Editing Latvian National Armed Forces (section)

=== World War II and the occupation of the Baltic states (1939–1991) ===
[[File:Garford-Putilov Kurzemnieks.jpg|left|thumb|Latvian Army [[Garford-Putilov Armoured Car|Garford-Putilov]] armored car "Kurzemnieks", 1920s]]
However, the most crucial problem and flaw for both the Latvian military and other militaries of the [[Baltic states]] on the eve of World War II had to do with the failure to organize effective military cooperation between all the Baltic states in case of a new war in the region. The Latvian command in the interwar period had given very little attention towards any possible coordination of forces with either the Estonian or Lithuanian armies against a possible enemy, and so the Latvian military planned its actions and doctrine in almost complete isolation, oblivious to whatever its neighbours to the north (Estonia) or south (Lithuania) did. This ultimately led to flawed and questionable choices in creating defense plans against both [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]] (there were separate plans towards both of these possible aggressors), since the Latvian higher command was unsure as to how Latvia's neighbours would react in the event such a conflict started.
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After the [[Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940|Soviet occupation of Latvia]] in June 1940, during which the armed forces did not intervene following orders, the annihilation of the Latvian Army began. The army was first renamed the '''People's Army of Latvia''' ([[Latvian language|Latvian]]: ''Latvijas Tautas armija'') and in September–November 1940 – the [[Red Army|Red Army's]] [[24th Territorial Rifle Corps]]. The corps comprised the [[181st Rifle Division|181st]] and [[183rd Rifle Division|183rd]] Rifle Divisions. In September the corps contained 24,416 men but in autumn more than 800 officers and about 10,000 instructors and soldiers were discharged. The arrests of soldiers continued in the following months. In June 1940, the entire Territorial Corps was sent to [[Litene]] camp. Before leaving the camp, Latvians drafted in 1939 were demobilised, and replaced by about 4,000 Russian soldiers from the area around Moscow. On June 10, the corps' senior officers were sent to Russia where they were arrested and most of them shot. On June 14 at least 430 officers were arrested and sent to [[Gulag]] camps. After the [[Operation Barbarossa|German attack]] against the Soviet Union, from June 29 to July 1 more than 1980 Latvian soldiers were demobilised, fearing that they might turn their weapons against the Russian commissars and officers. Simultaneously, many soldiers and officers deserted and when the corps crossed the Latvian border into the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], only about 3,000 Latvian soldiers remained.<ref>{{cite book| last = Bleiere| first = Daina |author2=Ilgvars Butulis |author3=Antonijs Zunda |author4=Aivars Stranga |author5=Inesis Feldmanis| title = History of Latvia : the 20th century.| publisher = Jumava| location = [[Riga]]| pages = 327| year = 2006| isbn = 9984-38-038-6| oclc = 70240317}}</ref> During and after World War II, many former veterans were a part of the fighters of the [[Guerrilla war in the Baltic states|anti-Soviet National Partisan resistance movement]] opposing the continued Soviet occupation.