68-577: Battalion Zośka (pronounced /'zɔɕ.ka/; 'Sophie' in Polish) was a paramilitary scouts battalion that specialized in field intelligence gathering, irregular warfare and scouting of the Polish resistance movement organisation - Home Army ( Armia Krajowa or "AK") during World War II . It mainly consisted of members of the Szare Szeregi paramilitary Boy Scouts. It was formed in late August 1943. A part of
136-510: A bill in 2012 commemorating the 70th anniversary of the creation of Narodowe Siły Zbrojne in 1942. Members of the Sejm who supported the resolution pointed out that NSZ members became the most obstinate target of repressions and hate propaganda by security apparatus under Stalinism . In the 1990s the topic of " cursed soldiers ", or anti-communist partisans, was not discussed much in Poland. By
204-690: A breakthrough to the centre of the city through the Saxon Garden which eventually failed. After capturing two Panther tanks in 2 August, an armoured platoon was formed under the command of Wacław Micuta . The battalion gained the War Order of Virtuti Militari . Zośka fighters liberated prisoners of the concentration camp Gęsiówka in August 1944. The 383 able-bodied prisoners (including 348 Jews), both men and women who were left in Gęsiówka to assist with
272-795: A light machine gun – mounted the truck and drove away in an unknown direction. In August 1943 the headquarters of the Armia Krajowa ordered Operation Belt which was one of the large-scale anti-Nazi operations of the AK during the war. By February 1944, 13 German outposts were destroyed with few losses on the Polish side. Operation Heads began: the serial executions of German personnel who had been sentenced to death by Polish underground Special Courts for crimes against Polish citizens in German-occupied Poland. On 7 September 1943,
340-599: A series of combat actions carried out by the Home Army during the uprising between 19 April 1943 and May 16, 1943. Some units of the AK tried to assist the ghetto rising, but for the most part, the resistance was unprepared and unable to defeat the Germans. One Polish AK unit, the National Security Corps ( Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa ), under the command of Henryk Iwański ("Bystry"), fought inside
408-508: Is almost as important for the future of our nation as the regaining of independence. The loss of independence and the continuation of Jewish presence in Poland are both an equal danger of slow death for the Poles. We may condemn the Germans for their bestial methods but we must not forget that Jewry was always and will remain a destructive element in our state organism. The liquidation of the Jews in
476-636: The Battle of Murowana Oszmianka the largest clash between the Polish anti-Nazi Armia Krajowa and the Nazi Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force a Lithuanian volunteer security force subordinated to Nazi Germany . The battle took place in and near the village of Murowana Oszmianka in the Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland . The outcome of the battle was that the 301st LVR battalion
544-612: The Bureau of Information and Propaganda of the Union for Armed Struggle started Operation N headed by Tadeusz Żenczykowski . It involved sabotage , subversion and black-propaganda activities. From March 1941, Witold Pilecki's reports were forwarded to the Polish government in exile and through it, to the British and other Allied governments. These reports informed the Allies about
612-598: The Hollywood film industry and artists, but without success. Many of those he spoke to did not believe him, or supposed that his testimony was much exaggerated or was propaganda from the Polish government in exile . In April 1943 the Germans began deporting the remaining Jews from the Warsaw ghetto provoking the Warsaw Ghetto Rising , 19 April to 16 May. Polish Underground State ordered Ghetto Action –
680-715: The Holocaust and were the principal source of intelligence on Auschwitz-Birkenau for the Western Allies. On 7 March 1941, two Polish agents of the Home Army killed Nazi collaborator actor Igo Sym in his apartment in Warsaw. In reprisal, 21 Polish hostages were executed. Several Polish actors were also arrested by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz , among them such notable figures as directors Stefan Jaracz and Leon Schiller . In July 1941 Mieczysław Słowikowski (using
748-734: The National Military Organization ( Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa ). At its maximum strength in 1943–44, the NSZ reached between 70,000 and 75,000 members, making it the third-largest organization of the Polish resistance (after the Home Army (AK) and the Bataliony Chlopskie ). NSZ units participated in the Warsaw Uprising . In March 1944 the NSZ split, with the more moderate faction coming under
SECTION 10
#1732780564484816-695: The Polish government in Exile . Most of the other Polish underground armed organizations were created by a political party or faction, and included: The largest groups that refused to join the AK were the National Armed Forces and the pro-Soviet and communist People's Army (Polish Armia Ludowa or AL), backed by the Soviet Union and established by the Polish Workers' Party (Polish Polska Partia Robotnicza or PPR). Regarding
884-510: The Polish government-in-exile and conducted fratricidal fights with other Polish partisan units. From 1944 to 1946, the NSZ fought as part of the anti-communist resistance, including after the postwar Polish People's Republic was established. The NSZ was created on September 20, 1942, as a result of the merger of the Military Organization Lizard Union ( Organizacja Wojskowa Związek Jaszczurczy ) and part of
952-567: The Radosław Group , the battalion played a major role in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Zośka was named after Tadeusz Zawadzki , who used the name as his pseudonym during the AK's early days. He was killed during a partisan action. The battalion was formed in late August 1943 as part of the Radosław Group , fighting in Wola and the Starówka , from where they allowed the "Rudy" company to do
1020-596: The Reich , while 60,000 were shipped to death and concentration camps such as Ravensbrück , Auschwitz , Mauthausen and others. The city was almost totally destroyed after German sappers systematically demolished the city. The Warsaw Uprising allowed the Germans to destroy the AK as a fighting force, but the main beneficiary was Stalin, who was able to impose a communist government on postwar Poland with little fear of armed resistance. National Armed Forces National Armed Forces ( NSZ ; Polish : Narodowe Siły Zbrojne)
1088-487: The Secret Polish Army ( Tajna Armia Polska , TAP), one of the first underground organizations in Poland after defeat. Pilecki became its organizational commander as TAP expanded to cover not only Warsaw but Siedlce , Radom , Lublin and other major cities of central Poland. By 1940, TAP had approximately 8,000 men (more than half of them armed), some 20 machine guns and several anti-tank rifles . Later,
1156-532: The Szare Szeregi (Gray Ranks) Polish Underground The successful operation led to the release of arrested troop leader Jan Bytnar "Rudy" . In an attack on the prison, Bytnar and 24 other prisoners were freed. In 1943 in London Jan Karski met the then much known journalist Arthur Koestler . He then traveled to the United States and reported to President Franklin D. Roosevelt . His report
1224-659: The resistance movement during World War II was led by the Home Army . The Polish resistance is notable among others for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front (damaging or destroying 1/8 of all rail transports), and providing intelligence reports to the British intelligence agencies (providing 43% of all reports from occupied Europe ). It was a part of the Polish Underground State . The largest of all Polish resistance organizations
1292-686: The "rocket assembly hall', 'experimental pit', and 'launching tower'. When reconnaissance and intelligence information regarding the V-2 rocket became convincing, the War Cabinet Defence Committee (Operations) directed the campaign's first planned raid (the Operation Hydra bombing of Peenemünde in August 1943) and Operation Crossbow . On 26 March 1943 in Warsaw Operation Arsenal was launched by
1360-514: The 2000s however, the cult of "cursed soldiers" gained prominence. In 2012, the Polish Parliament ( Sejm ) passed a bill commemorating the 70th anniversary of the creation of Narodowe Siły Zbrojne in 1942. The role of NSZ and its relations with the Jews remains a controversial topic in modern Poland. The 2012 Sejm declaration has been criticized by former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller . Several members of parliament criticized
1428-621: The AK could take and hold Warsaw for the return of the London government was never likely to be achieved. After 63 days of savage fighting the city was reduced to rubble, and the reprisals were savage. The SS and auxiliary units were particularly brutal. After Bór-Komorowski's surrender, the AK fighters were treated as prisoners-of-war by the Germans, much to the outrage of Stalin, but the civilian population were ruthlessly punished. Overall Polish casualties are estimated to be between 150,000 and 300,000 killed, 90,000 civilians were sent to labor camps in
SECTION 20
#17327805644841496-767: The British foreign secretary, and included a detailed statement on what he had seen in Warsaw and Bełżec. The Zamość Uprising was an armed uprising of Armia Krajowa and Bataliony Chłopskie against the forced expulsion of Poles from the Zamość region under the Nazi Generalplan Ost . The Germans attempted to remove the local Poles from the Greater Zamość area (through forced removal, transfer to forced labor camps, or, in some cases, mass murder ) to get it ready for German colonization . It lasted from 1942 until 1944 and despite heavy casualties suffered by
1564-642: The Chrobry II unit), Jerzy Zmidygier-Konopka, Feliks Pisarewski-Parry, Eljahu (Aleksander) Szandcer ( nom de guerre Dzik ), Dr. Kaminski, a physician who served in an NSZ unit led by Captain Władysław Kolaciński ( nom de guerre Zbik ), Major Stanisław Ostwind-Zuzga , and others. In January 1945, the National Armed Forces Holy Cross Mountains Brigade ( Brygada Świętokrzyska ) retreated before
1632-543: The German V-2 rocket . In effect some 50 kg of the most important parts of the captured V-2, as well as the final report, analyses, sketches and photos, were transported to Brindisi by a Royal Air Force Douglas Dakota aircraft. In late July 1944, the V-2 parts were delivered to London. In early 1943 the strength of the forest-based groups can be estimated at 40 groups numbering in total 1,200 to 4,000 fighters, but
1700-509: The Germans defeated this action. AK and GL engaged the Germans between 19 and 23 April at six different locations outside the ghetto walls, shooting at German sentries and positions and in one case attempting to blow up a gate. Participation of the Polish underground in the uprising was many times confirmed by a report of the German commander – Jürgen Stroop . When we invaded the Ghetto for
1768-427: The Home Army killed Franz Bürkl during Operation Bürkl . Bürkl was a high-ranking Gestapo agent responsible for the murder and brutal interrogation of thousands of Polish Jews and resistance fighters and supporters. In reprisal, 20 inmates of Pawiak were murdered in a public execution by the Nazis. In November 1943, Operation Most III started. The Armia Krajowa provided the Allies with crucial intelligence on
1836-684: The Home Army units cooperated with reconnaissance groups of the Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front . The Red Army entered the city on 15 July, and the NKVD started to intern all Polish soldiers. On 16 July, the HQ of the 3rd Belorussian Front invited Polish officers to a meeting and arrested them. On 23 July the Lwów Uprising – the armed struggle started by the Armia Krajowa against
1904-511: The NSZ. It was a method of political warfare practiced against the NSZ also by the Ministry of Public Security of Poland and Milicja Obywatelska (MO) right after the war, as revealed by communist Poland's court documents. The National Armed Forces (though not uniformly ) did not accept Jews in their ranks, and expressed explicit anti-semitic sentiment. The solution of the Jewish question
1972-1020: The National Armed Forces were on the lookout for Jews hiding in the forests to deliver to the Germans. In Radom, the National Armed Forces cooperated with the Germans towards that goal in 1943–1944. According to the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust , Polish Jews who had sought shelter among ethnic Poles after escaping from ghettos were directly murdered by the National Armed Forces. According to other sources, many National Armed Forces soldiers and their families are credited with having saved Jews, including such noted ones as Maria Bernstein, Leon Goldman, Jonte Goldman, and Dr. Turski. The National Armed Forces did have Jews in its ranks, including Calel Perechodnik , Wiktor Natanson, Captain Roman Born-Bornstein (chief physician of
2040-673: The Nazi occupiers in Lwów during World War II – started. It started in July 1944 as a part of a plan of all-national uprising codenamed Operation Tempest. The fighting lasted until 27 July and resulted in liberation of the city. However, shortly afterwards the Polish soldiers were arrested by the invading Soviets and either forced to join the Red Army or sent to the Gulags . The city itself
2108-439: The Polish resistance, presented to his superiors a plan to enter Germany's Auschwitz concentration camp , gather intelligence on the camp from the inside, and organize inmate resistance. The Home Army approved this plan, provided him a false identity card, and on 19 September 1940, he deliberately went out during a street roundup ( łapanka ) in Warsaw and was caught by the Germans along with other civilians and sent to Auschwitz. In
Zośka Battalion - Misplaced Pages Continue
2176-509: The Polish territories is of great importance for future development because it frees us from a million-headed parasite. From November 1944 to mid-1947, during the period of armed anti-communist insurgency against the Soviet takeover of Poland, many Jews who were part of communist groups were killed by the National Armed Forces. In Warsaw, the National Armed Forces killed Jerzy Makowiecki and Ludwik Widerszal, two Polish Home Army officers of Jewish origin. Polish historian Alina Cała said that
2244-746: The Underground, the Germans failed. On the night from 7 to 8 October 1942 Operation Wieniec started. It targeted rail infrastructure near Warsaw. Similar operations aimed at disrupting and harrying German transport and communication in occupied Poland occurred in the coming months and years. It targeted railroads, bridges and supply depots, primarily near transport hubs such as Warsaw and Lublin . In early 1943 two Polish janitors of Peenemünde's Camp Trassenheide provided maps, sketches and reports to Armia Krajowa Intelligence, and in June 1943 British intelligence had received two such reports which identified
2312-631: The advancing Red Army and, after negotiating a ceasefire with the Germans, moved into the Nazi-controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . It resumed operations against the Nazis on 5 May 1945 in Bohemia , where the brigade liberated prisoners from a concentration camp in Holýšov , including 280 Jewish women prisoners slated for death. Members of the NSZ, like other " cursed soldiers ", and their families were persecuted during
2380-667: The camp he organized the underground organization – Związek Organizacji Wojskowej – ZOW. From October 1940, ZOW sent its first report about the camp and the genocide in November 1940 to Home Army Headquarters in Warsaw through the resistance network organized in Auschwitz. During the night of 21–22 January 1940, in the Soviet-occupied Podolian town of Czortków , the Czortków Uprising started; it
2448-584: The codename "Rygor" – Polish for "Rigor") set up " Agency Africa ", one of World War II's most successful intelligence organizations. His Polish allies in these endeavors included Lt. Col. Gwido Langer and Major Maksymilian Ciężki . The information gathered by the Agency was used by the Americans and British in planning the amphibious November 1942 Operation Torch landings in North Africa. These were
2516-579: The command of the AK. The other part became known as the NSZ-ZJ (the Lizard Union). This branch of the NSZ conducted operations against Polish communist activists , partisans and secret police, the Soviet partisans , NKVD and SMERSH , and their own (NSZ) former leaders. The NSZ's program included the fight for Polish independence against Nazi Germany as well as against the Soviet Union . Its goal
2584-557: The communist Armia Ludowa, which never merged with AK, numbered about 30,000 people. One estimate for the summer 1944 strength of AK and its allies, including NSZ, gives its strength at 650,000. Overall, the Polish resistance have often been described as the largest or one of the largest resistance organizations in World War II Europe. On 9 November 1939, two soldiers of the Polish army – Witold Pilecki and Major Jan Włodarkiewicz – founded
2652-717: The destruction of the evidence of mass murder, were rescued from certain death. Most of these survivors joined the Zośka unit and fought in the Warsaw uprising. Other famous Home Army battalions were: Miotła , Czata , Pięść , and Batalion Parasol . Between 1944 and 1956, all surviving former members of Batalion Zośka were incarcerated in the Soviet NKVD prisons. Polish resistance movement in World War II Polish Victory [REDACTED] Germany [REDACTED] Polish Underground State [REDACTED] Germany [REDACTED] Ukrainian Insurgent Army [REDACTED] Polish Underground State [REDACTED] Polish People's Army In Poland,
2720-412: The doctrine of the National Armed Forces was primarily the elimination of what they considered to be Communist bands. According to sociologist Tadeusz Piotrowski , these attacks later "became more focused on individual Jews who were placed in highly visible positions of authority in the PRL [People's Republic of Poland]". In some districts, the National Armed Forces actively pursued Jews. Some units of
2788-403: The fight for Poland's sovereignty, Polish authorities recognized National Armed Forces underground soldiers as war veterans. NSZ soldiers were rehabilitated, including some controversial ones, for instance, Mieczysław Pazderski, who in 1945 murdered almost 200 Ukrainian villagers in Wierzchowina , and who was awarded two medals by Polish president Lech Wałęsa . The Polish Parliament Sejm passed
Zośka Battalion - Misplaced Pages Continue
2856-460: The first large-scale Allied landings of the war, and their success in turn paved the way for the Allies' Italian campaign. On 20 June 1942, the most spectacular escape from Auschwitz concentration camp took place. Four Poles, Eugeniusz Bendera, Kazimierz Piechowski , Stanisław Gustaw Jaster and Józef Lempart made a daring escape. The escapees were dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände , fully armed and in an SS staff car. They drove out
2924-400: The first time, the Jews and the Polish bandits succeeded in repelling the participating units, including tanks and armored cars, by a well-prepared concentration of fire. (...) The main Jewish battle group, mixed with Polish bandits, had already retired during the first and second day to the so-called Muranowski Square. There, it was reinforced by a considerable number of Polish bandits. Its plan
2992-420: The ghetto along with ŻZW . Subsequently, both groups retreated together (including 34 Jewish fighters). Although Iwański's action is the most well-known rescue mission, it was only one of many actions undertaken by the Polish resistance to help the Jewish fighters. In one attack, three cell units of AK under the command of Kapitan Józef Pszenny ("Chwacki") tried to breach the ghetto walls with explosives, but
3060-405: The ghetto. In 1942 Jan Karski reported to the Polish, British and U.S. governments on the situation in Poland, especially the Holocaust of the Jews. He met with Polish politicians in exile including the prime minister, and members of political parties such as the Socialist Party , National Party , Labor Party , People's Party , Jewish Bund and Poalei Zion . He also spoke to Anthony Eden ,
3128-422: The largest battles between the Polish resistance and Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II – was fought, in what was essentially a continuation of the Zamość Uprising . In 1943 the Home Army built up its forces in preparation for a national uprising. The plan of national anti-Nazi uprising on areas of prewar Poland was code-named Operation Tempest . Preparation began in late 1943 but
3196-516: The main gate in a stolen Steyr 220 automobile with a smuggled report from Witold Pilecki about the Holocaust. Three of the escapees remained free until the end of the war; Jaster, who joined the Polish Underground, was recaptured in 1943 and died shortly afterwards in German custody. In September 1942 "The Żegota Council for the Aid of the Jews" was founded by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz ("Alinka") and made up of Polish Democrats as well as other Catholic activists. Poland
3264-403: The military actions started in 1944. Its most widely known elements were Operation Ostra Brama, Lwów Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising. On 7 July, Operation Ostra Brama started. Approximately 12,500 Home Army soldiers attacked the German garrison and managed to seize most of the city center. Heavy street fighting in the outskirts of the city lasted until 14 July. In Vilnius' eastern suburbs,
3332-415: The numbers grew significantly next year. On 11 February 1944 the Resistance fighters of Polish Home Army 's unit Agat executed Franz Kutschera , SS and Reich 's Police Chief in Warsaw in action known as Operation Kutschera . In a reprisal of this action 27 February 140 inmates of Pawiak – Poles and Jews – were shot in a public execution by the Germans. 13–14 May 1944
3400-433: The organization was incorporated into the Union for Armed Struggle ( Związek Walki Zbrojnej ), later renamed and better known as the Home Army ( Armia Krajowa ). In March 1940, a partisan unit of the first guerrilla commanders in the Second World War in Europe under Major Henryk Dobrzański "Hubal" destroyed a battalion of German infantry in a skirmish near the village of Huciska . A few days later in an ambush near
3468-549: The postwar Stalinist period. In the fall of 1946, 100-200 soldiers of an NSZ unit under the command of Henryk Flame , nom de guerre "Bartek," were lured into a trap and massacred by communist military and police forces. On December 10, 1946 , the District Military Court in Warsaw issued a verdict in the trial of the NSZ command. It was one of many trials organized in the pre-election period to intimidate society. Among those sentenced to death were NSZ officers Col. Piotr Abakanowicz and Michał Pobocha, as well as Stefania Broniewska,
SECTION 50
#17327805644843536-604: The scale and scope of the Polish resistance, Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler noted: "Within the framework of the entire enemy intelligence operations directed against Germany, the intelligence service of the Polish resistance movement assumed major significance. The scope and importance of the operations of the Polish resistance movement, which was ramified down to the smallest splinter group and brilliantly organized, have been in (various sources) disclosed in connection with carrying out of major police security operations." Heinrich Himmler, 31 December 1942 In February 1942, when AK
3604-444: The territory of Poland express their unwavering desire for the return of the sovereignty to the entire area of Poland within the Polish borders established prior to 1939 through the mutually-binding Treaty of Riga and reaffirmed by the general principles of the Atlantic Charter , as well as by the declarations of the Allied governments which did not concede to any territorial changes that took place in Poland after August 1939." During
3672-486: The uprising as a "criminal adventure". The Poles appealed to the Western Allies for help. The Royal Air Force , and the Polish Air Force based in Italy, dropped some munitions, but it was almost impossible for the Allies to help the Poles without Soviet assistance. The fighting in Warsaw was desperate. The AK had between 12,000 and 20,000 armed soldiers, most with only small arms, against a well-armed German Army of 20,000 SS and regular Army units. Bór-Komorowski's hope that
3740-437: The village of Szałasy it inflicted heavy casualties upon another German unit. To counter this threat the German authorities formed a special 1,000 men strong counter-insurgency unit of combined SS – Wehrmacht forces, including a Panzer group. Although the unit of Major Dobrzański never exceeded 300 men, the Germans fielded at least 8,000 men in the area to secure it. In 1940, Witold Pilecki , an intelligence officer for
3808-440: The war, the NSZ fought the Polish communists, including their military organizations such as the Gwardia Ludowa (GL) and the Armia Ludowa (AL). After the war, former NSZ members were persecuted by the newly installed communist government of the Polish People's Republic . Reportedly, communist partisans engaged in planting false evidence, such as documents and forged receipts at the sites of their own robberies, in order to blame
3876-575: The wife of the NSZ commander-in-chief Zygmunt Broniewski , who was in exile. On March 2, 1948, the verdict was announced in the trial of the NSZ Headquarters, accused by the communists of fascism. The District Military Court in Warsaw sentenced to death Col. Stanisław Ksznica and Lech Neyman . Some of the NSZ were responsible for the 1946 pacification of villages in northeast Poland, in which ethnic Belarusian Polish citizens were attacked; 79 were killed. The National Armed Forces were officially dissolved in 1947. In 1992, acknowledging its contribution to
3944-528: Was a Polish right-wing underground military organization of the National Democracy operating from 1942. During World War II , NSZ troops fought against Nazi Germany and communist partisans . There were also cases of fights with the Home Army . At the end of the war, some units and structures of this organization cooperated with the Nazis and Gestapo (as in the case of the Holy Cross Mountains Brigade and Hubert Jura ) and committed crimes motivated by antisemitism . Most NSZ units did not submit to
4012-423: Was a major factor in informing the West. In July 1943, again personally reported to Roosevelt about the situation in Poland. He also met with many other government and civic leaders in the United States, including Felix Frankfurter , Cordell Hull , William Joseph Donovan , and Stephen Wise . Karski also presented his report to media, bishops of various denominations (including Cardinal Samuel Stritch ), members of
4080-442: Was drawing graffiti in Warsaw around Christmas Eve of 1940 commemorating the Wawer massacre . Members of the AK Wawer "Small Sabotage" units painted "Pomścimy Wawer" ("We'll avenge Wawer") on Warsaw walls. At first they painted the whole text, then to save time they shortened it to two letters, P and W. Later they invented Kotwica – "Anchor" – which became the symbol of all Polish resistance in occupied Poland. From April 1941
4148-665: Was formed, it numbered about 100,000 members. In the beginning of 1943, it had reached a strength of about 200,000. In the summer of 1944 when Operation Tempest began, AK reached its highest membership numbers, though the estimates vary from 300,000 to 500,000. The strength of the second largest resistance organization, Bataliony Chłopskie (Peasants' Battalions), can be estimated for summer 1944 (at which time they were mostly merged with AK ) at about 160,000 men. The third largest group include NSZ (National Armed Forces) with approximately 70,000 men around 1943–1944; only small parts of that force were merged with AK. At its height in 1944,
SECTION 60
#17327805644844216-450: Was occupied by the Soviet Union. In August 1944, as the Soviet armed forces approached Warsaw, the government in exile called for an uprising in the city, so that they could return to a liberated Warsaw and try to prevent a communist take-over. The AK, led by Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski , launched the Warsaw Uprising . Soviet forces were less than 20 km away but on the orders of Soviet High Command they gave no assistance. Stalin described
4284-402: Was routed and the entire force was disbanded by the Germans soon afterwards. On 14 June 1944 the Battle of Porytowe Wzgórze took place between Polish and Russian partisans, numbering around 3,000, and the Nazi German units consisted of between 25,000 and 30,000 soldiers, with artillery, tanks and armored cars and air support. On 25–26 June 1944 the Battle of Osuchy – one of
4352-419: Was the Armia Krajowa (Home Army, AK), loyal to the Polish government in exile in London. The AK was formed in 1942 from the Union of Armed Struggle ( Związek Walki Zbrojnej or ZWZ, itself created in 1939) and would eventually incorporate most other Polish armed resistance groups (except for the communists and some far-right groups). It was the military arm of the Polish Underground State and loyal to
4420-511: Was the first Polish uprising during World War II. Anti-Soviet Poles, most of them teenagers from local high schools, stormed the local Red Army barracks and a prison, in order to release Polish soldiers kept there. At the end of 1940 Aleksander Kamiński created a Polish youth resistance organization, known as "Wawer". It was part of the Szare Szeregi (the underground Polish Scouting Association ). This organisation carried out many minor sabotage operations in occupied Poland. Its first action
4488-481: Was the only country in occupied Europe where there existed such a dedicated secret organization. Half of the Jews in Poland who survived the war (thus over 50,000) were aided in some shape or form by Żegota. The best-known activist of Żegota was Irena Sendler , head of the children's division, who saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto , providing them with false documents, and sheltering them in individual and group children's homes outside
4556-525: Was to hold the Ghetto by every means in order to prevent us from invading it. (...) Time and again Polish bandits found refuge in the Ghetto and remained there undisturbed, since we had no forces at our disposal to comb out this maze. (...) One such battle group succeeded in mounting a truck by ascending from a sewer in the so-called Prosta [Street], and in escaping with it (about 30 to 35 bandits). (...) The bandits and Jews – there were Polish bandits among these gangs armed with carbines, small arms, and in one case
4624-437: Was to keep the Second Polish Republic 's prewar eastern territories and borders , while regaining additional former German territories to the west , which they deemed "ancient Slavic lands". The General Directive Nr. 3 of the National Armed Forces General Command, L. 18/44 from January 15, 1944, reads: "In the face of crossing of Polish borders by Soviet forces, the Polish Government in London and its Polish citizens living on
#483516