Estonian partisans

Guerrilla war in Estonia
Part of guerrilla war in the Baltic states and Occupation of the Baltic States
Estonian fighters, Järva county in 1953, relaxing after a shooting exercise
Date August 6, 1940 – June 22, 1941 July 1, 1944 – March 29, 1953 Location Estonian SSR Result Soviet victory Defeat of Estonian pro-independence partisans
Belligerents
Estonian Partisans	Soviet Union Soviet Armed Forces MGB NKVD (until 1946)
Strength
30,000 (total throughout 1944–1953)	Unknown
Casualties and losses
>2,200	891 (Soviet estimate)

Estonian partisans, also called the Forest Brothers (Estonian: Metsavennad) were partisans who engaged in guerrilla warfare against Soviet forces in Estonia from 1940 to 1941 and 1944 to 1978.

When the USSR occupied and annexed Estonia in 1940, former civilians, soldiers, and real and perceived opponents to the Kremlin were threatened with arrest and repression. People sought refuge in the forest after the mass deportation on June 14, 1941.

The largest organization of the Forest Brothers was the Armed Combat Union (RVL), which operated from 1946 to 1949. The most important RVL leaders were killed in the summer of 1949. Large battles between the Forest Brothers and KGB units ended in Estonia in 1953, although minor conflict continued until 1957.

The last Forest Brothers to be arrested were Hugo and Aksel Mõttus, who were captured in Võru County in the summer of 1967. August Sabbe remained at large until 1978, when he was either killed in Võru County by the KGB or drowned attempting to escape them.^[1]