively ending the partisan war, though individual fighters held out until the 1960s.

...
Wikipedia