The Fatherland Defense Force (Lithuanian: Tėvynės apsaugos rinktinė or TAR) or Kampfgruppe Mäder (German: Kampfgruppe Mäder) was a short-lived military unit hastily formed in northwestern Lithuania towards the end of World War II to combat approaching Soviet forces.

Lithuanians, having suffered the repressive Soviet occupation in 1940–41, began evacuating towards the west and forming armed groups in Samogitia.

The former option won by a narrow margin of votes[4] and these improvised units were organized into TAR, commanded by Captain Izidorius Jatulis.

[1] The Lithuanians established contacts with Hellmuth Mäder, an officer in the 9th Army, via priest Jonas Steponavičius.

[3] There were plans for the 3rd Regiment that would have included the remaining Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions and elevated TAR to the status of a division, but they were not realized.

[6] Povilas Plechavičius, just released from his arrest due to his command of the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force, accepted the invitation on a condition that Germans would grant him full authority over TAR.

[1] However, the regiment took a poor defensive position: the trenches were dug about 200 metres (660 ft) in front of the Varduva so that retreating soldiers would have to cross the river which had only one bridge.

[1][5] On October 7, Seda was attacked by the 19th Tank Corps, commanded by General Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilyev [ru], of the 6th Guards Army.

Lithuanians, armed with Panzerfausts, managed to destroy eight Soviet tanks T-34 but quickly ran out of ammunition and were forced to retreat.

[3] The men faced a difficult choice – retreat west with the Germans or return home and join underground resistance that would become the Lithuanian partisans.

[5] About 1,000 men reached East Prussia where they were organized into eight pioneer companies and used them to construct military defenses near Gdańsk, Łomża, Lübeck.

[8] After the restoration of the independence, the archive was transferred to Vladas Kazlauskas, a former member of TAR who wrote several books on the topic.