![Warsaw Uprising - Soldiers from Parasol on Warecka Street](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Warsaw_Uprising_-_Soldiers_from_Parasol_on_Warecka_Street.jpg)
Battalion Parasol (Polish: ) was a
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
of the
Armia Krajowa
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) esta ...
, the primary
Polish resistance movement in World War II
The Polish resistance movement in World War II (''Polski ruch oporu w czasie II wojny światowej''), with the Polish Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance movement in all of occupied Europe, covering both German a ...
. It consisted primarily of members of the
Gray Ranks
"Gray Ranks" ( pl, Szare Szeregi) was a codename for the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association (') during World War II.
The wartime organisation was created on 27 September 1939, actively resisted and fought German occupation in ...
. The battalion distinguished itself in numerous underground operations and took part in the
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...
of 1944, as an element of the
Radosław Group
Radosław Group ( pl, Zgrupowanie Radosław) was the codename of a group of Kedyw, a Polish World War II Armia Krajowa organization, units during World War II created shortly before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising.
Organization
The ''Radosła ...
.
History
It was first organized as "Agat" ("Anti-Gestapo") unit by
Adam Borys "Pług", a
Cichociemni
''Cichociemni'' (; the "Silent Unseen") were elite special-operations paratroopers of the Polish Army in exile, created in Great Britain during World War II to operate in occupied Poland (''Cichociemni Spadochroniarze Armii Krajowej''). Kazimi ...
elite soldier parachuted from England in the fall of 1943. Due to arrest of
Tadeusz Kostrzewski "Niemira" on 2 January 1944 it changed its name to "Pegaz" ("Przeciw Gestapo – Against the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
"), and after another arrest it was reorganized as "Parasol" (''umbrella'') battalion. The last name referred to a parachute, as the unit was intended to join
Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade
The 1st (Polish) Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute infantry brigade of the Polish Armed Forces in the West under the command of Major General Stanisław Sosabowski, created in September 1941 during the Second World War and based in ...
in free Poland.
The battalion is renowned for its numerous military actions in 1943–1944. It organized assassination missions, targeting key Gestapo officers and high-ranking
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
officials who were responsible for extreme terror in the
Warsaw District. One such mission was successfully carried out under the code name
Operation Kutschera
Operation Kutschera was the code name for the successful execution of Franz Kutschera, SS and Reich's Police Chief in German-occupied Warsaw, who was shot on 1 February 1944 by a combat sabotage unit of Kedyw of the Home Army (predecessor o ...
, which resulted in assassination of the
SS and Police Leader Franz Kutschera
Franz Kutschera (22 February 1904 – 1 February 1944) was an Austrian Nazi Party politician and '' SS-Brigadeführer''. He was a member of the '' Großdeutscher Reichstag'' and served as the Acting ''Gauleiter'' of Carinthia from 1939 to 19 ...
, who was shot in the center of
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
(in front of the SS
Headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
) in February 1944.
Franz Kutschera, Search.com
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Józef Szczepański
Józef Szczepański (; 30 November 1922 in Łęczyca - 10 September 1944 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet who was a member of the Armia Krajowa Polish resistance. Commander of the Battalion Parasol during the Warsaw Uprising, known under his codename ...
, a poet, was among the commanders of this unit. The poet Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, (; nom de guerre: Jan Bugaj; 22 January 1921 – 4 August 1944) was a Polish poet and Home Army soldier, one of the most well known of the Generation of Columbuses, the young generation of Polish poets, of whom several ...
fought in its ranks and was killed in action by a German sniper in the first few days of the Warsaw Uprising.
Heir to the tradition of the battalion is JW Komandosów
The Jednostka Wojskowa Komandosów, commonly called ''JWK'' and formerly known as ''1 Pułk Specjalny Komandosów'' (''1 PSK''), is one of six special forces units currently operating within Poland's ''Centrum Operacji Specjalnych - Dowództwo Ko ...
and its detachment Zespół Bojowy C.
Notable members
* Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, (; nom de guerre: Jan Bugaj; 22 January 1921 – 4 August 1944) was a Polish poet and Home Army soldier, one of the most well known of the Generation of Columbuses, the young generation of Polish poets, of whom several ...
* Adam Borys
* Józef Szczepański
Józef Szczepański (; 30 November 1922 in Łęczyca - 10 September 1944 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet who was a member of the Armia Krajowa Polish resistance. Commander of the Battalion Parasol during the Warsaw Uprising, known under his codename ...
* Jerzy Zborowski
Jerzy Eugeniusz Zborowski (''nom de guerre'': Jeremi, Jurek, Jurek Kowalski, Kajman Okularnik, Jurek Żoliborski) was born on 26 July 1922 in Warsaw and died in September 1944 in Warsaw, Poland).
He was a Polish Scoutmaster (harcmistrz), scoutin ...
Losses during the Warsaw Uprising
References
External links
Warsaw Uprising Witnesses: Battalion Parasol
The Warsaw Rising Museum
{{Authority control
Battalions of Poland
Military units and formations established in 1944
Units and formations of the Home Army
Special forces of Poland
Warsaw Uprising
*Parasol
Scouting and Guiding in Poland
Military units and formations disestablished in 1944