''Kedyw'' (, partial acronym of ''Kierownictwo Dywersji'' ("Directorate of Diversion") was a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
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 ...
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 ...
unit that conducted active and passive
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
,
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
and armed operations against
Nazi German
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 ...
forces and
collaborators.
Operations
![Biuletyn Informacyjny 9 marca 1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Biuletyn_Informacyjny_9_marca_1943.JPG)
Kedyw was created on January 22, 1943, from two pre-existing
Armia Krajowa organisations:
Związek Odwetu (''Association of Retaliation''), and
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 Włodarki ...
. Initially, the units were small and town-based. Eventually, as more were formed, some moved into forested areas to begin
partisan warfare. Kedyw organized weapon and munition factories, military schools,
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
,
counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
,
field hospital
A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...
s and a communication network.
Most members of Kedyw were
Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts may refer to:
* Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement.
* Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement.
* An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
from
Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego
, type = organization
, headquarters = ZHP Headquarters Warsaw
, location = Warszawa, Konopnickiej 6
, country = Poland
, f-date = 1 November 1918
, founder = Andrzej Małkowski, Olga Małkowska
, members = 138,112
, chiefscouttitle = N ...
and its wartime organisation,
Szare Szeregi
"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 i ...
. Many of the officers were
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 ...
, who were special agents trained in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and parachuted into occupied Poland. Selected Kedyw groups (''patrole'') carried out operations all over occupied Poland. Notable types of operations included:
* the sabotaging of railways, bridges and roads
** the burning of trains and fuel depots
* the destruction or damaging of weapon factories working for the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
* the liberation of hundreds of prisoners and hostages
** a famous such operation took place on March 26, 1943 and is known as "
Akcja pod Arsenałem
''Akcja pod Arsenałem'' (English: ''Operation Arsenal'') is a Polish historical film, based on the novel ''Kamienie na szaniec'' by Aleksander Kamiński,Igo Sym
Karol Juliusz "Igo" Sym (3 July 1896 – 7 March 1941) was a actor and collaboration, collaborator with Nazi Germany. He was killed in Warsaw by members of the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish resistance movement.
Early career ...
, a Polish actor who had been informing the Germans about Home Army operations
* executions of particularly-brutal individuals among the German occupation troops,
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 ...
,
SS and police known as
Operation Heads
Operation Heads ( pl, Operacja Główki) was the code name for a series of assassinations of Nazi officials by the World War II Polish Resistance. Those targeted for assassination had been sentenced to death by Polish Underground Special Courts ...
[Tomasz Strzembosz, Akcje zbrojne podziemnej Warszawy 1939-1944, Warszawa, 1978]
** those executed included
SS and police General
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 ...
, killed on February 2, 1944, SS-Hauptscharfuhrer
August Kretschmann
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...
, commandant of the
Gęsiówka
Gęsiówka () is the colloquial Polish name for a prison that once existed on ''Gęsia'' ("Goose") Street in Warsaw, Poland, and which, under German occupation during World War II, became a Nazi concentration camp.
In 1945–56 the Gęsiówka ...
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
, SS-Rottenführer
Ewald Lange
Ewald is a given name and surname used primarily in Germany and Scandinavia. It derives from the Germanic roots '' ewa'' meaning "law" and ''wald'' meaning "power, brightness". People and concepts with the name include:
Surnames
* Douglas Ewald ( ...
, SS-Obersturmführer
Herbert Schultz, SS-Oberscharführer
Franz Bürkl and many others (more than 2,000 people). Such individuals were officially sentenced to death for their crimes by the
Polish Underground State court, which was delivered to those individuals. Many could not stand the pressure and returned to Reich.
*
Operation Belt
Operation Belt ( pl, Akcja Taśma) was one of the large-scale anti-Nazi Germany operations of the Armia Krajowa Kedyw during World War II.
In August 1943, the headquarters of the Armia Krajowa ordered Kedyw to prepare an armed action against Germa ...
Warsaw Uprising
Prior to 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 ...
, most of the Kedyw units in the
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 ...
area were moved into the city and grouped into infantry battalions. Notable among them were "
Zośka", "
Parasol
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy (building), canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunburn, sunlight. The term ''umbr ...
" and "Miotła". After fighting broke out, most of the Kedyw forces joined the
''Radosław'' Group. Kedyw units were among the most successful in the Uprising. The boy scouts not only had more experience than many regular soldiers but also had managed to collect more supplies and arms.
Kedyw units first took part in seizing control of Warsaw's
Wola
Wola (, ) is a district in western Warsaw, Poland, formerly the village of Wielka Wola, incorporated into Warsaw in 1916. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it underwent a transformation into an office (co ...
district. After two days of heavy fighting in the
Powązki Cemetery
Powązki Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Powązkowski), also known as Stare Powązki ( en, Old Powązki), is a historic necropolis located in Wola district, in the western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city and one of t ...
in which all German attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties, the units withdrew overnight to the city centre and
Starówka (''the old town''), where they regrouped and defended their sectors until the capitulation of the uprising in October 1944.
Commanders
* Brigadier-General
Emil August Fieldorf
August Emil Fieldorf (''nom de guerre''; “''Nil''”; 20 March 1895 – 24 February 1953) was a Polish brigadier general who served as deputy commander-in-chief of the Home Army after the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising (August 1944 – ...
(''Nil'') (until March 1944)
*
Jan Mazurkiewicz
Jan Mazurkiewicz, pseudonym: "Zagłoba", "Socha", "Sęp", "Radosław" (27 August 1896 – 4 May 1988) was a Polish military leader and politician, colonel of Home Army and brigadier general of the Polish People's Army. Founder of the Secret Mi ...
(''Radosław'') (until August 1944)
Bibliography
*HENRYK WITKOWSKI "KEDYW" OKRĘGU WARSZAWSKIEGO ARMII KRAJOWEJ W LATACH 1943 - 1944", Instytut Wydawniczy Związków Zawodowych 1985, ,
*Rybicka Hanna "Kedyw okręgu Warszawa Armii Krajowej Dokumenty - rok 1944", Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 2009,
*Drzyzga Bernard "Kedyw Okręgu AK Łódź i 60 Pułk AK", 1988,
*Jan Gozdawa-Gołębiowski "Kedyw "Białowieży", Książka i Wiedza 1990, , ,
See also
*
Armia Krajowa
*
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 ...
*
Polish Secret State
The Polish Underground State ( pl, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Gover ...
*
Kotwica
The ''Kotwica'' (; Polish for "Anchor") was a World War II emblem of the Polish Underground State and ''Armia Krajowa'' (Home Army, or ''AK''). It was created in 1942 by members of the ''AK'' Wawer Minor sabotage unit, as an easily usable embl ...
References
* Struktura Organizacyjna Armii Krajowej, Marek Ney-Krwawicz w:
Mówią wieki
''Mówią Wieki'' (meaning ''Centuries Speak'' in English) is a monthly popular science and history magazine published in Poland since 1958.
Editors in chief:
* Maria Bogucka (1958–1976)
* Bożena Krzywobłocka (1976–1977)
* Eugeniusz Du ...
nr 9/1986.
{{Authority control
Units and formations of the Home Army
Scouting and Guiding in Poland
Military units and formations established in 1943
1943 establishments in Poland