During German occupation, nationalist partisans began organizing resistance, though Nazi authorities arrested many leaders. By the end of World War II, longer-lasting resistance units emerged, made up of former Latvian Legion soldiers and civilians. On September 8, 1944, the Latvian Central Council (LCC) in Riga issued a Declaration on the Restoration of the State of Latvia, seeking to restore Latvian independence and leverage the transition between occupying powers. The LCC's military branch included General Jānis Kurelis' group ("kurelieši") and Lieutenant Roberts Rubenis' battalion, both of which resisted the Nazis and later Soviet forces.
At its peak, the partisan movement involved 10,000 to 15,000 active fighters and as many as 40,000 participants. From 1945 to 1955, they launched over 3,000 raids, targeting Soviet military personnel, party officials, and supply depots. Soviet reports recorded 1,562 Soviet personnel killed and 560 wounded during these operations.
A typical partisan action involved Tālrīts Krastiņš, a former soldier from the Latvian SS division. His group, operating secretly in Riga, attempted to assassinate the Soviet Latvian leader Vilis Lācis but failed, ultimately being captured by the NKVD in 1948.
The Forest Brothers, active in border areas such as Dundaga and Lubāna, collaborated with Estonian and Lithuanian partisans. Over time, Soviet security forces (MVD, NKVD) infiltrated and crushed the movement. Western intelligence support was compromised by Soviet counterintelligence and double agents. By 1957, the last resistance fighters surrendered, marking the end of organized partisan warfare.