''Cichociemni'' (; the "Silent Unseen") were elite
special-operations paratroopers of the
Polish Army in exile, created in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
to operate in
occupied Poland
' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...
(''Cichociemni Spadochroniarze Armii Krajowej'').
[ Kazimierz Iranek-Osmecki (pl), ''The Unseen and Silent: Adventures from the Underground Movement, Narrated by Paratroops of the Polish Home Army'', Sheed and Ward, 1954, p. 350.]
A total of 2,613 Polish Army soldiers volunteered for training by Polish and British
SOE operatives.
Only 606 people completed the training, and eventually 316 of them were secretly parachuted into occupied Poland.
The first operation ("air bridge", as it was called) took place on 15 February 1941. This operation was conducted by Captain Józef Zabielski, Major Stanisław Krzymowski and political courier Czesław Raczkowski.
After 27 December 1944 further operations were discontinued, as by then most of Poland had been occupied by the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
.
Of 316 Cichociemni, 103 perished during the war: in combat with the Germans, executed by 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 ...
, or in crashes. A further nine were executed after the war by the
Polish People's Republic
The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...
; the communist regime was hostile to the Cichociemni, considered to be English/British ideologised infiltrators.
Ninety-one ''Cichociemni'' operatives 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.
Name
The origins of the name are obscure and may never be known with certainty. "Silent Unseen" probably related to how some soldiers seemingly disappeared from their line units overnight to volunteer for special operations service, and it also describes those "who appear silently where they are least expected, play havoc with the enemy and disappear whence they came, unnoticed, unseen."
Kazimierz Iranek-Osmecki Kazimierz Wincenty Iranek-Osmecki (''noms de guerre'' Kazimierz Jarecki, Włodzimierz Ronczewski, Makary, Antoni Heller, Pstrąg; 5 September 1897 – 22 May 1984, London) was an infantry colonel ('' pułkownik'') in the Polish Army, and colonel in ...
, ''The Unseen and Silent, p. 350.
The Silent Unseen were trained initially in Scotland in preparation for missions for the Polish underground in occupied Poland, such as building-clearance and bridge-demolition. In 1944, training was also carried out in
Brindisi
Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Histo ...
, Italy, which had fallen to the Allies.
Initially, the name was informal and was used mainly by soldiers who volunteered to parachute into Poland. However, from September 1941 the name became official and was used in all documents. It was applied to the secret Polish Headquarters training unit created to provide agents with necessary knowledge, money and equipment and to agents who were transported to Poland and other
German-occupied countries.
History
On 30 December 1939
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Jan Górski, a Polish Army officer who had escaped to France after the
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
, drew up a report for the Polish Chief of Staff. Górski proposed creating a secret unit to maintain contact with the underground ''
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 Strug ...
'', using a group of well-trained envoys. After his report was ignored, Górski resubmitted it several times. Finally the commander of the
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...
, General Zając, replied that, while creation of such a unit would be a good move, the Polish Air Force had no means of transport and no training facilities for such a unit.
Górski and his colleague
Maciej Kalenkiewicz
Maciej Kalenkiewicz (; 1906–1944; nom de guerre Kotwicz) was a Polish engineer and lieutenant colonel of the Polish Army. During World War II was a soldier of Henryk Dobrzański's military unit, member of cichociemni, officer of the Home Army, ...
continued studying the possibility of paratroops and
special forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
. After the capitulation of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, they managed to reach the United Kingdom. They studied documents on German paratroops and drafted a plan to create in exile a Polish
airborne force
Airborne forces, airborne troops, or airborne infantry are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in air ...
to be used in covert support operations. The force was to be employed solely in aid of a future
uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
in occupied Poland. Their plan was never adopted, but on 20 September 1940 the Polish
commander-in-chief, General
Władysław Sikorski
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader.
Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish ...
, ordered the creation of Section III of the Commander-in-Chief's Staff (''Oddział III Sztabu Naczelnego Wodza''). Section III's purpose was
contingency planning
A contingency plan, also known colloquially as Plan B, is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have catastrophic conseque ...
for
covert operations
A covert operation is a military operation intended to conceal the identity of (or allow plausible deniability by) the party that instigated the operation. Covert operations should not be confused with clandestine operations, which are performe ...
in Poland, air delivery of arms and supplies, and training of paratroops.
Training
Soon after, the General Staff's Section III began recruiting volunteers. Those selected left their erstwhile units in secret, silently and at night – hence, the perhaps at first facetious name, ''Cichociemni'' ("Silent Unseen"). Of 2,413 candidates, only 605 managed to complete the training and pass all the tests; of those, 579 qualified for airlift.
The volunteers included 1 general, 112 staff officers, 894 officers, 592
non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...
s (NCOs), 771 privates, 15 women, and 28 civilian emissaries of the
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 Pola ...
. The training established by the General Staff's Section VI (''Oddział VI Sztabu Naczelnego Wodza'') and the British
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE) comprised five courses:
* workout course (''kurs zaprawowy'')
* psychological and technical investigations course (''kurs badań psychotechnicznych'')
* parachuting course (''kurs spadochronowy'')
* covert-operations course (''kurs walki konspiracyjnej'')
* briefing course (''kurs odprawowy'')
During the first phase of training, all the volunteers were taught to use every kind of weapon (British, Polish, German, Russian and Italian weapons) and mines. In additional courses, the soldiers were trained in basic covert operations, topography, cryptography, and sharpshooting. They were also taught details of life in occupied Poland, from German-imposed laws to current fashions in occupied Warsaw. The fourth course included all kinds of covert operations,
jujitsu, and shooting at invisible targets. The briefing course included learning a new, false identity. All soldiers who passed the training were sworn in as members of the
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) esta ...
.
Air bridges
The first
air-bridge operation took place on 15 February 1941. The Allied air commands carried out 483 air-bridge operations all together, losing 68 planes to crashes and enemy fire. Apart from the Silent Unseen themselves, some 630 tons of war
materiel
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...
were delivered in special containers. In addition, agents delivered the following sums of money to the Home Army:
* 40,869,800 forged
zlotys;
* US$26,299,375 in
banknote
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes w ...
s and gold;
*
£1,755 in gold;
*
RM 3,578,000.
Through 27 December 1944, 316 soldiers and 28 emissaries successfully parachuted into Poland. Additionally, 17 agents were dropped into Albania, France, Greece, Italy and Yugoslavia. An unknown number of Poles (including the best known,
Krystyna Skarbek
Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploi ...
) were also parachuted into France by the British Special Operations Executive to start an underground movement among the half-million-strong
Polish minority.
Though the Silent Unseen were organized in collaboration with SOE, it was largely independent. The Polish section of SOE was the only one which freely chose its own men and operated its own radio communications with an occupied country. Additionally, the identities of the Polish agents were known only to the Polish General Staff. Those transported to Poland included soldiers of all grades. The oldest was 54 years old, the youngest was 20. As a rule, all volunteers were promoted one rank at the moment of their jump.
The fight
In Poland the Silent Unseen were assigned mostly to special units of the ''
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 Strug ...
'' and
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) esta ...
. Most of them joined ''
Wachlarz
Wachlarz (, ''folding fan'') was a Polish World War II resistance organization formed by the Armia Krajowa for sabotage duties behind the German Eastern Front, outside of the Polish borders. Its commanders were Lieutenant Colonel Jan Włodarkiewi ...
'', ''
Związek Odwetu'' and ''
KeDyw
''Kedyw'' (, partial acronym of ''Kierownictwo Dywersji'' ("Directorate of Diversion") was a Polish World War II Home Army unit that conducted active and passive sabotage, propaganda and armed operations against Nazi German forces and collaborato ...
''. Many became important staff officers of the Polish Secret Army and took part in
Operation Tempest
file:Akcja_burza_1944.png, 210px, right
Operation Tempest ( pl, akcja „Burza”, sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Storm") was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home ...
and uprisings in
Wilno
Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
,
Lwów
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
and
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 ...
.
The Silent Unseen assumed various duties in
German-occupied Europe
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
. Some 37 worked in intelligence, 50 were radio operators and emissaries, 24 were staff officers, 22 were airmen and
airdrop
An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible tro ...
coordinators, 11 were instructors of armored forces and instructors in anti-tank warfare at secret military schools, 3 were trained in forging documents, 169 were trained in covert operations and
partisan warfare
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of military occupation, occupation by some kind of insurgent activity.
The term can apply to the field element of resist ...
, and 28 were emissaries of the Polish government.
Famous Silent Unseen
The most notable Silent Unseen included:
Losses
Of 344 men transported to Poland, 113 were
killed in action:
* 84 in fighting against the Germans, or arrested and tortured to death by the Gestapo;
* 10 committed suicide in German prisons or concentration camps;
* 10 were executed by the Communists during or after the war;
* 9 were shot down with their planes before reaching their targets.
Of 91 Silent Unseen who 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 ...
, 18 were killed in action.
Postwar
The first book on the Silent Unseen was published in England in 1954. The Polish edition, ''Drogi cichociemnych: opowiadania zebrane i opracowane przez koło spadochroniarzy Armii Krajowej'', was published by Veritas; and an English edition, ''The Unseen and Silent: Adventures from the Underground Movement, Narrated by Paratroops of the Polish Home Army'', was published by Sheed and Ward.
The Polish edition was republished in England several times, last in 1973. A miniature version of ''Drogi cichociemnych'' was published in two volumes in communist Poland in 1985 by ''Kurs''.
General Stefan Bałuks memoir, ''Byłem Cichociemnym'' (''I was a Cichociemny''), was published in 2008. He was 94 years old when it first appeared in bookstores. In 2009 it was translated into English as ''Silent and Unseen: I was a WW II Special Ops Commando''.
On 4 August 1995, the Polish special-forces unit ''
GROM
Grom may refer to:
Military
* JW GROM, a Polish special forces unit
* ORP ''Grom'', several ships of the Polish Navy
* Grom (missile), a Polish anti-aircraft missile
* A Yugoslav/Serbian version of the Kh-23 (AS-9 'Kyle') air-to-surface missi ...
'' adopted the name and traditions of the ''Cichociemni''.
Polish TV has produced a series, ''
Czas honoru
''Czas honoru'' (English: Days of Honour) is a Polish World War II television drama series, broadcast on TVP2 since 7 September 2008 to 23 November 2014, on STV Glasgow from 2 June 2014 and STV Edinburgh from 16 January 2015.
Plot
Set in German ...
'' (Time of Honour), about the Silent Unseen.
See also
*
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 ...
*
KeDyw
''Kedyw'' (, partial acronym of ''Kierownictwo Dywersji'' ("Directorate of Diversion") was a Polish World War II Home Army unit that conducted active and passive sabotage, propaganda and armed operations against Nazi German forces and collaborato ...
*
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 Pola ...
*
Stanisław Sosabowski
Stanisław Franciszek Sosabowski CBE (; 8 May 1892 – 25 September 1967) was a Polish general in World War II. He fought in the Polish Campaign of 1939 and at the Battle of Arnhem (Netherlands) in 1944 as commander of the Polish 1st Independe ...
*
Warsaw Uprising Museum
The Warsaw Rising Museum ( pl, Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego), in the Wola district of Warsaw, Poland, is dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The institution of the museum was established in 1983, but no construction work took place for m ...
*
Western betrayal
Western betrayal is the view that the United Kingdom, France, and sometimes the United States failed to meet their legal, diplomatic, military, and moral obligations with respect to the Czechoslovak and Polish states during the prelude to and af ...
Notes
Bibliography
* Ian Valentine, ''Station 43: Audley End House and SOE's Polish Section'', The History Press, 2006, p. 224, .
* Hubert Królikowski, ''Tobie Ojczyzno – Cichociemni: Wojskowa Formacja Specjalna GROM im. Cichociemnych Spadochroniarzy Armii Krajowej, 1990-2000'', Gdańsk, 2001.
* P. Bystrzycki, ''Znak cichociemnych'', Warsaw, 1985.
* ''Drogi cichociemnych'', Warsaw, 1993.
*
Kazimierz Iranek-Osmecki Kazimierz Wincenty Iranek-Osmecki (''noms de guerre'' Kazimierz Jarecki, Włodzimierz Ronczewski, Makary, Antoni Heller, Pstrąg; 5 September 1897 – 22 May 1984, London) was an infantry colonel ('' pułkownik'') in the Polish Army, and colonel in ...
, ''The Unseen and Silent: Adventures from the Underground Movement, Narrated by Paratroops of the Polish Home Army'', Sheed and Ward, 1954.
* Jędrzej Tucholski, ''Cichociemni'', Warsaw, Instytut Wydawniczy PAX, 1984, ..
* Jan Szatsznajder, ''Cichociemni: Z Polski do Polski'' (The Silent Unseen: From Poland to Poland), Wrocław, 1985.
* C. Chlebowski, ''Cztery z tysiąca'' (Four of a Thousand), Warsaw, KAW, 1981.
* G. Korczyński - ''Polskie oddziały specjalne w II wojnie światowej'', Warsaw,
Dom Wydawniczy Bellona, 2006, .
*
Elżbieta Zawacka
Elżbieta Zawacka (; 19 March 1909 – 10 January 2009), known also by her war-time nom de guerre Zo, was a Polish university professor, scouting instructor, SOE agent and a freedom fighter during World War II. She was promoted to brigadier g ...
, ''Katarzyna Minczykowska'', Wydawnictwo Fundacji Archiwum Pomorskie Armii Krajowej, Toruń, 2007.
{{Authority control
Military units and formations of Poland in World War II
Home Army
Guerrilla organizations
Military parachuting
Paratroopers
Special forces of Poland
Polish underground organisations during World War II
Polish resistance during World War II