The last battle of the Home Army
Jarosław SZAREK:
‘The Home Army, the underground military force of the Polish Underground State, holds a permanent place in the 20th-century struggles for Poland and serves as a bridge between the generation of the Legions that regained independence in 1918 and Solidarity. The Home Army secured its place in history through acts of bravery and sacrifice that remain symbols to this day – acts that were paid for with the highest price. However, these deeds carried no weight in the political arrangements of the great powers that determined the post-war shape of Europe,’ writes Jarosław Szarek.
The tragedy of Poland, including that of the Home Army generation, lay in the fact that the Republic was attacked by two totalitarian powers allied by treaty – Germany and the Soviet Union, which had divided Polish territory under the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact and jointly pursued a policy of exterminating the Polish nation. From the first days of the occupation, Poland resisted at the cost of millions of lives, yet at the end of the Second World War, independence was not regained. Stalin, formerly Hitler’s associate, had joined the Allied camp. He was welcomed among the nations fighting for freedom, despite leading a totalitarian state responsible for the Katyń massacre, as well as the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Poles to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Over time, he gained the consent of the United States and Great Britain to make territorial changes and impose his rule over Central and Eastern Europe. The underground army found itself in this devilish trap.
This balance was first recorded in the still-defiant Warsaw in September 1939, when, on the eve of its capitulation, the Service for Poland’s Victory was established under the mandate of the Commander-in-Chief. A few weeks later, it was transformed into the Union of Armed Struggle, which on 14 February 1942 was renamed the Home Army. All these structures constituted the underground Polish Army, and possessing this mandate granted them state and legal continuity with the Second Polish Republic. In coordination with the supreme authorities of the Republic, alongside civilian and political-administrative structures, the Home Army formed the military branch of the Polish Underground State.
It managed to unite most independence-focused organisations that had emerged from the beginning of German and Soviet occupation. Every sworn soldier of the Home Army had to reckon not only with the possibility of dying in battle but also, if captured, with torture during interrogation, followed by execution or a martyr’s death in Auschwitz or another German death factory. This ensured that the underground movement attracted the noblest and bravest individuals. It was a voluntary service bringing together representatives of all social classes – from workers, farmers and craftsmen to the intelligentsia, industrialists and landowners. The latter gathered within the structures of ‘Tarcza’ and ‘Uprawa’, providing logistical support for the resistance. This created a unique ethos of the Home Army, a voluntary, citizen-based military force that influenced the entire society, including its passive majority. As two Home Army officers, Colonels Ludwik Muzyczka and Krzysztof Pluta-Czachowski, wrote in Tygodnik Powszechny in the spring of 1957, the underground army ‘sprang directly from the fields of defeat, voluntarily, without orders or conscription commissions. It did not settle in barracks like a regular army but in private homes as a military-civic movement with a single goal: the fight for independence. This movement emerged throughout Poland within the 1939 borders and became universal from the outset. It manifested not only in the military but also civil resistance. […] The Home Army was the source and backbone of this resistance, which took shape in tens of thousands of acts requiring supreme sacrifice and dedication.’
Though we can’t list them all, the following examples showcase the organisational strength of the underground army, from its headquarters to the municipal outposts. Communication was already difficult, given that couriers had to travel to London through Budapest, Istanbul and Lisbon. Deep within the Reich, the Home Army’s intelligence network investigated the German war industry. Its most significant achievement was gathering intelligence about the ‘V’ weapon and relaying it to London. The diversionary activities of the Silent Unseen, the operations of the ‘Wachlarz’ organisation in the far-flung Polish borderlands, the attacks on railway lines (e.g. the Operation ‘Wieniec’), the assassination of Kutschera, the liberations of prisoners from Pinsk, Lida, Końskie, Jasło etc., the battles of partisan units in the Zamojszczyzna region, in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, in the Vilnius region and in the Nowogródczyzna region – all this went down in the history of the underground army.
The Home Army’s activities encompassed not only conventional warfare and weapon production – like the ‘Blyskawica’ submachine gun – but also a vast underground press on a scale unprecedented in Europe. Around 1,500 different publications were issued. The primary Home Army’s publication, Biuletyn Informacyjny, was printed continuously from November 1939 to January 1945, with circulation peaking at 50,000 copies, produced by the clandestine Military Secret Printing Works. This undertaking involved thousands of activists who were hunted down and executed by the Germans with the same ferocity as armed rebels, because the newsletter, reaching hundreds of thousands, kept the spirit of resistance alive.
Conversely, Operation ‘N’ sought to undermine the occupying forces’ morale by publishing German-language materials, suggesting widespread German resistance to the Nazis. Division ‘R’ of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Home Army Headquarters dealt with the publication of writings and brochures counteracting communist propaganda, which became more and more intense as the Soviet army approached the Polish lands.
The main objective of the Home Army was to prepare a general uprising against the German occupier. This concept proved impossible to implement once it became clear that the Soviets would enter Poland from the east. In response, the Home Army launched Operation Tempest, attacking retreating German forces and acting as hosts to the advancing Soviet army. The Home Army troops assumed the names of regular Polish Army units that existed before 1 September 1939, thus conveying a sense of continuity with the army of the Second Republic. This was the case, for example, in Volhynia, where the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army was formed, in Vilnius, where Operation ‘Ostra Brama’ was carried out, in Lviv, the Lublin region and further inland.
The Soviets, wanting to take over Poland, had to smash the Home Army and the Polish Underground State. Widespread arrests and deportations to the far reaches of the Soviet Union took place. The outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising – the largest battle of the Home Army – was to be the last attempt to liberate the capital and draw the world’s attention to the cause of Polish independence. But with the help of German forces, Stalin drowned the rebellion in blood, ruthlessly liquidating the main centre of resistance and killing its young patriots. Following the insurgents’ defeat, the underground army crumbled, culminating in a Soviet offensive that began in January 1945. In response, General Leopold Okulicki, commander of the Home Army, issued a final order dissolving the organisation and directing further activities ‘in the spirit of regaining full independence.’ The greatest display of heroism came from those who founded groups like ‘No,’ the Armed Forces Delegation, and the ‘Freedom and Independence’ Association.
Communist authorities considered the Home Army an epitome of reactionary filth, deeming its annihilation essential for Poland’s Sovietization. The Soviet Union exiled approximately 50,000 Home Army soldiers, while thousands more faced imprisonment under the decree ‘on the punishment of fascist-Nazi criminals.’ It wasn’t until the 1956 amnesty that many of them were released from prison. The ensuing political détente allowed for the exoneration of some of the accused, along with the publication of books and press articles. ‘This national resistance, represented to the world by the AK [Home Army], is the reason for the pride and love that the nation attaches to these two letters. No onslaught or slander has managed to destroy this charm so far, and none will do that in the future,’ wrote Muzyczka and Pluta-Czachowski. The Home Army’s armed struggle lasted for years, but its fight for historical recognition continued for decades more, culminating in victory.
Every political advance during the era of Poland’s People’s Republic broadened freedoms, thus opening doors for publishing various books and materials and organising veteran initiatives. While the Catholic Church allowed some liberties, it wasn’t until Solidarity emerged that substantial change occurred. Then, thanks to social pressure, the bridge over the Vistula in Warsaw, which was to be named after Lenin, was instead named in honour of General Stefan Rowecki. Thousands of people attended the naming ceremony. However, the declaration of martial law was quickly followed by the internment of around a dozen more former Home Army soldiers. They were still a threat to the communist system, and the secret police kept a close watch on the activities of independent veterans’ circles until the end of the Polish People’s Republic. Shortly before that, in June 1988, a three-day burial was held for the legendary Major Jan Piwnik ‘Ponury,’ who was killed in the Grodno region and whose ashes were returning to his native Świętokrzyskie land. Tens of thousands celebrated a powerful patriotic display of unity between the Home Army and Solidarity, where veterans passed their traditions to young scouts.
The full story of the Home Army’s fate could not be told until after 1989. Once it was finally possible, the Home Army members became involved in many initiatives and founded the World Association of Home Army Soldiers. The Krakow Home Army Museum, born from the strong Home Army focus of its time, was named for General Emil Fieldorf ‘Nil,’ the legendary Kedyw commander, who was executed by the communists. Monuments were erected across Poland, including the one on Wiejska Street in Warsaw. Hundreds of local councils, reflecting the strong mandate of their communities, began naming streets after the Home Army. These can now be found in nearly every other Polish city and are the most common among historical street names related to the Second World War. If we add to them the names of the commanders, divisions and the Warsaw Uprising, the number increases significantly. Schools, Polish Army units, Territorial Defence Forces and special forces all draw inspiration from this tradition. They carry the Home Army’s banner today.
The establishment of a state holiday – the National Day of Remembrance for Home Army Soldiers – was a unanimous parliamentary decision. It serves as a seal upon our collective memory, closing a commemorative triptych of resistance and struggle, spanning from the Polish Underground State Day to the National Day of Remembrance of the Cursed Soldiers, from the founding of the Service for Poland’s Victory to the deaths of the leaders of the ‘Freedom and Independence’ Association.
Jarosław Szarek
Polish historian and publicist, President of the Institute of National Remembrance from 2016 to 2021 and Director of the Home Army Museum in Krakow since 2023.
Source: DlaPolonii.pl
