Latvian partisans near Alt-Pebalg (Vecpiebalga), early 1930s
The Forest Brothers (Estonian: metsavennad, Latvian: mežabrāļi) is the collective name given to various groups of Latvian and Estonian partisans which operate on the pristine countryside of the United Baltic Duchy. Their goal is the restoration of independent Estonain and Latvian states, along with the expulsion of all Baltic Germans and German influence in general. They have been mostly kept at bay by the Baltische Landwehr in recent years but are still popular among the rural population. There is no telling what would happen should the political situation become unstable...
The Forest Brothers receive support from the Stockholm-based Estonian government in exile (led by Artur Sirk), the Petrograd-based Latvian Provisional National Council and several nationalist splinter groups in Russia and Finland. The Latvians are also directly supported by the Syndicalist International; Under the command of former Bolshevik Jēkabs Peterss, the so-called Revolutionary Latvian Legion, an armed formation that plans to be smuggled into the Baltic Duchy should the country become unstable, has been set up in the Union of Britain.
History[]
Although initially the Baltic Germans tried to integrate the Estonians and Latvians into supporting the new government, these plans mostly failed. Both Estonians and Latvians declared their independence (even though the Latvian declaration was never officially published and therefore did not get international attention, which would later severely hamper the efforts of Latvian nationalists in exile) and the Estonians even fought an outright war of independence between late 1918 and early 1919.
Latvia[]
In 1918, three authorities sought to represent the interests of the Latvian people:
- the Riga Democratic Bloc, an alliance of politicians in Riga petitioning the Ober Ost government to recognize an independent Latvian state;
- the Iskolat, a Bolshevik-aligned Latvian Soviet which controlled Vidzeme under the so-called “Iskolat Republic” up until Operation Faustschlag in February 1918;
- and the Latvian Provisional National Council, an organization of centrist and right wing Latvian politicians in Petrograd.
Ultimately, none of them managed to declare an independent Latvian state, and so, in the one chance when it could assert its independence, Latvia missed the opportunity and so was left behind. The Riga Democratic Bloc would ultimately disband and surrender to the United Baltic Duchy, the Iskolat would dissolve in the Russian Civil War and their founders either perish against the Whites or flee to France, and the Latvian National Council disbanded in 1919 once the possibility of an independent Latvia became a distant, impossible dream. When the Baltische Landwehr secured full control over the Duchy, a period of defeatism set upon the Latvian people and the average Latvian chose to simply cope with the new order for now, allowing the United Baltic Duchy to course through the 1920s unchallenged.
Throughout the post-Weltkrieg era, two pillars of Latvian nationalist thought emerged:
Patriotic Latvian students celebrating the traditional Song and Dance Festival (Vispārējie latviešu Dziesmu un Deju svētki) on the streets of Dvinsk, Russia, 1933
- In Russia, hundreds of thousands of Latvians who lived in the cities during the Tsarist era remained - not only that, but a piece of ethnic Latvian territory, Latgale, had been returned to Russian control. These Latvians began to organize around local ethnic institutions, most importantly the Latvian Central Council, a successor to the Provisional National Council. Their views of Latvia’s future differ. Some wish for an independent Latvia, others purport the so-called “Free Latvia in Free Russia” (Brīvā Latvija brīvajā Krievijā) - a democratic Latvian autonomy within a democratic Russia. Both agree that Baltic German rule should be evicted and secretly support the Forest Brothers over the border, as well as arming a unit of Latvian veterans of the Russian Civil War, the Kurelieši, commanded by General Jānis Kurelis. Russia secretly lends its support to the movement as a way to bite at the German goliath.
Recruiting poster of the Revolutionary Latvian Legion, distributed among the Latvian diaspora in Britain, 1935
- Alongside other Bolsheviks, the remnants of the Latvian Red Riflemen and the Iskolat fled to France, and from there, crossed the channel to Britain after 1925 - before the war, Britain had a sizable Latvian immigrant community, many of them poor miners and industrial workers who supported the Revolution. Here, the Latvian exiles began to organize, rebuilding the destroyed Social Democracy of Latvia Party (Latvijas Sociāldemokrātija) and petitioning the Syndicalist states for assistance. Here, in Britain, the natural role of leadership fell upon Jēkabs Peterss - once a Latvian immigrant to Britain himself, who returned to Russia during the critical months of 1917 and became one of the prolific commanders of the Cheka, Bolshevik Russia’s secret service. His English language proficiency, contents with the British revolutionaries, and prestige stood behind him - although, to this day, Syndicalism has never really caught on for him. Vladimir Lenin’s interpretation of Marxism is far closer to his heart.
Estonia[]
Estonia declared its independence on February 24th, 1918 - a short-lived declaration, for the Germans dissolved the newly created state mere days after, but a universally agreed upon one nevertheless. The Maapaev (the Estonain Provincial Assembly) chose to resist instead of giving up the chance at independence, and the remnants of the assembly moved underground, where they helped organize Omakaitse paramilitary units in preparation to liberate the country. Mass fighting broke at late 1918, lasting several months. Estonia fell yet again, but the provisional government and hundreds of Estonians successfully escaped to Sweden and Finland.
To this day, the Estonians in the Duchy commemorate the day, despite the fact celebrating it has been criminalized by the Baltic Government.
Artur Sirk, Chairman of the National Committee of the Republic of Estonia, giving a speech in front of Estonian exiles in Finland, 1934
The “National Committee of the Republic of Estonia” remained directionless until the All-Estonian National Congress in Petrograd in 1930, where a new leader to the wavering government in exile was elected - Artur Sirk, a veteran of the War of Independence who escaped with the others in early 1919. Under his leadership, the Estonian exiles have rebounded and began to support the resistance movement in Estonia far more thoroughly - all while establishing paramilitary forces of their own, the Omakaitse, which are planned to serve as the core of an Estonian army when they finally return to Tallinn.
Even before 1936, however, worries began to rise within the National Committee on whether Artur Sirk should be in charge. He is a competent leader and a talented speaker for sure, but an authoritarian one, who has turned the Omakaitse into a personal paramilitary and envisions an Estonia with little room for democracy - a nationalist, paternalistic state united as one, instead of divided into political parties. Estonian exiles leaning towards democracy, or at least a vision different from Sirk’s, have begun to organize around two poles. Mentored by the aging founder of the nation, Konstantin Päts, Jüri Uluots is the strongest challenger to Artur Sirk, whereas democratic politicians entrust their hopes in Kaarel Eenpalu and his Agrarian movement. When Estonia is restored, these two rivals to Sirk’s rule will surely establish parties and movements of their own, and resist their leader.
Weapons and Tactics[]
The Forest Brothers, being a decentralized group divided into various cells and bands, also consists of groups of various ideologies. the organization has no central leadership, though some cells do report back to the exile organizations. They mainly engage in intelligence gathering, industrial sabotage, assassination of government officials and Landwehr officers, as well as skirmishes, all in preparation for a national uprising.
They have armed themselves through various ways. They mainly raid arms depots, buy guns on the black market and sometimes manufacture weapons themselves in secret underground factories. In the case of Russian-supported Latvian groups, the Forest Brothers receive equipment from the Russian government and volunteers from the Latvian inhabitants sympathetic to their cause. The groups also receive arms purchased and smuggled into the country by exiles.
Most members are former soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army, the Bolshevik Red Army and deserters from the Baltische Landwehr, and hence are experienced soldiers who have seen active combat in some combination of the Weltkrieg, the Russian Civil War and the Estonian War of Independence.