Secret Military Organization, or Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa, TOW in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

, was a clandestine military formation organized prior to World War II in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

in the event Polish territory was occupied by foreign powers. The country-wide TOW organization was active in the early days of the September 1939 Campaign and during the

Nazi occupation of Poland Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. Some of the offshoots or independently organized local "TOWs", such as ''Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa Gryf Pomorski'' ("TOW

Pomeranian Griffin The Pomeranian Griffin secret military organization ( pl, Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa Gryf Pomorski) was a Polish anti-Nazi resistance group active in Pomerania and East Prussia during World War II. A major Polish resistance organization in the ...

") or ''Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa Gryf Kaszubski'' ("TOW Kaszubian Griffin") were active throughout the whole period of the German occupation as well as the early years of the Soviet takeover. During the interwar period, Polish intelligence services in the ''Grupa Operacyjnej Dywersji'' (Operational Group for Diversion) developed contingency plans for creating an underground movement in case the country was occupied by either

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 ...

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. The sub unit within this service codenamed ''Zygmunt'' was charged with preparing diversionary and sabotage actions to be carried out during the possible occupation. The main, country-wide, TOW was organized by Major (later colonel)

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 Mil ...

, codename ''Radosław'', in late 1939, in Stanisławów, after the Polish defeat in the

September campaign 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 after ...

. Mazurkiewicz's founding of the group received approval from Gen.

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 ...

and 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 ...

. Originally the coordinating headquarters of this TOW were located in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, but were transferred to occupied Poland in 1940. In March 1943 the main TOW became part of the general anti-Nazi organization 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 ...

and the cells of the organization were transformed or transferred into the newly organized "Directorate for Diversion",

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 ...

. Some of the other TOWs, such as the Pomeranian Griffin, continued to exist independently of the Home Army, or were only nominally subordinated to it.

References

{{Authority control Military units and formations of Poland in World War II Polish revolutionary organisations 1939 establishments in Poland Military units and formations disestablished in 1943 Polish resistance during World War II