Lithuanian partisans waged guerrilla warfare agianst the Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of Lithuania during and after the World War II. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups fought agianst Soviet rule in Estonia,Latvia,Poland,Romania and Galicia.

The Red Army occupied the formely independent Lithuania in 1940-1941 and, after a period of German occupation, agian in 1944-1945. As Stalinist repressions intesified, thousannds of Lithuanian residents used forests in the countryside as a natural refuge and basis for armed anti-Soviet resistance.

Resistance units varied in size and composition, rangingfrom individualy operating guerrillas, armed primarily for self-defence, to large and well-organized groups able to engage significant Soviet forces in battle. It is estimated that a total of 30,000 parisans and their supporters were killed during the guerrilla warfare from 1944 to 1953.