Interesting background and discussion about "The Forest Brothers": Nazi collaborators and Nazi-linked elements continuing to fight against the Allied Powers even after the WWII in Estonia ended on 25 November 1944 and the surrender of Germany on 9 May 1945.
https://runivers.ru/doc/d2.php?SECTION_ID=6955&PORTAL_ID=6763
By November 25, 1944, the territory of Estonia was completely liberated by the Soviet Army.
Since the fall of 1944, thousands of Estonian soldiers and Wehrmacht officers, police and border battalions, militia members of the Omakaitse detachments, as well as the 20th Grenadier Division of the SS troops , entered an illegal position. Together with them were former employees of the Nazi administration and persons evading conscription into the Soviet Army. They were mainly armed with German small arms. Their uniforms combined elements of the forms of the Estonian army, Wehrmacht, SS troops and civilian clothes.
Gradually, an anti-Soviet partisan movement took shape (“forest brothers” - “metsavennad ”). However, until the spring of 1945 the "forest brothers" did not take any noticeable actions.
Since March 1945, the “forest brothers” began to raid volost executive committees and rural cooperative shops. The killings of members of the Soviet-party activists, village commissioners, fighters of Estonian fighter battalions, police officers and other persons assisting the organs of Soviet power have become more frequent. The Forest Brothers fired on military convoys and attacked military patrols. Until September 1945, the NKVD authorities recorded 155 such terrorist acts.
At the same time, the NKVD troops and Estonian fighter battalions destroyed 17 detachments, killed 432 Estonian rebels, captured 584 people and arrested 449 accomplices. At the same time, 56 police officers, soldiers and officers of the NKVD troops, 86 fighters of fighter squads and 141 members of the Soviet-party asset were killed.
Estonian collaboration with the Nazis, which is undeniably and inextricably linked with post-war Estonian terrorism against Russia. Estonian terrorist movements in 1945 did not appear out of thin air.
https://runivers.ru/doc/d2.php?SECTION_ID=6767&PORTAL_ID=6763
August 2, 1941 in Estonia were created pro-German militia movement "Self-defense» ( Omakaitse ) led by former army doctor Colonel Estonian law and businessman Jaan Maide ( Jaan Maide ). By the end of 1941, there were 43,757 people in its ranks, and all in all, up to February 1944, about 65,000 people had joined this movement.
By November 1, 1941, members of the Estonian militia "Self-Defense" carried out 5,033 raids, arrested 41,135 people - former Soviet workers, communists, members of their families, Red Army soldiers, Jews, of whom 7,357 were executed on the spot.
On April 26, 1942, Adolf Hitler first mentioned in his speech "Estonian soldiers who are selflessly and courageously fighting the struggle against communism."
In May 1942, Estonian police battalions were formed from security groups. In total, up to the end of the war, 10,000 people entered them. These battalions took part in the fight against partisans and punitive operations in Russia, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine. The forces of local police units destroyed 64,000 Soviet prisoners and 61,000 civilian Soviet citizens.
On September 5, 1942, a train with 1,000 Jews from the Theresienstadt ghetto (a protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) arrived in the town of Kaasiku. All of them were shot by Estonian police.
In October 1942, Estonian policemen shot and killed about 250 gypsy prisoners in the Vaivara concentration camp.
On February 8, 1943, the 1st Estonian SS volunteer grenadier regiment was formed from Estonian volunteers.
On January 26, 1944, the 20th Estonian SS Volunteer Division was formed.
On February 7, 1944 the former Estonian Prime Minister, Professor Jüri Uluots, in his radio address urged Estonians to fight against the Red Army. As a result, 32,000 people stood under arms.
On February 14, 1944 the National Committee of the Republic of Estonia was created, headed by Kaarel Liidak . The committee stated the need to restore Estonian state sovereignty, but regarded Germany as an ally in the struggle against the USSR. In his appeal, he urged Estonians to join the Estonian SS Legion.
On August 19, 1944 Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Uluots called on Estonians to make every effort to fight the advancing forces of the Red Army and to join the volunteer forces of the SS and Wehrmacht
By September 1944, members of the Estonian Youth youth organization (3,000 people, including 478 girls) had entered the German Air Force as "voluntary air defense assistants."
On September 19, the 287th Estonian police battalion at the Klooga station shot 2,000 Jews displaced from Lithuania and Latvia. The bodies of the executed prisoners were stacked and burned.