The partisans caused particularly heavy losses to the Bolshevik forces in Latgale when they were forced to retreat from Riga. One of the largest groups of 'forest brothers' operated in the forests of Balvi, which was later named the Latgale Partisan Regiment. Following the unification of several small partisan groups (June 1919), they were led by the future Lieutenant Colonel Jānis Vīndedzis. It should be noted that the first partisan groups began to form immediately after the establishment of Bolshevik power in the northern part of Latgale in January 1919.

The activity of the partisan groups intensified as the Valmiera Infantry Regiment and units of the Estonian army approached the Latgale region; attacks by these groups were recorded in the forests of Viļaka, near Sudarbe and Orlova, as well as in the vicinity of Rugāji.

When the representatives of the small partisan groups met in Balvi in early June 1919, the commander of the Valmiera Infantry Regiment recommended consolidating their forces under the leadership of J. Vīndedzis. Supplies, ammunition and weapons were provided to the 'forest brothers' (partisans) by the Valmiera Regiment, with some also received from the Estonians. In June 1919, other small groups of fighters joined the partisan regiment, forming a total of four infantry companies and a cavalry unit. By occupying the roads between Kuprava and Rugāji, the regiment established a broad front (approx. 50 km). In July, the Latgale Partisan Regiment came under the command of the Kurzeme Division, which regulated both tactical and supply issues. (Until then, the supply of ammunition had been handled in various ways—receiving weapons from the population, seizing them from the enemy, or digging them out of the ground; the first machine guns for the partisan unit were pulled from the depths of a lake. The critical issue of food supply was resolved by receiving support from local residents or relatives, or by procuring it themselves.) At the end of October 1919, the regiment carried out successful attacks on Baltinava, captured the Punduri railway station and, together with the Estonians, captured Viļaka. In early November, they withstood strong Bolshevik counter-attacks on the captured positions, but were forced to lose them at the end of the month.

During the battles for the liberation of Latgale in 1920, the regiment operated as part of the Latgale Division, fighting near Šķilbēni, the Kārsava station and village, and later near Augšpils and Grēku Hill.

When the war ended, the Latgale Partisan Regiment was stationed in Kārsava and Rēzekne, later being moved to Cēsis and Valmiera. In 1922, as the size of the army was reduced, the regiment was disbanded, with the soldiers assigned to a single partisan battalion and incorporated into the 9th Rēzekne Infantry Regiment.

(To be continued)