, Poland, 11 November 2008]]
The
Armia Krajowa (, abbreviated
AK), or
Home Army, was the dominant
Polish resistance movement in World War II German-
occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the
Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Union for Armed Struggle). Over the next two years, it absorbed most other
Polish underground forces. It was loyal to the
Polish government in exile and constituted the armed wing of what became known as the "
Polish Underground State." Estimates of its membership in 1944 range from 200,000 to 600,000, with the most common number being 400,000; that figure would make it not only the largest Polish underground
resistance movement but one of the three largest in Europe during World War II. It was disbanded on January 20, 1945, when
Polish territory had been mostly cleared of German forces by the advancing
Soviet Red Army.
The AK's primary resistance operations were the sabotage of German activities, including transports headed for the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union. The AK also fought several full-scale battles against the Germans, particularly in 1943 and 1944 during Operation Tempest. They tied down significant German forces, diverting much-needed supplies, while trying to support the Soviet military.
The most widely known AK operation was the failed Warsaw Uprising. The AK also defended Polish civilians against atrocities committed by non-German military organizations, such as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Lithuanian Security Police. Due to its ties with the Polish government in exile, the Armia Krajowa was viewed by the Soviet Union as a major obstacle to its takeover of the country. There was increasing conflict between AK and Soviet forces both during and after the war. Considered a model of heroic resistance in modern Poland, Armia Krajowa has occasionally been the subject of controversy. It was portrayed more critically in the Soviet Union (which saw the Underground State as an enemy) and some post-Soviet states (primarily Lithuania and Ukraine, where military groups who cooperated with Germans against the Soviets and/or were trying to separate from Polish control also clashed with the Polish resistance).
History and operations
World War II
The AK's origins were in the
Służba Zwycięstwu Polski (Service for the Victory of Poland), which had been set up, just as the joint
German &
Soviet invasions of Poland were nearing completion, on September 27, 1939, by General
Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski. While these two organizations were the founders of the AK, intended as the main Polish resistance movement, there were numerous other resistance organizations in Poland. A majority of these groups would eventually merge with the ZWZ-AK during the years of 1939-1944, significantly contributing to AK's growth. The supreme command defined the main tasks of the AK as partisan warfare against the German occupiers, recreation of armed forces underground and, near the end of the German occupation, general armed revolt until victory.
Until the major revolt began in 1944, the AK concentrated on self-defence (freeing prisoners and hostages, defence against pacification measures) and striking at the German forces. Throughout the period of its existence AK units carried out thousands of armed raids and intelligence operations, sabotaging hundreds of railway shipments and participating in many partisan clashes and battles with German police and Wehrmacht units. The AK also conducted retaliatory operations to assassinate prominent Nazi collaborators and Gestapo officials in response to Nazi terror tactics imposed on the civilian population of Poland (notable individuals assassinated by AK include Igo Sym and Franz Kutschera). Until 1942, most of British intelligence from Germany came from AK reports; until the end of the war AK would remain the main British source for news from Central and Eastern Europe. Among other topics, provided the Allies with information on German concentration camps, as well as intelligence concerning the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket One Project Big Ben mission used a stripped-for-lightness RAF twin-engine Dakota (Operation Wildhorn III) (Most III) from Brindisi, Italy, to fly to an abandoned German airfield in Poland to retrieve information prepared by engineer and aircraft designer Antoni Kocjan, as well as of cargo regarding V-2 rocket wreckage from a Peenemünde launch, including Special Report 1/R, no. 242, photographs, a select set of eight parts, and drawings of the wreckage. Sabotage was coordinated by the Union of Retaliation and later Wachlarz and Kedyw units. The largest and best known of the Operation Tempest battles was the Warsaw Uprising – the attempt to liberate Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It started on August 1, 1944; the Polish troops took control of significant portion of the city and resisted the German-led forces until October 2 (63 days in total). With no aid from the approaching Red Army, the Germans eventually defeated the rebels and burned the city, finally quelling the Uprising on October 2, 1944. (one should however note that estimates of guerilla warfare inflicted casualties often have a wide margin of error). The AK primary focus was on sabotage of German rail and road transports to the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union. The battles with the Germans, particularly in 1943 and 1944, tied down several German divisions (about 930,000 German soldiers in total).
magazine, 3 January 1943 issue: satire on the Third Reich, featuring Nazi terror and genocide. Right, Hitler and Himmler.]]
{| # !! style="width:600px;" class="wikitable collapsible sortable state = collapsed" "
|+ List of confirmed sabotage-diversionary actions of the Union of Armed Combat (ZWZ) and Home Army (AK) from 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1944
!Sabotage / Diversionary Action Type
!Totals
|-
|Damaged locomotives
|6,930
|-
|Delayed repairs to locomotives
|803
|-
|Derailed transports
|732
|-
|Transports set on fire
|443
|-
|Damage to railway wagons
|19,058
|-
|Blown up railway bridges
|38
|-
|Disruptions to electricity supplies in the Warsaw grid
|638
|-
|Army vehicles damaged or destroyed
|4,326
|-
|Damaged aeroplanes
|28
|-
|Fuel tanks destroyed
|1,167
|-
|Fuel destroyed (in tonnes)
|4,674
|-
|Blocked oil wells
|5
|-
|Wagons of wood wool destroyed
|150
|-
|Military stores burned down
|130
|-
|Disruptions of production in factories
|7
|-
|Built-in faults in parts for aircraft engines
|4,710
|-
|Built-in faults into cannon muzzles
|203
|-
|Built-in faults into artillery missiles
|92,000
|-
|Built-in faults into air traffic radio stations
|107
|-
|Built-in faults into condensers
|70,000
|-
|Built-in faults into (electro-industrial) lathes
|1,700
|-
|Damage to important factory machinery
|2,872
|-
|Various acts of sabotage performed
|25,145
|-
|Planned assassinations of Germans
|5,733
|}
Post-war
, one of the symbols of the Armia Krajowa]]
The AK officially disbanded on January 19, 1945 to avoid armed conflict with the
Soviets and civil war.
The first AK structure designed primarily to deal with the Soviet threat was NIE, formed in mid-1943. NIE's goals was not to engage the Soviet forces in combat, but rather to observe and conduct espionage while the Polish government in exile decided how to deal with the Soviets; at that time the exiled government still believed that the solution could be found through negotiations. On May 7, 1945 NIE ("NO") was disbanded WiN was however in significant need of funds, necessary to pay for false documents and to provide resources for the partisans, many of whom had lost their homes and entire life's savings in the war. Viewed as enemies of the state, starved of resources, and with a vocal faction advocating armed resistance against the Soviets and their Polish proxies, WiN was far from efficient. Many of them were sent to Gulags, executed or "disappeared." For example between 1944–1956 all members of Batalion Zośka unit who took part in Warsaw Uprising was closed in communist jail. In 1956 an amnesty released 35,000 former AK soldiers from prisons: for the crime of fighting for their homeland they had spent sometimes over 10 years in prisons. Even at this time however, some partisans remained in the countryside, unwilling or simply unable to rejoin the community; they became known as the cursed soldiers. Stanisław Marchewka "Ryba" was killed in 1957, and the last AK partisan, Józef Franczak "Lalek," was killed in 1963 380,000, to even "over 600,000." Most estimates put the highest numbers in summer 1944 between 300,000 and 500,000, with the average of 400,000. The strength estimates vary, due to constantly ongoing integration of other resistance organizations into AK; as well as because while the number of members was high and sympathizers even much higher, the number of armed members participating in actions would be smaller(due to insufficient number of weapons).
AK was intended as a representative of the Polish nation, as its members were recruited from all social parties and classes (the communists sent by Soviets and Soviet created Armia Ludowa (People's Army) being the only notable exception). Growth of the AK was significantly based on integration of scores of smaller resistance organizations into its ranks.
As a result, individual AK units varied significantly in their political outlooks (notably in their attitude towards ethnic minorities or the Soviets). AK was able to overcome these difficulties to some extent and put tens of thousands of armed soldiers into the field. Nevertheless, the difficult conditions meant that only infantry forces armed with light weapons could be fielded. Any use of artillery, armor or aircraft was impossible (except for a few instances during the Warsaw Uprising, like the Kubuś armored car). However, because of inadequate preservation, which had to be improvised in the chaos of the September campaign, most of these guns were in poor condition. Of those that were hidden in the ground and dug up in 1944 during preparation for Operation Tempest, only 30% were usable.
Sometimes arms were purchased on the black market from German soldiers or their allies or stolen from German supply depots or transports. Besides equipment, the planes also parachuted highly qualified instructors (the Cichociemni), of whom 316
Interaction with other groups
Interaction with the Jewish community and Jewish resistance
[[Image:Bekanntmachung General Government Poland 1942.jpg|right|thumb|250px|
NOTICE
Concerning:
the Sheltering of Escaping Jews.
There is a need for a reminder, that in accordance with paragraph 3 of the decree of October 15, 1941, on the Limitation of Residence in
General Government (page 595 of the GG Register) Jews leaving the Jewish Quarter without permission will incur the
death penalty.
----
According to this decree, those knowingly helping these Jews by providing shelter, supplying food, or selling them foodstuffs are also subject to the death penalty.
----
This is a categorical warning to the non-Jewish population against:
1) Providing shelter to Jews,
2) Supplying them with Food,
3) Selling them Foodstuffs.
Der StadthauptmannDr. Franke]]
with International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg markings.]]
In February 1942, the Operational Command of the AK Information and Propaganda Office set up the Section for Jewish Affairs, directed by Henryk Woliński. This section collected data about the situation of the Jewish population, drafted reports and sent information to London. It also centralized contacts between Polish and Jewish military organizations. The AK also supported the Relief Council for Jews in Poland (codenamed Żegota) as well as the formation of Jewish resistance under Nazi rule organizations in Poland. One member of the AK, Witold Pilecki, was the only person to volunteer for imprisonment in Auschwitz. The information he gathered proved crucial in convincing Western Allies about the fate of the Jewish population. Jewish fighters from ŻZW received only from PKB: 2 heavy machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 21 submachine guns, 30 rifles, 50 pistols, and over 400 grenades. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, AK units tried twice to blow up the ghetto wall, carried out holding actions outside the ghetto walls, and together with GL forces sporadically attacked German sentry units near the ghetto walls. Security Cadre (Kadra Bezpieczeństwa or KB), one of the organizations subordinate to the AK, under the command of Henryk Iwański took a direct part in fights inside the ghetto together with Jewish fighters from ŻZW During the Warsaw Uprising a year later, Batalion Zośka, one of the most notable units of the Uprising, liberated hundreds of Jews from the Warsaw Concentration Camp. some historians have asserted that because of antisemitism AK was reluctant to accept Jews into its ranks. This may have been due to the leftist leanings of the ŻOB. Dawid Moryc Apfelbaum, Henryk Chmielewski, Alicja Gołod-Gołębiowska
Polish resistance in German-occupied Poland founded also in September 1942 "The Council to Aid Jews Żegota" Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where there existed such a dedicated secret organization. Half of the Jews who survived the war (thus over 50,000) were aided in some shape or form by Żegota. Most 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 false documents, and sheltering them in individual and group children's homes outside the Ghetto. Many members of Home Army was awarded Polish Righteous among the Nations medals after war: Władysław Bartoszewski, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Aleksander Kamiński, Jan Dobraczyński, Henryk Woliński, Mieczysław Fogg and others.
On the other hand, instances of AK individuals or groups engaging in violence against Jews have been reported, albeit disputed. AK members' attitudes towards Jews varied widely from unit to unit. According to some sources the bulk of antisemitic behavior can be ascribed to only a small minority of AK members, To the extent that wartime circumstances permitted the leadership of the AK tried to punish instances of violence, on several occasions issuing and carrying out death sentences against perpetrators. The issue remains a controversial one and is subject to a difficult debate.
Interaction with the Lithuanian Nazi collaborators
,
Armia Krajowa commandant of the
Wilno region]]
Although
Lithuanian and Polish resistance movements had in principle the same enemies – Nazi Germany and Soviet Union – they started cooperating only in 1944-1945, after the Soviet re-occupation, when they both fought against the Soviet occupiers. The main obstacle in forming an earlier alliance was a territorial dispute centering on
Vilnius (see
Żeligowski's Mutiny for background).
Some Lithuanians, encouraged by Germany's vague promises of autonomy,
cooperated with the Nazis in their actions against Poles during the German occupation. In autumn 1943, Armia Krajowa started retaliation operations against the Lithuanian Nazi supporters, primarily the Lithuanian Secret Police,
and killed hundreds of mostly Lithuanian policemen and other collaborators during the first half of 1944. In response, Lithuanian police, who had already murdered hundreds of Polish civilians since 1941 (see Ponary massacre),
intensified their operations against the Poles. In May 1944 in the battle of Murowana Oszmianka AK dealt a significant blow to the Lithuanian Nazi auxiliaries of the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force. What resulted was a low-level civil war between anti-Nazi Poles and pro-Nazi Lithuanians, encouraged by the German authorities,
Interaction with Red Army and Soviet partisans
dwarf [
Armia Krajowa]"]]
Armia Krajowa relations with the
Red Army became increasingly poor over the course of the war. Not only did the
Soviet Union invade Poland following the
German invasion of Poland in 1939, but even after the
Germans invaded Soviet Union the Soviet Union saw
Polish partisans loyal to the government in exile as more of an enemy to their plans to take control of post-war Poland, than as a potential ally. On orders from
Stavka sent on June 22, 1943, Soviet partisans engaged Polish partisans in combat, and it has been claimed that they attacked the Poles more often than they did the Germans.
Soviet forces continued to engage the elements of AK long after the war. Many AK soldiers continued fight after World War II in anti-Soviet Polish underground, known as the cursed soldiers.
Interaction with Ukrainian partisans and Nazi collaborators
Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) of
Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist force and the political arm of the
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), fighting against the Germans, the Soviets and the Poles – all three seen as occupiers of Ukraine – decided in 1943 to direct most of their attacks against the Poles. Bandera and his followers came to the conclusion that the war would end with the exhaustion of both Germany and the Soviet Union, and thus the Poles, which also laid claims to the territories of
East Galicia (seen by Ukrainians as
Western Ukraine, and Poles as
Eastern Poland), had to be weakened before the Polish state could rise again. The collaboration of some Ukrainian groups with Nazi Germany (although declining in 1943) had discredited Ukrainian partisans as potential Polish allies; Polish pretensions to restore the borders of pre-war Poland were opposed by the Ukrainians. In
massacres of Poles in Volhynia in spring and summer 1943 at least 40,000 Poles were killed; the death toll would rise in the following year although by that time Polish resistance would stiffen.
Operation Vistula in 1947 is also sometimes thought to have been a form of retaliation. By winter 1943 and spring 1944 AK was preparing for
Operation Tempest; one of the goals of the operation was to reinforce Polish position in Volhynia. Most notably, in January 1944 the
27th Infantry Division of Armia Krajowa, numbering 7,000, was formed, and tasked with defense of Polish civilians, engaging OUN and the German troops.
Gregor Dallas wrote "Home Army (Armia Krajowa or AK) in late 1943 numbered around 400000, making it the largest resistance organization in Europe";
Mark Wyman wrote "Armia Krajowa was considered the largest underground resistance unit in wartime Europe." The numbers of
Soviet partisans were very similar to that of the Polish resistance.
See also
Polish resistance movement in World War II
Polish contribution to World War II
Szare Szeregi
Western betrayal
References
Further reading
Norman Davies, Rising '44, Macmillan, 2003.
Richard Lukasz, Forgotten Holocaust, The Poles under German Occupation 1939-1944 New York, 1997.
Marek Ney-Krwawicz, The Polish Home Army, 1939-1945, London, 2001.
Roger Moorhouse, Killing Hitler, Jonathan Cape, 2006. ISBN 0-224-07121-1
Michael Alfred Peszke, Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies, and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II, McFarland & Company, 2004, ISBN 0-7864-2009-X Google Print
Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski.Secret Army. Macmillan Company, New York 1951. ISBN 0-89839-082-6.
Jonathan Walker, Poland Alone: Britain, SOE and the Collapse of the Polish Resistance, 1944, The History Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-86227-474-7
External links
Armia Krajowa Museum in Krakow
Polish resistance - AK - Site edited by the London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association
Warsaw Uprising Museum
Archiwum Pomorskie Armii Krajowej
Armia Krajowa, whatfor infoportal
Armia Krajowa, information from the pages of Primary School 11 "of Armia Krajowa soldiers" in Nowy Targ
Category:1939 establishments
Category:1945 disestablishments
Category:World War II resistance movements
Category:Military units and formations of Poland in World War II
Category:Polish underground organizations during World War II
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