| Secret Activities of the Polish Underground |
The Home Army maintained constant communications with the Polish government-in-exile in London, using secret radio transmissions. Messages and microfilm were sent by courriers travelling through Nazi-occupied territory on their way to London. The Underground was able to organize the clandestine landing of Allied aircraft on three separate occasions - an accomplishment that is quite astounding considering that the Germans were expert at scrutinizing airspace and communications. On the last of these three flights, one of the passengers was the Captain of the Home Army, Jerzy Chmielewski, who successfully transported the plans, and precious parts of Germany's V-s1and V-2 missiles to London. |
 |
Underground activities were so effective in its organization that not only were they widespread throughout Poland, but had members operating inside Germany, and the Soviet Union. Counterintelligence was given the mission to protect the Underground from being infiltrated by the enemy. The Underground, or Home Army (AK) successfully intercepted a shipment of 100 million zlotys from the Germans. Poles carried out sabotage virtually everywhere in particular in Gdansk and Berlin. All plans for sabotage and diversionary tactics were organized by the committee for " Underground Struggle " ( Kierownictwo Talki Podziemnej ). Sabotage involved clandestine operations resulting in the damage or destruction of any sector of the German war machine and its administration. |
 |
Factories manufacturing armaments and planes, as well as trucks, cars, tanks, railways, ships, bridges, and so on, were all targets for sabotage. Diversionary tactics were carried out on Germany's military and on the transport of their supplies. |
Colonel Emil Fieldorf (Code Name: Nil) headed the Command of Diversion (KEDYW). His brigade was known as the Gray Ranks ( Szare Szeregi ), and consisted of 20 officers, 43 officers in training, 64 non-commissioned officers, 344 privates, 79 women, and 113 auxiliary. These were a secret group of the Polish Scouting Associa- tion. There were many such units but most noteworthy was one of three platoons of the AK which dealt with armed sabotage. The ODB3, led by Lt. K. Pogorzelski ( Code Name: Rygiel ) consisted of about 50 men, including a woman's support unit. Among the unit were 3 officers, 20 cadet-officers, and 10 NCO's, all well-armed and supplied with explosives. They captured several German vehicles, which were subsequently used in numerous sabotage missions, to great success. The KEDYW was stationed mostly in larger cities, however there were large units deployed in the countryside. These units ranged in size from platoons to brigades, to divisions. One such division was the 27th Volhynian Division posted to the Wilno district. They were responsible for inflicting severe damages and losses to the Germans. Their activity greatly assisted the Allies on the front lines. Diversionary propaganda was conducted to demoralize German soldiers. Frequent messages were relayed taunting the Germans with threats that they would be defeated and utterly humiliated. Numerous secret bulletins, periodicals and newspapers were printed. The ZWZ , one of several Polish underground troops, obtained information that the Germans were secretly planning to invade the Soviet Union in June 1941, and immediately sent a message to the Polish government in London warning them of that outcome. In fact the Germans attacked on June 22. However, the ZWZ encountered enormous difficulties in infiltrating the western part of Poland as it had been absorbed into the German Reich. Similarly, there were difficulties in eastern region where the Soviets had established themselves. The Underground could not infiltrate the south-eastern region ( around Lwow ) because the area was under surveillance by armies of Russian spies. The greatest success was made in the north-east near Vilno and Bialystock, and in the central Poland, that is the " General Gouvernement ". But their success changed drastically when the Germans attached Russia in 1942. The Russians spent as much time fighting off the Gemans as they did the Poles. The SS as well as the Soviets recruited Ukrainian nationalists to kill the Poles resulting in one of the most infamous m assacres in modern history. Thousands of Poles were brutally slaughtered. The Intelligence Service of the AK regularly monitored the activity of the German army and air force, and provided information on every discovery to the Allies. The most valuable information relayed to London was the discovery of the German rocket manufacturing plant at Peenemunde. It led to a successful air raid by the RAF on August 17 - 18, 1943, destroying the entire plant. Diversionary tactics included misinformation, that is the planting of information designed to confuse and create disillusionment among the German soldiers. As plans were being made for a future uprising, women were permitted to join the ranks of the AK, and fight during the uprising. In April of 1942, while Germans and Soviets were battling on Russian soil, the Supreme Council of the AK ordered that tactics be switched from acts of sabotage to that of armed diversions. Particular attention was given to plans for the destruction of warehouses, bridges, troop trains, airfields, telephone and radio installations. During this period several hundred actions took place. They began their guerilla operations in the same year. Of the many incursions, one in particular was impressive. On December 31, 1942, the Germans began the removal of the Polish population in the area of Zamosc for the purpose of replacing them with German settlers. The partisans, assembled in the forests near Zamosc, and Krasnobrod, initiated many attacks which lasted until mid-February 1943. At that time, the Germans had to abandon their colonization plans. Its police, army battalions, tanks and warplanes all had to retreat as a result of attacks from the Polish Underground. There were other large-scale counter-offenses by the Underground, in operations in the forests between Radum and Kielce (Central Poland), in addition to the northeast region between Vilno and Nowogrodek. |