The Forest Brothers (also: Brothers of the Forest, Forest Brethren; Forest Brotherhood; in Estonian: metsavennad, in Latvian meža brāļi, in Lithuanian miško broliai) were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partisans who waged guerrilla warfare against Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic states during, and after, World War II. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups fought against Soviet rule in Poland, Romania and western Ukraine.
The Soviet Army occupied the formerly independent Baltic states in 1940-1941 and, after a period of Nazi German occupation, again in 1944-1945. As Stalinist repression intensified over the following years, more than 170,000 residents of these countries used the heavily-forested countryside as a natural refuge and basis for armed anti-Soviet resistance.
Resistance units varied in size and composition, ranging from individually operating guerrillas, armed primarily for self-defence, to large and well-organised groups able to engage significant Soviet forces in battle.
