Forest Brothers

The Forest Brothers (also: Brothers of the Forest, Forest Brethren; in Estonian: metsavennad, in Latvian me?a br??i) were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian guerillas who fought against the Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic nations during, and after, World War II. At the same time, similar local partisan groups also fought against the Soviet rule in western Ukraine.

Related Topics:
Estonian - Latvian - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania - Guerilla - Soviet - Soviet invasion and occupation - Baltic nations - World War II - Partisan - Ukraine

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The Soviet Army occupied the formerly independent Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940-1941 and, after German occupation, again in 1944-1945. During the following years, as Stalinist-style repressions intensified, more than 100,000 residents of these countries hid from the authorities, often using the more wooded hinterlands as a natural refuge and basis for armed anti-Soviet resistance. The resistance units varied in size and composition, ranging from individually operating guerillas, armed primarily for their own protection, to large and well-organised groups able to engage significant Soviet forces in battle.

Related Topics:
Soviet Army - Occupied - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania - 1940 - 1941 - German - 1944 - 1945 - Stalinist

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In the late 1940s and early 1950s many of the Forest Brothers were provided with supplies, liaison officers and logistical coordination by the British (MI6), American, and Swedish secret intelligence services. This support played a key role in directing the Baltic resistance movement in its earlier years, however it diminished significantly after MI6's so-called "Operation Jungle" was severely compromised by the activities of British spies (Kim Philby and others) who forwarded information to the Soviets enabling the KGB to identify, infiltrate and eliminate many Baltic guerilla units, while cutting other Forest Brothers off from any further contacts with Western intelligence operatives.

Related Topics:
British - MI6 - American - Swedish - Secret intelligence service - Kim Philby - KGB

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The conflict between the Soviet armed forces and the Forest Brothers lasted over a decade and cost at least 50,000 lives. Among the three countries, the resistance was best organised in Lithuania, where guerrilla units were able to effectively control whole regions of the countryside until 1949. Even when not in head-on battles with the Soviet Army or special KGB units, the Forest Brothers caused significant damage by, e.g., ambushing Soviet patrols, wrecking power lines and assassinating local Communist party activists, thus delaying new Communist authorities in their consolidation of Soviet rule over the occupied Baltic countries.

Related Topics:
1949 - KGB - Communist

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A major motivational driver of many Forest Brothers was the hope that soon a war was to begin between the Soviet Union and the West, and that this would lead to the liberation of the Baltic states. This hope never materialised, and according to Mart Laar (Prime Minister of Estonia 1992-1994, 1999-2002 and author of a book on the post-war resistance) many of the surviving former Forest Brothers still feel bitter that the West chose not to take the Soviets on militarily.

Related Topics:
Baltic states - Mart Laar

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By the early 1950s, the Soviet forces had clearly gained the upper hand in the fight against the Forest Brothers. Intelligence gathered by the Soviet spies in the West and KGB infiltrators within the resistance movement, in combination with large-scale anti-guerilla operations in 1952 eliminated the majority of the armed resistance in the Baltic countries.

Related Topics:
1950s - 1952

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Many of the remaining Forest Brothers laid down their weapons when offered an amnesty by the Soviet authorities after Stalin's death in 1953. The last individual guerillas are known to have remained in hiding and evaded capture until 1970s.

Related Topics:
Amnesty - Stalin - 1953

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