The Brothers of the Forest
In the summer of 1944, the German Eastern front was crumbling under the Soviet advance, and the Baltics and Lithuania were re-occupied by the Soviet Union. That same summer, the Allies had stormed the beaches of Normandy and Germany was now facing two mainland European fronts.
By 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered, and most of Western and Northern Europe, alongside the British Commonwealth, the US and Russia, erupted with fanfare and celebration.
Whilst most of the world celebrated, for the Baltic states, there was not such a celebration, only further question marks and worry about their own future.
In August 1941, the Atlantic Charter had been issued by the British and American governments setting forth their goals for the world after the end of the war. This included the right to self-determination, restoration of self-government, global co-operation, freedom from fear and want and the disarmament of aggressor nations.
Lithuanians were hanging on to this charter, and praying for their own freedom from Soviet occupation.
There were some, however, who weren’t going to wait. Former soldiers of the Lithuanian army, veterans of the Nazi-era Lithuanian police, farmers, students, intellectuals and frankly anyone who could help, formed armed resistance groups known as the Brothers of the Forest.
Meeting of the leadership of the partisans of the Dainava and Tauro districts in the Southern Lithuania Nemunas region. Balbieriškis forest 1950. In the third row, fourth from the left stands Adolfas Ramanauskas, codename “Vanagas” (Hawk), Future Chief Commander of All Lithuanian Partisan forces.
Whilst the Soviets were beginning mass deportations to Siberia, suppressing Lithuanian culture and collectivising agriculture, these Forest Brothers acted as freedom fighters for a voiceless people. Working in groups as small as 3 or 4 and as large as up to 800, they utilised the dense forest of the countryside to build bunkers and hideouts by which to ambush, assassinate and sabotage the Soviet occupiers.
They were very effective, and almost no one was safe regardless of rank or standing, with many areas of the Lithuanian countryside considered unsafe for Soviets. It is thought that around 100,000 Lithuanians were involved as direct insurgents or as their support (food, supplies, intelligence). This was mirrored in albeit smaller forces in Estonia and Latvia, and all three forces also had communication with the British SIS (now MI6) and American CIA to varying degrees. Many Forest Brothers were hopeful of an escalation of the Cold War to liberate the Baltics.
The counter-insurgency from the Soviets was brutal, with torture and execution of captured partisans common, as well as the mass deportation of their families. Operation Spring of 1948 saw 40 to 50 thousand people linked to the forest brothers deported to Siberia.
One of the more famous Brothers who managed to evade Soviet capture for a long period was Adolfas Ramanauskas, better known by his codename Vanagas—meaning “Hawk”. For 12 years, he was underground, moving from safehouse to forest bunker, writing strategic documents, and coordinating partisan actions. In 1949, he co-signed a bold declaration that established the partisan leadership as Lithuania’s only legitimate government. When the KGB finally captured him in 1956, they didn’t just imprison him—they subjected him to horrific torture, the extent of which was confirmed only in 2018 when his remains were uncovered by forensic experts. He was posthumously recognised following the restoration of Lithaunian independence and his remains since reburied.
By the 1950’s most of the Forest Brothers had disbanded, but the last to be captured was Benediktas Mikulas, who didn’t emerge from his wood until 1971.
Juozas Lukša was a Forest Brother who escaped and managed to put down his memoirs in Paris as “Fighters for Freedom - Lithuanian Partisans versus the U.S.S.R”.
When he returned to Lithuania in 1951 he was killed.