LTDF quickly reached the size of about 10,000 men. After brief engagements against the Soviet and Polish partisans (Armia Krajowa), the force self-disbanded,[2] its leaders were arrested and sent to concentration camps,[3] and numerous of its members were executed by the Nazis.[3] Many others were either drafted into other Nazi auxiliary services or started forming an armed anti-Soviet resistance, also known as Forest Brothers. The Union of Soldiers of the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force (Lietuvos vietinės rinktinės karių sąjunga), a veterans organization, was founded in 1997.[4]