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Leśni
(, "forest people") is an informal name applied to some anti-German partisan groups that operated in occupied Poland during World War II, being a part of Polish resistance movement. The "forest people" groups comprised mostly people who for various reasons could not operate from the communities they lived in and had to retreat into the forests. Unlike most organized resistance groups, such as the Home Army, the "forest people" formed a sort of standing army, as opposed to regular partisan units that gathered shortly before an operation and afterward returned to their homes. After the 1939 fall of Poland The first such groups formed in 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland. Membership comprised mostly marauders from the Polish Army and other people who evaded arrest by the new Nazi or Soviet authorities. In March 1940 the partisan unit of the first guerrilla commander in the Second World War in Europe - Henryk Dobrzański "Hubal" - completely destroyed a battalion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resistance During World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, resistance movements were sometimes also referred to as The Underground. The resistance movements in World War II can be broken down into two primary politically polarized camps: the internationalist and usually Communist Party-led anti-fascist resistance that existed in nearly every country in the world; and the various fascist/anti-communist nationalist resistance groups in Nazi- or Soviet-occupied countries that opposed the foreign fascists and the communists, often switching sides depending on the vicissitudes of the war and which side of the ever-moving military front lines they found themselves on. Among the most notable resistance movements were the Polish Resistance (including the Polish Home Army, Leśni, People’s Army, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Osuchy
The Battle of Osuchy ( pl, Bitwa pod Osuchami; sometimes referred to as the Battle at Sopot River, pl, Bitwa nad Sopotem ) was one of the largest battles between the Polish resistance and Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II, a part of the Zamość Uprising. It took place near the village of Osuchy in the Solska Forest on 25–26 June 1944 during the German anti-partisan (Operation Hurricane II). The battle ended with the defeat of the local resistance forces that suffered heavy casualties. Background The Nazi terror since 1942 - part of the Generalplan Ost - in the Zamość region in occupied Poland had led to the creation of many active resistance units. Polish partisans (from Armia Krajowa, Bataliony Chłopskie and Armia Ludowa) - with the aid of some Soviet partisans - made the region almost ungovernable to the Germans. The German garrison in the key city of Biłgoraj was mostly cut off from land communication with other forces; the town of Józefów ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish resistance is most notable for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front (damaging or destroying 1/8 of all rail transports), providing intelligence reports to the British intelligence agencies (providing 43% of all reports from occupied Europe), and for saving more Jewish lives in the Holocaust than any other Western Allied organization or government. It was a part of the Polish Underground State. Organizations The largest of all Polish resistance organizations was the Armia Krajowa (Home Army, AK), loyal to the Polish government in exile in London. The ''AK'' was formed in 1942 from the Union of Armed Struggle (''Związek Walki Zbrojnej'' or ZWZ, itself created in 1939) and woul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasion Of Poland (1939)
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 the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, and one day after the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union had approved the pact. The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. The invasion is also known in Poland as the September campaign ( pl, kampania wrześniowa) or 1939 defensive war ( pl, wojna obronna 1939 roku, links=no) and known in Germany as the Poland campaign (german: Überfall auf Polen, Polenfeldzug). German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west the morning after the Gleiwitz incident. Slovak military forces adv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Czortków Uprising
Chortkiv ( uk, Чортків; pl, Czortków; yi, ''Chortkov'') is a city in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast (province) in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chortkiv Raion (district), housing the district's local administration buildings. Chortkiv hosts the administration of Chortkiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: Chortkiv is located in the northern part of the historic region of Galician Podolia on the banks of the Seret River. In the past Chortkiv was the home of many Hasidic Jews; it was a notable shtetl and had a significant number of Jews residing there prior to the Holocaust. Today, Chortkiv is a regional commercial and small-scale manufacturing center. Among its architectural monuments is a fortress built in the 16th and 17th centuries as well as historic wooden churches of the 17th and 18th centuries. History The first historical mention of Chortkiv dates to 1522, when Polish King Sigismund I the Old granted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Porytowe Wzgórze
The Battle of Porytowe Wzgórze (Porytowe Hill) took place on June 14, 1944, between Polish and Russian partisans and Nazi German forces. It was the largest battle between underground anti-Nazi resistance and German occupation forces in occupied Europe. Prelude In the Spring of 1944 numerous partisan units operated in the Lublin region, including those associated with the Home Army (AK), Bataliony Chłopskie (BCh), National Military Organization (NOW) as well as the communist Armia Ludowa (AL) and Russian partisans. These fighters kept being pushed westward by the Germans, as the front approached from the east. The activities of the partisan units mostly consisted of attacks on German supply lines and convoys. As a result, in May 1944, the Germans developed a detailed plan of an anti-partisan action, code named "Sturmwind" (Storm-wind) which they put into effect in early June. The purpose of the operation was the elimination of Polish and Russian partisan units from the area of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Murowana Oszmianka
The Battle of Murowana Oszmianka of 13–14 May 1944 was the largest clash between the Polish resistance movement organization Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK) and the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force (LTDF); a Lithuanian volunteer security force subordinated to Nazi Germany occupational administration. The battle took place in and near the village of Murowana Oszmianka in ''Generalbezirk Litauen,'' part of the '' Reichskommissariat Ostland''. The outcome of the battle was that the 301st LTDF battalion was routed and the entire force was disbanded by the Germans soon afterwards due to its members refusing to take an oath to Hitler and be subordinate to German commanders. Prelude In late April and early May 1944, the German authorities decided to transfer a significant part of the police duties in Lithuania to the newly created LTDF formation, which was ordered to initiate a wide anti-partisan operation against the Polish and Soviet partisans in the area. Three Lithuanian battali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 of Battalion Parasol) primarily composed by members of scouting and guiding Gray Ranks. This special action was a part of the larger Operation Heads - the code name of a series of executions of Nazi officials by the Polish Resistance. Background SS-''Brigadeführer'' and Generalmajor of the Polizei, Franz Kutschera, became SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw District on 25 September 1943. During his earlier posting in the Mogilev District of the Soviet Union he proved himself as a ruthless officer, prone to brutal and unscrupulous methods. Soon after his arrival in Warsaw he stepped up terror measures directed against the civilian population. The number of public executions and ''łapanka'' round-ups were increased, and lists of host ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Most III
Operation Most III ( Polish for ''Bridge III'') or Operation Wildhorn III (in British documents) was a World War II operation in which Poland's ''Armia Krajowa'' provided the Allies with crucial intelligence on the German V-2 rocket. Background From November 1943 onwards, the Intelligence Division of the Polish Home Army (''Armia Krajowa'') obtained parts of the V-2 rocket, which was being tested at a missile launch site near Blizna, central Poland. The availability of parts increased from April 1944, when numerous test rockets fell near Sarnaki village, in the vicinity of the Bug River, south of Siemiatycze. On the night of 20 May 1944 a particularly intact rocket fell into the swampy banks of the Bug. Parts of the rocket were secured by the Armia Krajowa, and analyzed at its secret laboratories in Warsaw. The analysis was performed by Professor Janusz Groszkowski (radio and guidance), Marceli Struszyński (fuel), Bogdan Stefanowski (engine), Antoni Kocjan, and oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Bürkl
Operation Bürkl (''operacja Bürkl''), or the special combat action Bürkl (''specjalna akcja bojowa Bürkl''), was an operation by the Polish resistance conducted on 7 September 1943. It was the second action of Operation Heads, a series of assassinations of notorious SS officers in Warsaw carried out by the Kedyw's special group Agat ("Anti-Gestapo") between 1943 and 1944, and their first success. History The goal of the operation was to "liquidate" Franz Bürkl, a notorious Sicherheitspolizei NCO who had been sentenced to death by the Polish Underground courts for the murder of at least several dozen people. Bürkl was ambushed in broad daylight on the city's main Marszałkowska Street by a group of five young AK partisans armed with Sten submachine guns and Filipinka hand grenades. The assassins, led by 21-year-old Jerzy Zborowski, were recruited for Agat from the underground scouting organization Szare Szeregi. Bürkl and seven other German policemen were killed in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 for crimes against Polish citizens during the World War II German occupation of Poland. The operation's code name, literally "Operation Little Heads", was a sardonic reference to the ''Totenkopf'' ("Death's Head") insignia on Nazi German SS uniforms and headgear. Background Operation Heads was the response of Polish Resistance fighters of the Home Army to Nazi terror in Poland. On the streets of Polish cities, the non-Jewish population was targeted by the ''łapanka'' policy, in which Nazi forces indiscriminately rounded up, kidnapped and murdered civilians. In Warsaw, between 1942 and 1944, there were approximately 400 daily victims of ''łapanka''. Tens of thousands of these victims were killed in mass executions, including an estima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 German border guarding stations on the frontier between the General Government and the territories annexed by the Third Reich. By February 1944, 13 German outposts were destroyed with few losses on the Polish side. One of the Poles who died in the operation was the Boy Scout Tadeusz Zawadzki, one of the most important personalities of the Polish underground. Zawadzki was killed on 20 August 1943, during an attack on a German border station at the village of Sieczychy, near Wyszków. Operation Belt itself took place in the night of 20–21 August, when seven German stations were destroyed. On 30 August, General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski ordered to begin preparation of another armed action, Operation Chain (), which was the continuation of ''Belt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
