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Polish resistance movement in World War II

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Polish resistance during World War II
Part ofResistance during World War IIand theEastern FrontofWorld War II

Sequentially from top: soldiers from Kolegium "A" ofKedywon Stawki Street inWoladistrict, during theWarsaw Uprising,1944; Jewish prisoners ofGęsiówkaconcentration camp liberated by PolishHome Armysoldiers from"Zośka" Battalion,5 August 1944; Polish partisans of "Jędrusie"unit inKielcearea, 1945; Old Town of Warsaw in flames during Warsaw Uprising
Date27 September 1939–25 July 1945
(anti-communist resistance continued until mid-1950s)
Location
Poland,present-dayLithuania,Belarus,Ukraine.
Result

Polish Victory

Territorial
changes		 Borders of Polandaltered; prewareastern territoriesof Polandceded to the Soviet Unionin exchange forformer German territoriesin the West
Belligerents

Germany

Soviet Union
(1939–1941; after 1944 against non-Communists only)
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
(1943–1945)

Polish Underground State

Peasants' Battalions[b]
National Armed Forces[c]
and others...
Supported by:
Polish Government-in-Exile
Western Allies
Provisional Government[d] Supported by:
Soviet Union(After 1941)
Commanders and leaders
Strength
1,080,000 (1944) Polish Underground State
650,000 (1944)[1]
Polish People's Army
~200,000
Casualties and losses

Germany

  • up to 150,000 killed, 6,000 officials assassinated
  • 4,326 damaged or destroyed vehicles
  • 1/8 ofEastern Frontrail transport damaged or destroyed

Ukrainian Insurgent Army

  • 6,000–12,000 killed

Polish Underground State

  • ~34,000–100,000 killed
  • 20,000–50,000 wounded or captured

Polish People's Army

  • ~5,000–10,000

In Poland, theresistance movementduringWorld War IIwas led by theHome Army.The Polish resistance is notable among others for disrupting German supply lines to theEastern Front(damaging or destroying 1/8 of all rail transports), and providingintelligence reportsto theBritishintelligence agencies(providing 43% of all reports fromoccupied Europe). It was a part of thePolish Underground State.

Organizations[edit]

The largest of all Polish resistance organizations was theArmia Krajowa(Home Army, AK), loyal to thePolish government in exilein London. The AK was formed in 1942 from theUnion of Armed Struggle(Związek Walki Zbrojnejor ZWZ, itself created in 1939) and would eventually incorporate most other Polish armed resistance groups (except for thecommunistsand somefar-rightgroups).[2][3]It was the military arm of thePolish Underground Stateand loyal to thePolish government in Exile.[2]

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 theNational Armed Forcesand the pro-Soviet and communistPeople's Army(PolishArmia Ludowaor AL), backed by theSoviet Unionand established by thePolish Workers' Party(PolishPolska Partia Robotniczaor PPR).[12]

Regarding the scale and scope of the Polish resistance,Reichsfuhrer-SSHeinrich Himmlernoted:

"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[13]

Size[edit]

In February 1942, when AK was formed, it numbered about 100,000 members.[3]In the beginning of 1943, it had reached a strength of about 200,000.[3]In the summer of 1944 whenOperation Tempestbegan, AK reached its highest membership numbers, though the estimates vary from 300,000[14]to 500,000.[15]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[4]) at about 160,000 men.[16]The third largest group includeNSZ(National Armed Forces) with approximately 70,000 men around 1943–1944; only small parts of that force were merged with AK.[9]At its height in 1944, the communist Armia Ludowa, which never merged with AK, numbered about 30,000 people.[12]One estimate for the summer 1944 strength of AK and its allies, including NSZ, gives its strength at 650,000.[1]Overall, the Polish resistance have often been described as the largest or one of the largest resistance organizations in World War II Europe.[a]

Actions, operations, and intelligence, 1939–1945[edit]

1939[edit]

Witold Pilecki– founder of theTAPorganisation and the secret agent of Polish resistance inAuschwitz

On 9 November 1939, two soldiers of the Polish army –Witold Pileckiand MajorJan Włodarkiewicz– founded theSecret Polish Army(Tajna Armia Polska,TAP), one of the first underground organizations in Poland after defeat.[17]Pilecki became its organizational commander as TAP expanded to cover not onlyWarsawbutSiedlce,Radom,Lublinand other major cities of central Poland.[18]By 1940, TAP had approximately 8,000 men (more than half of them armed), some 20machine gunsand severalanti-tank rifles.Later, the organization was incorporated into theUnion for Armed Struggle(Związek Walki Zbrojnej), later renamed and better known as the Home Army (Armia Krajowa).[19]

1940[edit]

MajorHenryk Dobrzańskiaka "Hubal"

In March 1940, a partisan unit of the firstguerrillacommanders in the Second World War in Europe under MajorHenryk Dobrzański "Hubal"destroyed abattalionof German infantry in a skirmish near the village ofHuciska.A few days later in an ambush near 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 strongcounter-insurgency unitof combinedSS–Wehrmachtforces, including aPanzergroup. Although the unit of Major Dobrzański never exceeded 300 men, the Germans fielded at least 8,000 men in the area to secure it.[20][21]

In 1940,Witold Pilecki,anintelligence officerfor the Polish resistance, presented to his superiors a plan to enter Germany'sAuschwitz concentration camp,gather intelligence on the camp from the inside, and organize inmate resistance.[22]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 the camp he organized the underground organization –Związek Organizacji Wojskowej– ZOW.[23]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.[24]

"Hubal" and his partisan unit –winter 1940

During the night of 21–22 January 1940, in the Soviet-occupiedPodoliantown ofCzortków,theCzortków Uprisingstarted; it was the first Polish uprising during World War II. Anti-Soviet Poles, most of them teenagers from local high schools, stormed the localRed Armybarracks and a prison, in order to release Polish soldiers kept there.

At the end of 1940Aleksander Kamińskicreated a Polish youth resistance organization, known as "Wawer".[25]It was part of theSzare Szeregi(the undergroundPolish Scouting Association). This organisation carried out manyminor sabotageoperations in occupied Poland. Its first action was drawinggraffitiinWarsawaround Christmas Eve of 1940 commemorating theWawer massacre.[26]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 inventedKotwica– "Anchor" – which became the symbol of all Polish resistance in occupied Poland.[27]

1941[edit]

łapanka, possibly the one in whichWitold Pileckiwas captured in autumn 1941, Warsaw, Żoliborz.

From April 1941 theBureau of Information and Propagandaof theUnion for Armed StrugglestartedOperation Nheaded byTadeusz Żenczykowski.It involvedsabotage,subversionandblack-propagandaactivities.[28]

From March 1941, Witold Pilecki's reports were forwarded to thePolish government in exileand through it, to the British and other Allied governments. These reports informed the Allies about theHolocaustand were the principal source of intelligence onAuschwitz-Birkenaufor the Western Allies.[29]

On 7 March 1941, two Polish agents of the Home Army killed NazicollaboratoractorIgo Symin his apartment in Warsaw. In reprisal, 21 Polish hostages were executed. Several Polish actors were also arrested by the Nazis and sent toAuschwitz,among them such notable figures as directorsStefan JaraczandLeon Schiller.

In July 1941Mieczysław Słowikowski(using the codename "Rygor" – Polish for "Rigor" ) set up "Agency Africa",one of World War II's most successful intelligence organizations.[30]His Polish allies in these endeavors included Lt. Col.Gwido Langerand MajorMaksymilian Ciężki.The information gathered by the Agency was used by the Americans and British in planning the amphibious November 1942Operation Torch[31]landings in North Africa. These were the first large-scale Allied landings of the war, and their success in turn paved the way for the Allies'Italiancampaign.

1942[edit]

Polish partisan Zdzisław de Ville "Zdzich", member of AK "Jędrusie"withPolish versionof theM1918 BAR

On 20 June 1942, the most spectacular escape fromAuschwitz concentration camptook place. Four Poles, Eugeniusz Bendera,[32]Kazimierz Piechowski,Stanisław Gustaw Jaster and Józef Lempart made a daring escape.[33]The escapees were dressed as members of theSS-Totenkopfverbände,fully armed and in an SS staff car. They drove out the main gate in a stolenSteyr220 automobile with a smuggled report fromWitold Pileckiabout 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.[34]

In September 1942 "The Żegota Council for the Aid of the Jews" was founded byZofia Kossak-SzczuckaandWanda Krahelska-Filipowicz( "Alinka" ) and made up of Polish Democrats as well as otherCatholicactivists. Poland 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.[35]The best-known activist of Żegota wasIrena Sendler,head of the children's division, who saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of theWarsaw Ghetto,providing them with false documents, and sheltering them in individual and group children's homes outside the ghetto.[36]

In 1942Jan Karskireported 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 theSocialist Party,National Party,Labor Party,People's Party,Jewish BundandPoalei Zion.He also spoke toAnthony Eden,the British foreign secretary, and included a detailed statement on what he had seen in Warsaw and Bełżec.[37][38]

TheZamość Uprisingwas an armed uprising of Armia Krajowa andBataliony Chłopskieagainst the forcedexpulsion of Polesfrom theZamośćregion under theNaziGeneralplan Ost.[39]The Germans attempted to remove the local Poles from the Greater Zamość area (through forced removal, transfer toforced laborcamps, or, in some cases,mass murder) to get it ready for Germancolonization.It lasted from 1942 until 1944 and despite heavy casualties suffered by the Underground, the Germans failed.[40][41]

On the night from 7 to 8 October 1942Operation Wieniecstarted. It targeted rail infrastructure near Warsaw. Similar operations aimed at disrupting and harrying German transport and communication inoccupied Polandoccurred in the coming months and years. It targeted railroads, bridges and supply depots, primarily near transport hubs such as Warsaw andLublin.[41]

1943[edit]

Soldiers fromKolegium "A"ofKedywon Stawki Street inWoladistrict –Warsaw Uprising1944
Polish partisans fromKielcearea – unit "Jędrusie"1945
Page 5 ofStroop Reportdescribing German fight against "Juden mit polnischen Banditen" – "Jews with Polish bandits".[42]

In early 1943 two Polish janitors[43]of Peenemünde's Camp Trassenheide provided maps,[44]sketches and reports to Armia Krajowa Intelligence, and in June 1943 British intelligence had received two such reports which identified the "rocket assembly hall', 'experimental pit', and 'launching tower'. When reconnaissance and intelligence information regarding theV-2rocket became convincing, theWar CabinetDefence Committee (Operations)directed the campaign's first planned raid (theOperation Hydra bombingofPeenemündein August 1943) andOperation Crossbow.[45]

On 26 March 1943 in WarsawOperation Arsenalwas launched by theSzare Szeregi(Gray Ranks)Polish UndergroundThe successful operation led to the release of arrested troop leaderJan Bytnar "Rudy".In an attack on the prison, Bytnar and 24 other prisoners were freed.[citation needed]

In 1943 in LondonJan Karskimet the then much known journalistArthur Koestler.He then traveled to the United States and reported to PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt.His report 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, includingFelix Frankfurter,Cordell Hull,William Joseph Donovan,andStephen Wise.Karski also presented his report to media, bishops of various denominations (including CardinalSamuel Stritch), members of theHollywoodfilm 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 thePolish government in exile.[37]

Main article:Ghetto Action

In April 1943 the Germans began deporting the remaining Jews from theWarsaw ghettoprovoking theWarsaw Ghetto Rising,19 April to 16 May.Polish Underground StateorderedGhetto Action– a series of combat actions carried out by the Home Army during the uprising between 19 April 1943 and May 16, 1943.[46]

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, theNational Security Corps(Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa), under the command ofHenryk Iwański( "Bystry" ), fought inside the ghetto along withŻZW.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.[47]In one attack, three cell units of AK under the command ofKapitanJózef Pszenny( "Chwacki" ) tried to breach the ghetto walls with explosives, but the Germans defeated this action.[43]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.[43][46]Participation of the Polish underground in the uprising was many times confirmed bya report of the German commander–Jürgen Stroop.[48]

When we invaded the Ghetto for 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 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 a light machine gun – mounted the truck and drove away in an unknown direction.[48]

AK members recoveringV-2from theBug River.

In August 1943 the headquarters of theArmia KrajowaorderedOperation Beltwhich 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.[49]

Operation Headsbegan: the serial executions of German personnel who had been sentenced to death by Polishunderground Special Courtsfor crimes against Polish citizens in German-occupied Poland.[41]

On 7 September 1943, the Home Army killedFranz BürklduringOperation Bürkl.Bürkl was a high-rankingGestapoagent responsible for the murder and brutal interrogation of thousands ofPolish Jewsand resistance fighters and supporters. In reprisal, 20 inmates ofPawiakwere murdered in a public execution by the Nazis.[41]

In November 1943,Operation Most IIIstarted. The Armia Krajowa provided the Allies with crucial intelligence on the GermanV-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 toBrindisiby aRoyal Air ForceDouglas Dakotaaircraft. In late July 1944, the V-2 parts were delivered to London.[41][50]

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 the numbers grew significantly next year.[51]

1944[edit]

Polish resistance soldiers fromBatalion Zośkaduring 1944Warsaw Uprising

On 11 February 1944 the Resistance fighters of PolishHome Army's unitAgatexecutedFranz Kutschera,SSandReich's Police Chief in Warsaw in action known asOperation Kutschera.[52][53]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 theBattle of Murowana Oszmiankathe largest clash between the Polish anti-Nazi Armia Krajowa and the NaziLithuanian Territorial Defense Forcea Lithuanian volunteer security force subordinated toNazi Germany.[54]The battle took place in and near the village of Murowana Oszmianka in theGeneralbezirk LitauenofReichskommissariat Ostland.The outcome of the battle was that the 301st LVR battalion was routed and the entire force was disbanded by the Germans soon afterwards.[55]

On 14 June 1944 theBattle of Porytowe Wzgórzetook 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.[citation needed]

On 25–26 June 1944 theBattle of Osuchy– one of 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 theZamość Uprising.[56]

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-namedOperation Tempest.[57]Preparation began in late 1943 but the military actions started in 1944. Its most widely known elements were Operation Ostra Brama, Lwów Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising.[58][59][60][61]

On 7 July,Operation Ostra Bramastarted. 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, the Home Army units cooperated with reconnaissance groups of the Soviet3rd Belorussian Front.[62]TheRed Armyentered the city on 15 July, and theNKVDstarted to intern all Polish soldiers. On 16 July, the HQ of the 3rd Belorussian Front invited Polish officers to a meeting and arrested them.[63][64][65]

"Gray Wolf" with Polish flag: GermanSd.Kfz. 251armored vehicle captured by the 8thKrybarRegiment of the Warsaw resistance on 14 August 1944 from the5th Wiking SS Panzer Division

On 23 July theLwów Uprising– the armed struggle started by the Armia Krajowa against the Nazi occupiers inLwówduring 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.[66]However, shortly afterwards the Polish soldiers were arrested by the invading Soviets and either forced to join the Red Army or sent to theGulags.The city itself was occupied by the Soviet Union.[67]

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 byTadeusz Bór-Komorowski,launched theWarsaw Uprising.[68]Soviet forces were less than 20 km away but on the orders of Soviet High Command they gave no assistance. Stalin described the uprising as a "criminal adventure". The Poles appealed to the Western Allies for help. TheRoyal 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 20,000SSand regular Army units. Bór-Komorowski's hope that 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 theReich,while 60,000 were shipped to death and concentration camps such asRavensbrück,Auschwitz,Mauthausenand 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.

1945[edit]

Main article:Cursed soldiers

In March 1945, astaged trialof 16 leaders of thePolish Underground Stateheld by theSoviet Uniontook place inMoscow– (Trial of the Sixteen).[69][70][71][72]TheGovernment Delegate,together with most members of theCouncil of National Unityand theC-i-Cof theArmia Krajowa,were invited by Soviet generalIvan Serovwith agreement ofJoseph Stalinto a conference on their eventual entry to the Soviet-backed Provisional Government. They were presented with a warrant of safety, yet they were arrested inPruszkówby theNKVDon 27 and 28 March.[73][74]Leopold Okulicki,Jan Stanisław JankowskiandKazimierz Pużakwere arrested on 27th with 12 more the next day. A. Zwierzynski had been arrested earlier. They were brought to Moscow for interrogation in the Lubyanka.[75][76][77]After several months of brutal interrogation and torture,[78]they were presented with the forged accusations of "collaborationwithNazi Germany"and" planning a military alliance with Nazi Germany ".[79][80]

In the latter years of the war, there wereincreasing conflicts between Polish and Soviet partisans.Cursed soldierscontinued to oppose the Soviets long after the war. The last cursed soldier – member of the militantanti-communist resistance in PolandwasJózef Franczakwho was killed with pistol in his hand byZOMOin 1963.[citation needed]

On 5 May 1945 inBohemia,theNarodowe Siły Zbrojnebrigade liberated prisoners from a Naziconcentration campinHoliszowo,including 280 Jewish women prisoners.[81]The brigade suffered heavy casualties.[citation needed]

On 7 May 1945 in the village ofKuryłówka,southeastern Poland, theBattle of Kuryłówkastarted. It was the biggest battle in the history of theCursed soldiersorganization –National Military Alliance(NZW). In battle against Soviet Union'sNKVDunits anti-communist partisans shot 70 NKVD agents. The battle ended in a victory for the underground Polish forces.[82]

On 21 May 1945, a unit of the Armia Krajowa, led by ColonelEdward Wasilewski,attacked a NKVD camp in Rembertówon the eastern outskirts of Warsaw. The Soviets kept there hundreds of Poles,[83][84][85]members of the Home Army,[86]whom they were systematicallydeporting to Siberia.However, this action of thepro-independence Polish resistancefreed all Polish political prisoners from the camp. Between 1944 and 1946, cursed soldiers attacked many communist prisons in Soviet-occupied Poland – seeRaids on communist prisons in Poland (1944–1946).[citation needed]

From 10 to 25 June 1945,Augustów chase 1945(the PolishObława augustowska) took place. It was a large-scale operation undertaken by Soviet forces of theRed Army,theNKVDandSMERSH,with the assistance of PolishUBandLWPunits againstformer Armia Krajowa soldiersin theSuwałkiandAugustówregion in Poland. The operation also covered territory in occupiedLithuania.More than 2,000 alleged Polishanticommunistfighters were captured and detained in Russianinternment camps.600 of the "Augustów Missing" are presumed dead and buried in an unknown location in the present territory of Russia. The Augustów Roundup was part of an anti-guerilla operation in Lithuania.

Formations[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Started asService for Poland's Victoryin September 1939 and reformed into theUnion of Armed Strugglein November the same year. This in turn became the Home Army in February 1942.
  2. ^Integrated into the Home Army in 1944.
  3. ^Formed from the merger of theNational Military OrganizationandMilitary Organization Lizard Unionin 1942. Partially integrated into the Home Army in March 1944 (NSZ-AK), while remaining units continued independently (NSZ-ZJ).
  4. ^ThePolish Workers' Partyestablished theState National Councilto rival thePolish Underground Statein December 1943. The Council established thePolish Committee of National Liberationin July 1944 which evolved into the Provisional Government of Poland in December 1944.

a^A number of sources note that the Home Army, representing the bulk of Polish resistance, was the largest resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe.Norman Davieswrites that the "Armia Krajowa (Home Army), the AK,... could fairly claim to be the largest of European resistance [organizations]."[88]Gregor Dallaswrites that the "Home Army (Armia Krajowa or AK) in late 1943 numbered around 400,000, making it the largest resistance organization in Europe."[89]Mark Wymanwrites that the "Armia Krajowa was considered the largest underground resistance unit in wartime Europe."[90]The numbers ofSoviet partisanswere very similar to those of the Polish resistance.[91]

References[edit]

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  28. ^Halina Auderska, Zygmunt Ziółek,Akcja N. Wspomnienia 1939–1945(Action N. Memoirs 1939–1945), Wydawnictwo Czytelnik, Warszawa, 1972(in Polish)
  29. ^Norman Davies,Europe: A History,Oxford University Press, 1996,[ISBN missing]
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  32. ^Wojciech Zawadzki (2012),Eugeniusz Bendera (1906–1970).Przedborski Słownik Biograficzny, via Internet Archive.
  33. ^"Byłem Numerem: swiadectwa Z Auschwitz" by Kazimierz Piechowski, Eugenia Bozena Kodecka-Kaczynska, Michal Ziokowski, Hardcover, Wydawn. Siostr Loretanek,ISBN8372571228
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  35. ^Tadeusz Piotrowski(1997)."Assistance to Jews".Poland's Holocaust.McFarland & Company. p. 118.ISBN978-0786403714.
  36. ^Baczynska, Gabriela; JonBoyle (12 May 2008)."Sendler, savior of Warsaw Ghetto children, dies".Washington Post.Retrieved12 May2008.[dead link]
  37. ^abKarski (2013)
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  40. ^Joseph Poprzeczny,Odilo Globocnik, Hitler's Man in the East,McFarland, 2004,ISBN0786416254
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  44. ^ Jedd, Joseph (1994)."Poland's Contribution in the Field of Intelligence to the Victory in the Second World War".The Summit Times.Vol. 2, no. 5–6.Retrieved9 November2008.
  45. ^Michael J. NeufeldThe Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile EraNew York 1995, The Free Press[ISBN missing]
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  49. ^Aleksander KamińskiKamienie na szaniecISBN8310105053
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  51. ^Roy Francis Leslie,The History of Poland Since 1863,Cambridge University Press, 1983,ISBN0521275016,Google Print, pp. 234–235
  52. ^Piotr Stachniewicz, "AKCJA" KUTSCHERA ", Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1982,
  53. ^Joachim Lilla (Bearb.):Die Stellvertretenden Gauleiter und die Vertretung der Gauleiter der NSDAP im „Dritten Reich ",Koblenz 2003, S. 52–53 (Materialien aus dem Bundesarchiv, Heft 13)ISBN3865090206
  54. ^Bernard Chiari; Jerzy Kochanowski (2003).Die polnische Heimatarmee: Geschichte und Mythos der Armia Krajowa seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg(in German). Munich: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt; Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. pp. 630–631.ISBN978-3486567151.Retrieved18 March2008.
  55. ^Tadeusz Piotrowski(1997).Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide...McFarland & Company. pp. 165–166.ISBN978-0786403714.Retrieved15 March2008.See alsoreviewArchived29 June 2016 at theWayback Machine
  56. ^Martin Gilbert,Second World War A Complete History,Holt Paperbacks, 2004,ISBN0805076239,Google Print, p. 542Archived19 May 2016 at theWayback Machine
  57. ^Włodzimierz Borodziej,Barbara Harshav (transl.),The Warsaw uprising of 1944.University of Wisconsin Press, 2006.
  58. ^Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski,The secret army,London: Victor Gollancz, 1951.
  59. ^Władysław Bartoszewski(1984). Dni Walczącej Stolicy: kronika Powstania Warszawskiego. Warsaw: Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego; Świat Książki.ISBN978-8373916791.
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  61. ^Norman Davies,(2004).Rising '44. The Battle for Warsaw,New York: Viking.ISBN978-0670032846.
  62. ^G J Ashworth (1991).War and the City.London: Routledge. p. 108.ISBN978-0415053471.
  63. ^Anthony James Joes(2004).Resisting Rebellion: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency.University Press of Kentucky. p. 47.ISBN978-0813123394.
  64. ^Michael Alfred Peszke (2004).The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies, and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II.McFarland & Company. p. 146.ISBN978-0786420094.
  65. ^Jan M. Ciechanowski (2002).The Warsaw Rising of 1944.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 206–208.ISBN978-0521894418.
  66. ^Jerzy Węgierski "W lwowskiej Armii Krajowej" PAX, Warszawa 1989ISBN8321110444
  67. ^Bolesław Tomaszewski, Jerzy Węgierski "Zarys historii lwowskiego obszaru ZWZ-AK" Warsaw 1987 Pokolenie
  68. ^Polish Underground State – a Guide to the Underground, 1939–1945Columbia University Press, 1978 and Hippocrene Books, Inc. New York, 1981
  69. ^Prazmowska, A. (2004)Civil war in Poland, 1942–1948PalgraveISBN0333982126p. 115
  70. ^Malcher, G.C.(1993)Blank PagesPyrford PressISBN1897984006.p. 73.
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  72. ^Garlinski, J. (1985)Poland in the Second World WarMacmillanISBN0333392582,p, 324
  73. ^Prazmowska, A. (2004)Civil war in Poland, 1942–1948PalgraveISBN0333982126p. 116
  74. ^Michta, A. (1990)Red EagleStanford UniversityISBN0817988629p. 39
  75. ^Garlinski, J. (1985)Poland in the Second World WarMacmillanISBN0333392582pp. 325–326
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  77. ^Piesakowski, T. (1990)The fate of Poles in the USSR 1939~1989Gryf pp. 198–199
  78. ^Garlinski, J. (1985)Poland in the Second World WarMacmillanISBN0333392582p. 335
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  81. ^Antonin Bohun Dabrowski in "Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust" edited by Richard Lukas, p 22."Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust".Archivedfrom the original on 3 June 2016.Retrieved2015-07-30– via Google Books.
  82. ^Norman Davies, "Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory",Viking Penguin 2006
  83. ^Norman Davies,Rising '44,2004, Viking Penguin,ISBN0670032840,p. 495
  84. ^Norman Davies,Rising '44,2003, Macmillan,ISBN0333905687,p. 495
  85. ^Norman Davies,Rising '44,2004, Pan,ISBN0330488635,p. 497
  86. ^Tadeusz Piotrowsk,Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947,McFarland & Company, 1998,ISBN0786403713,p. 131 (Google Print)
  87. ^Bohdan Kwiatkowski, Sabotaż i dywersja, Bellona, London 1949, vol. 1, p. 21; as cited by Marek Ney-Krwawicz,The Polish Underground State and The Home Army (1939–45)Archived24 August 2016 at theWayback Machine.Translated from Polish by Antoni Bohdanowicz. Article on the pages of the London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
  88. ^Norman Davies (28 February 2005).God's Playground: 1795 to the present.Columbia University Press. p.344.ISBN978-0231128193.Retrieved30 May2012.
  89. ^Gregor Dallas,1945: The War That Never Ended,Yale University Press, 2005,ISBN0300109806,Google Print, p. 79Archived19 December 2016 at theWayback Machine
  90. ^Mark Wyman,DPs: Europe's Displaced Persons, 1945–1951,Cornell University Press, 1998,ISBN0801485428,Google Print, p. 34
  91. ^See, for example, Leonid D. Grenkevich,The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941–44: A Critical Historiographical Analysis,p. 229, andWalter Laqueur,The Guerilla Reader: A Historical Anthology,New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1990, p. 233.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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