Krajowa Armia Podziemna (KAP, Underground Home Army; ) was a Polish military

anticommunist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

organization that existed since October 1949 to January 1952. Its headquarter was located in

Szybowice Szybowice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Prudnik, within Prudnik County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, close to the Czech border. It lies approximately north-west of Prudnik and south-west of the regional capi ...

. Krajowa Armia Podziemna was operating mainly in the

Prudnik County __NOTOC__ Prudnik County ( pl, powiat prudnicki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish ...

Nysa County __NOTOC__ Nysa County ( pl, powiat nyski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

, Wrocław Voivodeship and

Olsztyn Voivodeship Olsztyn Voivodeship () was an administrative division and unit of local government in Poland in the years 1945–75, and a new territorial division between 1975–1998, superseded by Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Its capital city was Olsztyn. ...

History

Origin of the organisation

The originator of KAP was Tomasz Gołąb, member of

Freedom and Independence Freedom and Independence Association ( pl, Zrzeszenie Wolność i Niezawisłość, or WiN) was a Polish underground anticommunist organisation founded on September 2, 1945 and active until 1952. Political goals and realities The main purpose of it ...

. In October 1949, along with his wife, he visited her cousin Stanisław Stojanowski in Biała. He convinced him to create a secret military organisation, to which they could recruit migrants from

Kresy Wschodnie 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 interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic, it ...

. Its goal was a diversion on

Polish People's Army The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Pe ...

during the expected

World War III World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...

. Stojanowski, during his friend's wedding in Lubrza, asked Emil Stojanowski from Szybowice to join them.

Activities

In March 1950, the organisation had 7 members. Ludwik Bartmanowicz, a poruchik after demobilization, was supposed to be its leader, but he declined the offer. Władysław Biernat planned his death in order to prevent his treason. He later ordered the murder of Jan Walasek, an officer of Ministry of Public Security in

Prudnik Prudnik (, szl, Prudnik, Prōmnik, german: Neustadt in Oberschlesien, Neustadt an der Prudnik, la, Prudnicium) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the ...

. In 1951 Hieronim Bednarski commanded an attack on the building of

Milicja Obywatelska Milicja Obywatelska (), in English known as the Citizens' Militia and commonly abbreviated to MO, was the national police organization of the Polish People's Republic. It was established on 7 October 1944 by the Polish Committee of National Libera ...

in a different Voivodeship in order to obtain weapons and original police IDs. On 4 May 1951 KAP attacked "Samopomoc Chłopska" in Lipowa. On 21 May 1951 they attacked and robbed Józef Chudy, a member of the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

. On 25 July 1951 they robbed Spółdzielnia Spożywców in Charbielin.

Arrest

The first mention of an anticommunist organization in Szybowice appeared on 27 January 1950 in the notes of Józef Pleban, a worker of Ministry of Public Security in Prudnik. Since January to March 1952 the members of Krajowa Armia Podziemna were arrested. Their hearing lasted since April 1952 to February 1953. Many of the members were sentenced. Hieronim Bednarski and Władysława Biernata were

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Members

Members of the KAP were: * Stanisław "Ogień" Stojanowski from Biała * Emil "Kościuszko" Stojanowski from Szybowice * Józef "Lew" Zając from Szybowice * Jan "Motyl, Klon" Krech from Szybowice * Władysław "Pantera" Biernat vel Bernaski from Prudnik * Hieronim "Nawrócony" Bednarski from Szybowice * Jan Kuszła from Szybowice * Antoni Rzucidło "Szkop" from Szybowice * Marian Marciniec from Prudnik * Piotr Lipniarski from Prudnik * Stanisław Kołodziej from Szybowice * Tadeusz "Dąb" Nosko from Szybowice * Władysław Zieniuk from Mieszowice * Jan "Jawor" Mazur from Szybowice * Piotr Dawiskiba from Szybowice * Tadeusz "Wilk" Krupa from

Ząbkowice Śląskie Ząbkowice Śląskie ( ; german: link=no, Frankenstein in Schlesien; szl, Ślůnske Zůmbkowicy) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Ząbkowice Śląskie County and of a local municipality called ...

* Ludwik "Olcha" Bartmanowicz from Szybowice It's possible that Władysław Cybulka from Szybowice and Rudolf Twardysko from Prudnik also were a part of the organisation, but it was never proven. KAP was also supported by many other people, including those living in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

History

Origin of the organisation

Activities

Arrest

Members

References

See also