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ZWZ
Związek Walki Zbrojnej ( abbreviation: ''ZWZ''; Union of Armed Struggle;Thus rendered in Norman Davies, ''God's Playground: A History of Poland'', vol. II, p. 464. also translated as ''Union for Armed Struggle'', ''Association of Armed Struggle'' or ''Association for Armed Struggle'') was an underground army formed in Poland following its invasion in September 1939 by Germany and the Soviet Union that opened World War II. It existed from 13 November 1939 until 14 February 1942, when it was renamed into Home Army (''Armia Krajowa, AK''). ZWZ was created from an earlier organization, Service for Poland's Victory (''SZP''). In January 1940, it was divided into two parts: *areas under German occupation — commanded by Colonel Stefan Rowecki, headquartered in Warsaw; *areas under Soviet occupation — commanded by General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, headquartered in Lwów. Formally, the ZWZ was directed from Paris, by General Kazimierz Sosnkowski (nom de guerre Jozef God ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Service For Poland's Victory
Służba Zwycięstwu Polski (''Service for Poland's Victory'', or ''Polish Victory Service'', abbreviated SZP) was the first Polish resistance movement in World War II. It was created by the order of general Juliusz Rómmel on 27 September 1939, when the siege of Warsaw, capital of Poland, where Rómmel commanded Polish defence, was nearing its end (Warsaw would capitulate on 28 September). The commander of SZP was General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski.Stanislaw Mikolajczyk ''The Pattern of Soviet Domination'' Sampson Low, Marston & Co 1948 Page 8 This secret organisation was tasked with the continuing of armed struggle to liberate Poland in the pre-war borders of the Second Polish Republic, recreation and reorganization of the Polish army and establishment of the secret government (Polish Underground State). In November 1939 SZP was renamed Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ). See also * Związek Walki Zbrojnej * Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Army
The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the aftermath of the German and Soviet invasions in September 1939. Over the next two years, the Home Army absorbed most of the other Polish partisans and underground forces. Its allegiance was to the Polish government-in-exile in London, and it constituted the armed wing of what came to be known as the Polish Underground State. Estimates of the Home Army's 1944 strength range between 200,000 and 600,000. The latter number made the Home Army not only Poland's largest underground resistance movement but, along with Soviet and Yugoslav partisans, one of Europe's largest World War II underground movements. The Home Army sabotaged German transports bound for the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union, destroying German supplies and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazimierz Sosnkowski
General Kazimierz Sosnkowski (; Warsaw, 19 November 1885 – 11 October 1969, Arundel, Quebec) was a Polish independence fighter, general, diplomat, and architect. He was a major political figure and an accomplished commander, notable in particular for his contributions during the Polish–Soviet War and World War II. After the death of General Władysław Sikorski in July 1943, Sosnkowski became Commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces. Sosnkowski was an intellectual who was able to speak Latin, Greek, English, French, German, Italian, and Russian. Early years Born in Warsaw, Sosnkowski grew up in the Russian Partition of Poland. His father, Józef Sosnkowski of the Godziemba coat of arms, was a wealthy nobleman and owner of several villages. His mother was Zofia Drabińska. In 1896 he attended the V Gimnasium (secondary school) in Warsaw, where he participated in a secret organization of progressive youth. To avoid persecution he moved in 1904 to Saint Petersb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Government-in-exile
The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent occupation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union, which brought to an end the Second Polish Republic. Despite the occupation of Poland by hostile powers, the government-in-exile exerted considerable influence in Poland during World War II through the structures of the Polish Underground State and its military arm, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) resistance. Abroad, under the authority of the government-in-exile, Polish military units that had escaped the occupation fought under their own commanders as part of Allied forces in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. After the war, as the Polish territory came under the control of the communist Polish People's Republic, the government-in-exile remain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Consultative Committee
Political Consultative Committee ( pl, Polityczny Komitet Porozumiewawczy, ''PKP'') was the beginning of the political arm of the Polish Secret State in occupied Poland during World War II. It was formed on 26 February 1940 by several Polish political parties continuing their activities underground (Socialist Party, People's Party, National Party and Labor Party). The parties wanted to tighten the cooperation so that they could have more influence over the newly created Association of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) meant by the Polish government in exile as the main unified organization of the Polish resistance. In April 1940 the government in exile recognized the Committee as the country's political representation. In 1943 it was reformed into the Home Political Representation (''Krajowa Reprezentacja Polityczna'') which in turn in 1944 would become the basis of the Council of National Unity Rada Jedności Narodowej (''Council of National Unity'', RJN) was the quasi-parliament of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stefan Rowecki
Stefan Paweł Rowecki (pseudonym: ''Grot'', "Spearhead", hence the alternate name, Stefan Grot-Rowecki; 25 December 1895 – 2 August 1944) was a Polish general, journalist and the leader of the Armia Krajowa. He was murdered by the Gestapo in prison on the personal order of Heinrich Himmler. Life Rowecki was born in Piotrków Trybunalski. In his home town he was one of the organizers of a secret scouting organization. During World War I he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army and later into the First Brigade of the Polish Legion. He was interned in August 1917 after the majority of his unit had refused to pledge loyalty to the Emperor of Austria. In February 1918, he was released from the internment camp in Beniaminów and joined the Polska Siła Zbrojna. After the establishment of the newly independent Poland, he joined the Polish Army. Rowecki fought in the Polish–Soviet war (1919–1920). After the war, he remained in the army and organized the first milit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as ''Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city#National capitals, Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national Government of the United Kingdom, government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the Counties of England, counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. Established in 1917 as NKVD of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the agency was originally tasked with conducting regular police work and overseeing the country's prisons and labor camps. It was disbanded in 1930, with its functions being dispersed among other agencies, only to be reinstated as an all-union commissariat in 1934. The functions of the OGPU (the secret police organization) were transferred to the NKVD around the year 1930, giving it a monopoly over law enforcement activities that lasted until the end of World War II. During this period, the NKVD included both ordinary public order activities, and secret police activities. The NKVD is known for its role in political repression and for carrying out the Great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kresy
Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the History of Poland (1918–1939), interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic, it amounted to nearly half of the territory of Second Polish Republic, pre-war Poland. Historically situated in the eastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the Partitions of Poland, 18th-century foreign partitions it was annexed by Russia and partly by the Habsburg monarchy (Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia), and Polish–Soviet War, ceded to Poland in 1921 after the Peace of Riga. As a result of the Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II, post-World War II border changes, none of the lands remain in Poland today. The Polish plural term ''Kresy'' corresponds to the Russian ''okrainy'' (), meaning "the border regions". It is also largely co-terminous with the northern areas of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World War. On 3 September 1939, France declared war on Germany following the German invasion of Poland. In early September 1939, France began the limited Saar Offensive and by mid-October had withdrawn to their start lines. German armies invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France. France and the Low Countries were conquered, ending land operations on the Western Front until the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. In ''Fall Gelb'' ("Case Yellow"), German armoured units made a surprise push through the Ardennes and then along the Somme valley, cutting off and surrounding the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium to meet the German armies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after Frederick Barbarossa ("red beard"), a 12th-century Holy Roman emperor and German king, put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goal of conquering the western Soviet Union to repopulate it with Germans. The German aimed to use some of the conquered people as forced labour for the Axis war effort while acquiring the oil reserves of the Caucasus as well as the agricultural resources of various Soviet territories. Their ultimate goal was to create more (living space) for Germany, and the eventual extermination of the indigenous Slavic peoples by mass deportation to Siberia, Germanisation, enslavement, and genocide. In the two years leading up to the invasion, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed political and economic pacts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World War. The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, when Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and the Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of the Second World War. In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe. According to the 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of the population came from minority groups: 13.9% Ruthenians; 10% Ashkenazi Jews; 3.1% Belarusians; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs and Lithuanians. At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country's borders. When, after several regional conflicts, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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