People's Army: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. "Patriots and punishers in one skin
The Craiova Army is a Polish armed formation that operated underground during the Second World War. Their influence extended not only to Poland, but also to Lithuania and Hungary. The army was part of the Polish Resistance and fought against the Nazi occupation. It is considered one of the largest partisan irregulars in Europe.
The emergence of the army
Before the Home Army, there was an organization called the Service for the Victory of Poland, which appeared at the very beginning of World War II in September 1939. It operated underground, later it was renamed the Union of Armed Struggle.
Officially, the Craiova army appeared on February 14, 1942. The order to create it was issued by the Supreme Commander of the Polish Armed Forces, it was signed by General Wladyslaw Sikorsky.
Activities of the Polish underground
The activities of the Home Army took a variety of forms. Its members have been busy organizational work. A unified network of underground organizations was created that operated on the territory of Poland, and precisely within its pre-war borders. The same network included existing underground structures.
The Home Army in Poland partly included the People's Military Organization, the Peasant Battalions, which were formed mainly at the beginning of 1941, the main cadres were members of the peasant youth organization called Vitsi. Also in her different time included detachments of the Socialist Party of Poland, various illegal military organizations that supported the government in exile.
Often secret groups worked outside the territory of Poland, for example, in concentration camps. One of the largest operated in Auschwitz, as well as among the inhabitants of Poland, who were sent to Germany for forced labor.
A stable connection was established between the Home Army in Poland and the government in exile. The headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was located in London. In order to establish a stable connection, transshipment bases were organized, one of which worked in Budapest.
In the interests of the Polish government civilian army Craiova conducted reconnaissance. Its employees managed to transmit more than 25 thousand intelligence messages, deciphered several thousand German dispatches.
Its achievements include a large amount of data collected on the situation in occupied Poland, as well as in the border areas. Information was obtained about the location of enterprises that produced synthetic gasoline, and many other military plants and factories, not only in Poland, but also in Germany. Information about "death camps" and concentration camps was of great value.
Among the biggest achievements are the obtained information about the plants in Peenemünde and research center, on which the famous V-1 and V-2 rockets were developed. Thanks to them, the British Air Force was able to conduct a massive bombardment at Peenemude, stopping the creation of missiles for several months.
Close attention was paid to propaganda work. The "Information Bulletin" was published, which was published from 1939 to 1945. In total, about 250 newspapers were published during the occupation.
Propaganda was also carried out among German soldiers, anti-Soviet activities. Basically, the work was aimed at concentrating forces and resources for the upcoming uprising, when the forces of Germany and the USSR were depleted. The command was focused on concentrating all the armed forces on the plans of the government in exile, which was located in London, leaving them the right to choose when conducting partisan operations and major sabotage.
Such tactics were very unpopular among Polish patriots. Contradictions even began to arise within the army itself. Most of the military actions were aimed at assassination of high-ranking members of the Nazi Party, the fight against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
Successes of the Home Army
The specific successes of the army include 732 trains, which, according to the rebels themselves, were derailed, they also set fire to 443 vehicles. More than 4,000 more were destroyed, 130 warehouses with weapons and ammunition were burned, 19,000 wagons were damaged, more than a thousand tanks of gasoline were set on fire, 40 railway bridges were blown up, five oil wells were destroyed, in total, about 25,000 sabotage actions were carried out at factories.
Organized 5,700 attempts on the Germans and Poles who collaborated with them.
Difficult relations developed between the Polish Home Army and the Soviet troops. Only in 1944 was an order given for cooperation between units. A truce was established between the Polish and Soviet partisans.
But soon relations began to deteriorate again, in Poland they repeatedly shot and disarmed Soviet prisoners of war who had escaped from German imprisonment in camps, even those who themselves sought to join the Polish army of Craiova to resist the Nazis.
Volyn massacre
The Craiova army is repeatedly accused of crimes. In eastern Poland and western Ukraine, AK detachments carried out punitive operations, during which even civilians were killed. For example, in Sakhryn in March 1944, in Gorayets in April 1945.
History has preserved the Volyn Massacre, when members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army massively shot ethnic Poles on the territory of Volyn. Civilians of Ukrainian and other nationalities also suffered.
Punitive operations began in March 1943, reaching their climax by July. The fact is that before the start of the war, this area was under the control of Poland.
It was then that the Craiova army and the organization of Ukrainian nationalists began to confront each other. It was here that the bloodiest episode in the history of this military organization arose. Polish historians still interpret the confrontation of the Home Army against the UPA as an anti-Polish action, while Ukrainian historians, first of all, focus on the motives that led to this and on the Poles' response to the civilian population.
It is noteworthy that the conflict between Ukrainians and Poles was actively supported by the invaders. To the Ukrainians who lived on the territory of Poland, they pursued a softer policy.
The UPA appeared in 1942, the organization was headed by Stepan Bandera. Its members began to systematically exterminate the Polish population, which lived in the territories of the southeastern provinces of pre-war Poland. During the action in the village of Parosla Persha in Volhynia, 179 people were killed.
The Polish government tried to negotiate with the UPA, but they were terminated after the brutal murder of the Polish representative in Volhynia, Jan Ramela, which took place in the village of Kustishche. It was torn apart by horses. In parallel, large-scale killings of the civilian Polish population of Volhynia began.
These crimes peaked on July 11, 1943. It was then that about one and a half hundred were attacked. settlements in which Poles lived predominantly. Thousands of people were killed in several voivodeships. The SS division, which was called "Galicia", joined the genocide, Ukrainians served in its composition. Only on February 28, 1944, about 700 people were killed in the village of Huta Pinyatska.
Since 1943, Polish self-defense bases have been created on the territory of Volhynia, which are actively destroyed by the UPA. Only the largest ones manage to survive, those who had support from the Home Army.
Since the end of summer, regular attacks on UPA detachments begin, raids are carried out in Ukrainian villages, while often local residents are killed and houses are burned.
The Home Army and the Volyn massacre are strongly associated in history. The Poles are pursuing a tough retaliatory policy, carrying out actions of retribution. So, on the night of March 10, 1944, about 20 villages were attacked, in which Ukrainians permanently lived. As a result, significant casualties were recorded among peaceful Ukrainians. Currently, the Polish Sejm officially considers the Volhynia massacre a genocide of the Poles.
Relationship with other Polish forces
The leadership of the underground army in every possible way denied the legitimacy of any other Polish military and political organizations. At the same time, the opponents were still treated ambiguously. With some, joint operations were carried out, while with others it came to armed conflicts.
Relations between the Home Army and the Ludov Army were ambiguous. The latter was the military organization "Polish Workers' Party", created in the middle of World War II in the territory occupied by the Germans. On the one hand, the fighters who went to Lyudov's army were considered deserters, moreover, active anti-communist propaganda was carried out, which was designed to discredit the supporters of the Soviet Union.
At the same time, the Craiova army and the Ludov army often carried out joint sorties against the fascist invaders. In February 1943, negotiations were held on the settlement of relations, as well as a joint discussion of hostilities, the organization of a united anti-fascist front.
But by the end of the year the situation worsened again. The Craiova Army adopted an order "On Ensuring Tranquility in the Field", in which, as part of the fight against banditry, armed bands were allowed to be destroyed on the territory of Poland. Some of the commanders directly regarded this as a decree to start a campaign against members of other organizations and Soviet partisans.
And so the difficult relations of the Home Army against the Red Army escalated. In October 1943, the "Eagle" detachment killed six activists of the Polish Workers' Party, as well as 7 fighters of the Lyudov Guard, several soldiers who collaborated with the communists. Punitive actions continued after that.
For example, on December 7, 1943, the AK combat group in the Opatovsky district killed six fighters from the Lyudov Guards detachment, which bore the name Zawishy, nicknamed Black. The Home Army claimed responsibility for this action.
Belarus and the Polish army
The Home Army in Belarus became more active due to the annexation of Western Belarus to the Soviet Union, which took place in 1939. Then an active struggle with the Polish underground began. According to the NKVD, in six months it was possible to identify and eliminate more than a hundred rebel organizations. They were evicted to Kazakhstan, Siberia.
After Germany occupied Belarus, the Sikorsky government used the situation to strengthen its own positions in the east of the former Poland. Polish officials who were well versed German, began to be considered offended by the Soviet authorities. Among them there were many who were closely associated with the government in exile.
In Western Belarus, the Polish and Soviet underground coexisted peacefully only at first. Representatives of the Poles, mainly, carried out the instructions of their government in exile, which led to a conflict between the Soviet and Polish underground.
The Craiova army was active in the Mostovsky region. There was the village of Lunno, which was mostly inhabited by Jews. A ghetto was created, and the Jewish police were even organized in it to maintain order. The conditions of detention in the ghetto were difficult, some of them managed to join the Polish resistance or the Red Army even before the occupation.
In the Glubokoe region, the Craiova army was under serious pressure. The SS divisions opened a real hunt for Jews and Polish insurgents. The so-called First Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina", created from among defectors and captured Red Army soldiers, was active in these places. It trained collaborators for underground and sabotage activities in the deep Soviet rear. Already in the 90s, the body of Colonel Gil, who led the Druzhina, was discovered in the Glubokoe region by Vitebsk search teams.
The main activity of the AK was aimed at trying to establish the Soviet-Polish border in the pre-war form. An important role was played by the factors of distribution of the sphere of influence, the solution of issues of providing weapons and food.
When the Communist Party decree on the partisan movement in Belorussia was published in the summer of 1943, it was separately described that organizations and groups that did not meet the interests of the Soviet Union were not allowed to exist in these areas. With regard to the Polish armed formations, specific orders were received: to force them out of these territories, to introduce their own agents who would demoralize and decompose them from the inside, to involve the Poles in cooperation to create Soviet partisan detachments.
If the Soviet partisan movement was especially strong, it was proposed without attracting special attention, liquidate the leaders of the Polish underground, disarm the detachments, and, if possible, include ordinary partisans in the struggle under Soviet leadership.
At the same time, in 1944, the Poles began to mobilize into the Craiova army. In Braslav, Volozhin, Myadel, Ivenets, Uzda, Kozlovshchina, it was open in nature, which significantly strengthened their positions.
All this led to another clash between the Polish and Soviet partisans. At the same time, there were significant losses among both those and others, as well as the civilian population. So, only in the territory of the Baranovichi region, Soviet partisans shot more than 500 local residents. In particular, they were accused of having links with the Home Army.
At the same time, the Germans tried to use the conflict between the Poles and the "soviets" for their own purposes. The AK command did not give clear orders for cooperation with the Germans against the Red Army, but nevertheless, in some cases, there were such precedents.
In December 1943, Pilkh concluded an agreement with the Nazis on the fight against Soviet partisans, shortly after that, an agreement was signed in Lida by the commander of the Lech formation, Svyda. In exchange for loyalty, the Germans supplied weapons to the Poles.
It is well known that in February 1944 negotiations with fascist leadership carried out by the commander of the Vilna district, Lieutenant Colonel Kryzhanovsky, nicknamed Wilk. He went for it, even despite the fact that earlier London had received a direct order from the government in exile to ban any contact with the Germans.
In the spring of 1944, the General Commissar of Belarus forbade the mobilization of the local population in the territory of the Lida district and neighboring regions. Only when the German troops were finally ousted from Belarusian territory, Soviet organs The NKVD began repressions against members of the Home Army. Polish historians have calculated that about 80 people with their families were deported from the territory of the Vilna, Bialystok and Novogrudok districts alone.
Some of the AK activists switched to open armed struggle against Soviet power. In 1944 and 1945, attacks on Soviet activists, Red Army soldiers, and local residents who supported the Communists and local authorities became more frequent in Western Belarus. The settlers from the eastern regions also suffered. Individual incidents were recorded until the early 1950s.
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising played a big role in the fate of AK. It was organized by the leadership of the Home Army and the government in exile against the Third Reich. It began in Warsaw on August 1, 1944. It was possible to liquidate it only by October 2.
Virtually all the underground organizations that operated at that time in the city participated in the uprising. In addition to the largest AK, these were the National Armed Forces, which included detachments of the Polish Army Ludowa, the Security Corps. It is noteworthy that the Warsaw Uprising was directed simultaneously against the Germans, militarily, and against the USSR, politically. The Poles did not agree with the policy pursued by the Western Allies. On August 1, an armed uprising began. The reason that served as the impetus for the start of the uprising was the rumors that near Warsaw appeared soviet tanks. In fact, the offensive of the Red Army was stopped German troops still on the eastern bank of the Vistula on the outskirts of the Polish capital.
As a result, the Germans were able to regroup and offer effective resistance to the Polish insurgents. The uprising itself began as part of the so-called Operation Storm, which was part of a global plan for a nationwide seizure of power. main goal the insurgents were to oust the German occupiers from the city and establish power in Warsaw.
A more promising political task was to liberate the city before the troops of the Red Army occupied it. This would emphasize the independence of the Polish state, then the government in exile would return, preventing the Polish Committee of National Liberation from coming to power.
The plans of the AK was to proclaim administrative and political power in Warsaw 12 hours before the Soviet troops entered the city. At the same time, no coordination with the advancing Soviet units was expected. Moreover, the leadership of the AK was not going to help the Soviet troops force the Vistula, liberate Warsaw.
The concept of the uprising provided for a battle with the retreating Germans, which was supposed to last no more than three or four days. It was assumed that it would be possible to capture Warsaw with a swift blow, then land the Polish paratrooper brigades, preparing everything for the arrival of the government in exile. The uprising was supposed to be a vivid political demonstration, symbolizing the strength of an independent Polish state. It is noteworthy that the leaders of the AK counted on the support of the uprising by the Soviet troops, although the ultimate goals were directed against the Red Army.
Now historians note that the uprising was not sufficiently prepared militarily, and the political orientation against the Soviet Union and inconsistency with the Red Army also played a role. As a result, after two months of fierce fighting, the rebels suffered a crushing defeat. Left-bank Warsaw was almost completely destroyed, the rebels suffered heavy losses. They failed to achieve either political or military goals.
The exact number of victims is still unknown. It is believed that about 17 thousand members of the Polish resistance were killed, another 6 thousand people were seriously injured. In the ensuing punitive actions, from 150,000 to 200,000 civilians were killed. IN Lately some historians estimate the losses to be significantly lower. Noting that total number victims ranged from 100 to 130 thousand people. During the street battles, a quarter of the housing stock of Warsaw was destroyed, after the surrender of the Polish forces, the German troops purposefully began to destroy houses block by block, leveling another 35% of the buildings in Warsaw.
End of AK
The defeat in the Warsaw Uprising hit AK hard. According to various estimates, during the Second World War in the lists dead army Craiova turned out to be about 100 thousand people. Another 50 thousand people were imprisoned or captured. The leadership understood the doom of conducting partisan activities against the Soviet troops, as the population was tired of the war, the losses were already huge. The lower classes of the Polish underground were very skeptical because of the repressions that were carried out by the NKVD and the Polish state security agencies.
On January 19, 1945, an order was issued to dissolve it. It was signed by the commander Leopold Okulicki, who was at that time in the territory of Czestochowa, liberated by the Soviet troops. The underground publication "Information Bulletin" published the last issue, in which this order was published. By that time, Soviet troops were already carrying out operations to eliminate the gangs of the Home Army in their rear.
Officially, this date is considered the decline of the AK, although some formations operated for some time, some even autonomously. At the same time, some of the commanders and soldiers took Okulitsky's order as actual permission to start independent fighting against the provisional government and the Soviet Union.
After the disbandment, most members of the AK joined the ranks of the civil militia, which at that time was formed on the territory of Poland, while others remained underground and continued to conduct partisan activity, no longer against the Nazis, but against the Communists and the NKVD.
The leadership of the AK did not despair either. In February 1945, Okulitzky spoke at a meeting of the illegal Council of Ministers of Poland. He suggested creating an underground military-political organization "Ne" from members of the Home Army. It was planned that members of several major Polish political parties would also join. The initiative was supported, Yankovsky immediately proceeded to negotiations. It was decided to keep radio transmitters, weapons and ammunition in the headquarters.
But it was not possible to expand the activities of the new underground organization widely. The anti-communist underground was in deep crisis. The Polish government, which was in exile, did not recognize the decisions of the Tehran Conference, therefore, according to the victorious countries, it could not return to power in the country.
As a result, Okulitsky, Yankovsky and several of their associates were found guilty of organizing and leading the underground organization "Ne". It operated for some time in the rear of the Red Army, on the territory of Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus. Activists "Ne" staged sabotage operations, terrorist acts against soldiers and officers of the Red Army, carried out subversive work, staged propaganda hostile to the Soviet Union. In addition, Okulitsky himself conducted reconnaissance and sabotage activities in the Soviet rear.
More than 500 people were killed due to terrorist activities, according to prosecutors. Soviet soldiers and officers. By the decision of the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, Okulitsky received 10 years in prison, 12 more people were sentenced to various terms of up to 4 months in prison.
At the same time, the anti-communist activities of the military underground did not stop at these measures. It gained momentum by the summer of 1945. Having finished with the liquidation of the gangs of the Home Army, the Red Army had to face the forest detachments, the basis of which was rural youth. By May 1945, there were more than two hundred armed groups and detachments of the anti-communist underground. They consisted of a dozen to several hundred fighters.
The Internal Security Corps was created to fight the rebels. Agents of the NKVD penetrated into the forest detachments, some formations became ordinary robber gangs, repeating many of the crimes of the Home Army. The defeat of this anti-communist movement was due to a number of factors. Among them is the refusal of the leadership of the detachments from active action, a significant reduction in the social base, successful actions NKVD, Corps and security agencies. In addition, an amnesty law was adopted, which finally led to decadent moods among the underground. After the coalition provisional government was formed, they had the opportunity to start a new life anew.
Separate detachments fought against the communists until 1952, acting autonomously. Basically, these organizations were formed using technical means, structures and personnel of AK.
AK memory
Despite the ambiguous assessment of her activities, monuments to the Home Army have been preserved in Poland. One of them is located in Poznań. It is directly dedicated to the activities of the Polish Underground State and the AK during the Second World War on the territory of Poland.
The monument was created in the style of deconstructivism. It consists of six columns, on which are commemorative tables, glass scripts, symbolizing the descent into the dungeon. Cast-iron plates symbolize civilians who died during the Nazi occupation.
Many films have been made about the Home Army. The most famous is Andrzej Wajda's drama Ashes and Diamond, which was released in 1958. The action of the picture takes place in Poland liberated from the Germans. In this film about the Craiova army, its former fighters are everywhere considered "damned soldiers". In fact, they were sure that, like everyone else, they were fighting against the German occupation.
Interestingly, a year earlier, Vajda made another film about the Home Army - the drama "Canal" about tragic fate AK fighters who, during the Warsaw Uprising, are trying to leave the city through sewer channels.
In 1992, Vajda's drama "The Ring with an Eagle in the Crown" was released, where he again refers to the theme of the Warsaw Uprising, brutally suppressed by the Nazis.
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Memorial sign "Cross of the Home Army"
Home Army (Armia Krajowa, lit. - Patriotic army), Polish national military organization, which operated in 1942-1945 in Poland occupied by German troops. Subordinated to the Polish government in exile in London. It was formed on the basis of the underground organization "Union of Armed Struggle" (created in January 1940). The Craiova Army included: part of the People's Military Organization, partly the Khlopske Battalions, the main personnel of which were members of the Vitsi youth peasant organization, military detachments of the right wing of the Polish Socialist Party and other illegal military organizations of political centers that supported the Polish government in exile.
The command of the Home Army raised an uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. In January 1945, the Craiova Army was disbanded, and from among its most reactionary members, the terrorist underground organization Liberty and Incompetence (VIN) was created, which fought against the establishment of a socialist system in Poland. In 1947 it was destroyed by the security forces of Poland.
Used material Encyclopedia of the Third Reich - www.fact400.ru/mif/reich/titul.htm
"Craiova" in Polish means "nationwide, national". In turn, “Ludova” is folk in the sense that “working people”. Two armies of one nation, separated by ideology. They practically did not fight among themselves, at some stage they even had a common enemy - the Nazi occupiers. However, the ideology eventually imposed by another occupier divided them into two different formations - different values, different destinies. There is no open enmity between them, but there is no love either.
Both of these Polish armed formations arose during the Second World War. The Home Army (AK) emerged as a conspiratorial military organization that operated during the Nazi occupation on the territory of the Polish state within the borders that existed before September 1, 1939. This army, the largest in the world, operating underground, was an integral part of the armed forces of the Commonwealth. The basis for the creation of the AK was the Polish Victory Service, which was created on September 27, 1939 and already on November 13, 1939 turned into the Union of Armed Struggle. In February 1942, by order of the supreme commander of the Polish armed forces, General Wladyslaw Sikorsky, the SVB was renamed the Home Army, which was subordinate to the Polish government in exile, which conducted its activities in the UK.
According to the plans of the Polish government, the AK was to become a nationwide, supra-party organization, and its chief commandant was to be the only head of the state armed forces authorized by the government. In various periods, the AK was commanded by outstanding Polish military men - Generals S. Rowiecki "Grot", T. Komorowski "Bir", L. Okulitzki "Medvedik". The main task of the AK was to fight for the restoration of state independence by organizing self-defense actions and preparing an underground army for an uprising that was supposed to break out on Polish lands at the time of the armed weakening of Nazi Germany. Despite its partisan character, the AK had a well-developed structure: the main commandant's office was the governing body of the army, it included structural units and separate services that organized conspiracies, carried out intelligence work, accumulated weapons, trained personnel, published underground literature, etc. In addition, members of the AK established contacts with prisoner-of-war camps and among the Poles throughout the entire Reich. In January 1943, a leadership of sabotage was also created. The personnel base of the AK was made up of officers who served in the Polish army before Nazi occupation, some of which remained in Poland, and some were returned to their homeland by the British allies, dropped by parachute.
The regional structure of the AK corresponded to the pre-war administrative division Poland. At the beginning of 1944, units in 8 separate districts were subordinate to the main commandant's office of the AK, which in turn were divided into regions and subdistricts. Base units AK groups were "full", 35-50 soldiers each, and "incomplete", 16-25 each. As of the beginning of 1944, the AK had 6287 full and 2613 incomplete military units. The AK also included structural foreign units operating in the UK, Hungary and Germany. As a result of campaigning and armed rescue actions, the AK turned into a mass organization, which in the summer of 1944 had about 380,000 members. Smaller armed organizations joined the ranks of the AK: the Secret Polish Army, the Secret Military Organization, the Armed Confederation, the Socialist Fighting Organization, Peasant Battalions, etc. Army Ludov (AL) did not join AK.
AK implemented its combat missions not only in preparation for the uprising, but also in daily armed activities: organizing acts of sabotage and sabotage, fighting off arrested Polish citizens and captured allied armies from the hands of the Nazis, partisan battles against Nazi punitive detachments. For the allies, the intelligence work carried out by the AK was extremely valuable. Their greatest merit in this matter is considered to be the receipt and transfer to England in July 1943 of data on the development by the Germans at the plant in Peenemünde of a new weapon - the famous, over time, rocket "FAU". In 1944, AK detachments also began to fight against NKVD units in the eastern regions of pre-war Poland.
However, the culmination of the AK struggle was the Warsaw Uprising, which began a few months before the occupation of the Polish capital by Soviet troops - in the summer of 1944. The Warsaw Uprising was destined to become one of the most glorious pages in the history of the AK, but also one of the most dramatic pages in Polish history. Military and civilian casualties numbered in the thousands, and old Warsaw was almost completely destroyed. After the defeat of the uprising, the AK units that ended up on the territory occupied by the Red Army were demobilized. On January 1, 1945, General Okulicki issued an order to disband the Home Army. Losses in AK people at that time amounted to more than 100 thousand people. Still close to 50 thousand AKovtsev, including General Okulitzki, were imprisoned on the territory of the USSR. Part of the AK units, aware of the repressions of the NKVD and the new Polish security services, refused to lay down their arms and turned into new conspiratorial armed organizations opposing the regime, such as Will and Independence (WIN). AK soldiers were mostly persecuted by the new Polish authorities, especially during the Stalinist period, when many of them were imprisoned or sentenced to death.
After the political "thaw" in the USSR, many of them returned to their homeland. The communist Polish authorities have always been suspicious of the former AK members, and therefore, although they were no longer persecuted, they did not particularly complain - they preferred not to notice and “not remember”. In turn, the role of "official and correct" war veterans and heroes of the fight against fascism was assigned to the former soldiers of the People's Army, that is, the "people's".
The army of Ludow was also a secret military organization, created in early 1944 on the basis of the People's Guard, almost completely subordinate to the Polish Workers' Party, which recognized the seizure of eastern Polish lands Soviet Union. AL acted exclusively on the territory of the General Governorate formed by the Germans and on the Polish territories included by the occupiers in the Reich. As its main task, the AL determined the conduct of the struggle against the Nazis with the aim of restoring the Polish state under the leadership of the communists, which would be closely connected with the USSR. Therefore, AL units were collecting intelligence for Soviet command, carried out joint military actions with the "red partisans", and later with units Soviet army, and also prepared for the seizure of power by the communists in the country at the end of the war.
Polish partisans of the Ludova Guard and Soviet partisans. Lyubelshchina. 1944
In 1944, there were six districts of the AL, and its units were formed according to the principle of partisan detachments. The AL also included militant groups of the left, such as the People's Workers' Militia of the Party of Polish Socialists. The AL was headed by General M. Zymerski "Role". At the beginning of 1944, the AL had about 8 thousand members, and in July of the same year - 30 thousand soldiers. Parts of the AL also took part in battles with the German army, and some of the units of the AL participated in the Warsaw Uprising.
Six AL brigades were created from the Poles, and two more brigades formed from prisoners of war who managed to escape from captivity were added to them. From the territories controlled by the Red Army, a brigade named after V.I. Wanda Vasilevskaya. However, the period of activity of all these brigades was rather short - often did not exceed one month. By a decree of the pro-communist All-Polish People's Council on July 21, 1944, the Polish Army was formed from the AL and the Polish army in the USSR. Parts of the AL that remained in the occupied territories retained the old name until the arrival of the VP. As the territory of Poland was occupied by Soviet troops, most of the officers and soldiers of the AL went to serve in the public security department and in the civilian police. They retired already as servicemen of the new Polish army or law enforcement agencies, as well as war veterans, "heroes of the struggle of the Polish people against the fascist occupation."
Army officer Lyudova (second from left) in the company of Soviet soldiers. The officer wears a pre-war Polish tunic with buttonholes.
During the communist period, veterans of AK and AL practically did not intersect. IN modern times, and specifically on January 21, 1991, the law on “veterans and repressed persons” equalized the rights of all Polish citizens who fought for the sovereignty and independence of their homeland ... in the formations of the Polish Army, allied armies, as well as underground organizations fighting for independence, and in civic activities, in danger of being repressed. AK veterans were allowed to create their own organizations, which they began to do in Poland in 1990, since such organizations existed in emigration for a long time. Today, the main veteran organization of the AK is the World Union of AK Soldiers. In total, there are 115 veteran organizations in Poland.
Jozef Zajonc ("Michal") - former commandant of the 10th districtarmiesLudova.
Veterans of AK and AL practically do not feel hostility towards each other - their enemies were German Nazis and Ukrainian nationalists. There were also NKVDists, but in view of the warming of Polish-Russian relations and in view of the delicateness of this moment in relations between AK and AL, they are remembered more often in the organizations of the former "Siberian exiles". Some veterans organizations cooperate, others do not. In Warsaw, veterans of both armies are part of the Association of participants in the Warsaw Uprising. Veteran's Day is celebrated by everyone, regardless of who served in which armed formation. September 1 is the day of all veterans of the Second World War in Poland.
On the territory of occupied Poland, partisan detachments of both the Home Army and the People's Army acted against the Germans.
For reference: "Home Army" is a Polish national military organization that operated in 1942-1945 in Poland occupied by German troops. Subordinated to the Polish government in exile in London.
"Ludov's Army" is the military organization of the Polish Workers' Party. Both of them fought against the German invaders.
As Poland was liberated by the advancing troops of the Red Army, many soldiers of the "Army of the People" detachments took part in the hostilities against the Wehrmacht already as part of the regular units of the Polish Army.
The AK detachments, which remained in the rear of the Red Army, staged attacks on the rear units, hospitals, staged sabotage. And so it continued after the end of the war.
A selection of SMERSH documents is published here:
note of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR D.Z. Manuilsky to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov dated August 10, 1944.
Message from the Secretary of the Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front, Lysak, to the military prosecutor of the front, Yachenin, about the report of the head of the USSR NKVD Troops Directorate for the Protection of the Rear about the murder of Red Army soldiers by an armed formation of the Polish underground.
CA MO RF. F. 23. Op. 2380. D. 16. L. 316. Original. Typescript.
Report of a member of the Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front K.F. Telegin to the head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army A.S. Shcherbakov about the presence of underground armed formations of the Home Army in the zone of upcoming military operations of the troops of the front, and about the formation of Polish legions to fight the Red Army.
CA MO RF. F. 32. Op. 11306. D. 487. L. 526-527. Script. Typescript.
Telephone message from the representative of the USSR to the Polish Committee of National Liberation N.A. Bulganin, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.Ya. Vyshinsky about the armed actions of the Home Army against the Red Army in Poland.
Published: Eastern Europe in documents of Russian archives. 1944-1953. In two volumes. T. 1. 1944-1948. M.-Novosibirsk, 1997. S. 84-85. pp. 85-86.
WUA RF. F. 07. Op. 5. P. 46. D. 119. L. 8-9. Copy. Typescript.
A cover letter from the head of the Organizational and Staffing Department of the Headquarters of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Byrgazov, to the head of the Political Directorate of the 2nd Belorussian Front, A.D. Okorokov to the certificate on the number of servicemen of the military units and formations of the 2nd Belorussian Front, killed, wounded and injured as a result of the attack of various paramilitary underground formations on the territory of Poland.
Application: help.
CA MO RF. F. 46. Op. 2417. D. 20. L. 196-201v. Originals. Typescript.
There are many, many documents. Posting them all is not possible. Many of them describe cases of brutal murders of Red Army soldiers and local Polish residents helping the Red Army.
Before that, documents from the time of the war were shown. Here are a few more about the attacks and killings of Red Army soldiers by "AK" sheep after the war with Germany. Documents from mid-1945 and 1946
Information from the Main Directorate for Combating Banditry of the NKVD of the USSR about the attack by an armed detachment of the Home Army on the reserve field airfield of the 71st long-range air regiment of the 3rd division of the 16th air army of the Soviet troops, about the killing of pilots and the disablement of the IL-2 aircraft.
Applications: Extracts from the act of inspection dated May 25, 1945 of the scene and protocol medical expertise, compiled by the Polish authorities and expert doctors from the city of Chelm, Lublin Voivodeship, about the murder of two pilots and the incapacitation of an IL-2 aircraft by members of the Home Army.
GA RF. F. R-9478. Op. 1s. D. 344. L. 16-21. Copies. Typescript.
Home Army (Armia Krajowa, lit. - Domestic Army), the Polish national military organization, which operated in 1942-1945 in Poland occupied by German troops. Subordinated to the Polish government in exile in London. It was formed on the basis of the underground organization "Union of Armed Struggle" (created in January 1940). The Craiova Army included: part of the People's Military Organization, partly the Khlopske Battalions, the main personnel of which were members of the Vitsi youth peasant organization, military detachments of the right wing of the Polish Socialist Party and other illegal military organizations of political centers that supported the Polish government in exile.
The command of the Home Army raised an uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. In January 1945, the Craiova Army was disbanded, and from among its most reactionary members, the terrorist underground organization Liberty and Incompetence (VIN) was created, which fought against the establishment of a socialist system in Poland. In 1947 it was destroyed by the security forces of Poland.
Used material Encyclopedia of the Third Reich - www.fact400.ru/mif/reich/titul.htm
"Craiova" in Polish means "nationwide, national". In turn, “Ludova” is folk in the sense that “working people”. Two armies of one nation, separated by ideology. They practically did not fight among themselves, at some stage they even had a common enemy - the Nazi occupiers. However, the ideology eventually imposed by another occupier divided them into two different formations - different values, different destinies. There is no open enmity between them, but there is no love either.
Both of these Polish armed formations arose during the Second World War. The Home Army (AK) emerged as a conspiratorial military organization that operated during the Nazi occupation on the territory of the Polish state within the borders that existed before September 1, 1939. This army, the largest in the world, operating underground, was an integral part of the armed forces of the Commonwealth. The basis for the creation of the AK was the Polish Victory Service, which was created on September 27, 1939 and already on November 13, 1939 turned into the Union of Armed Struggle. In February 1942, by order of the supreme commander of the Polish armed forces, General Wladyslaw Sikorsky, the SVB was renamed the Home Army, which was subordinate to the Polish government in exile, which conducted its activities in the UK.
According to the plans of the Polish government, the AK was to become a nationwide, supra-party organization, and its chief commandant was to be the only head of the state armed forces authorized by the government. In various periods, the AK was commanded by outstanding Polish military men - Generals S. Rowiecki "Grot", T. Komorowski "Bir", L. Okulitzki "Medvedik". The main task of the AK was to fight for the restoration of state independence by organizing self-defense actions and preparing an underground army for an uprising that was supposed to break out on Polish lands at the time of the armed weakening of Nazi Germany. Despite its partisan character, the AK had a well-developed structure: the main commandant's office was the governing body of the army, it included structural units and separate services that organized conspiracies, conducted intelligence work, accumulated weapons, trained personnel, published underground literature, etc. . In addition, members of the AK established contacts with prisoner-of-war camps and among Poles throughout the entire Reich. In January 1943, a leadership of sabotage was also created. The personnel base of the AK was made up of officers who served in the Polish army before the Nazi occupation, some of whom remained in Poland, and some were returned to their homeland by the British allies, dropped by parachute.
The regional structure of the AK corresponded to the pre-war administrative division of Poland. At the beginning of 1944, units in 8 separate districts were subordinate to the main commandant's office of the AK, which in turn were divided into regions and subdistricts. The basic divisions of the AK were groups of "full", 35-50 soldiers each, and "incomplete", 16-25 each. As of the beginning of 1944, the AK had 6287 full and 2613 incomplete military units. The AK also included structural foreign units operating in the UK, Hungary and Germany. As a result of campaigning and armed rescue actions, the AK turned into a mass organization, which in the summer of 1944 had about 380,000 members. Smaller armed organizations joined the ranks of the AK: the Secret Polish Army, the Secret Military Organization, the Armed Confederation, the Socialist Fighting Organization, Peasant Battalions, etc. Army Ludov (AL) did not join AK.
AK realized its combat missions not only in preparation for the uprising, but also in daily armed activities: organizing acts of sabotage and sabotage, repulsing arrested Polish citizens and captured allied armies from the hands of the Nazis, partisan battles against Nazi punitive detachments. For the allies, the intelligence work carried out by the AK was extremely valuable. Their greatest merit in this matter is considered to be the receipt and transfer to England in July 1943 of data on the development by the Germans at the plant in Peenemünde of a new weapon - the famous, over time, rocket "FAU". In 1944, AK detachments also began to fight against NKVD units in the eastern regions of pre-war Poland.
However, the culmination of the AK struggle was the Warsaw Uprising, which began a few months before the occupation of the Polish capital by Soviet troops - in the summer of 1944. The Warsaw Uprising was destined to become one of the most glorious pages in the history of the AK, but also one of the most dramatic pages in Polish history. Military and civilian casualties numbered in the thousands, and old Warsaw was almost completely destroyed. After the defeat of the uprising, the AK units that ended up on the territory occupied by the Red Army were demobilized. On January 1, 1945, General Okulicki issued an order to disband the Home Army. Losses in AK people at that time amounted to more than 100 thousand people. Still close to 50 thousand AKovtsev, including General Okulitzki, were imprisoned on the territory of the USSR. Part of the AK units, aware of the repressions of the NKVD and the new Polish security services, refused to lay down their arms and turned into new conspiratorial armed organizations opposing the regime, such as Will and Independence (WIN). AK soldiers were mostly persecuted by the new Polish authorities, especially during the Stalinist period, when many of them were imprisoned or sentenced to death.
After the political "thaw" in the USSR, many of them returned to their homeland. The communist Polish authorities have always been suspicious of the former AK members, and therefore, although they were no longer persecuted, they did not particularly complain - they preferred not to notice and “not remember”. In turn, the role of "official and correct" war veterans and heroes of the fight against fascism was assigned to the former soldiers of the People's Army, that is, the "people's".
The army of Ludow was also a secret military organization, created in early 1944 on the basis of the People's Guard, almost completely subordinate to the Polish Workers' Party, which recognized the seizure of eastern Polish lands by the Soviet Union. AL acted exclusively on the territory of the General Governorate formed by the Germans and on the Polish territories included by the occupiers in the Reich. As its main task, the AL determined the conduct of the struggle against the Nazis with the aim of restoring the Polish state under the leadership of the communists, which would be closely connected with the USSR. Therefore, the units of the AL were collecting intelligence for the Soviet command, carried out joint military actions with the "red partisans", and later with units of the Soviet Army, and also prepared for the seizure of power by the communists in the country at the end of the war.
Polish partisans of the Ludova Guard and Soviet partisans. Lyubelshchina. 1944
In 1944, there were six districts of the AL, and its units were formed according to the principle of partisan detachments. The AL also included militant groups of the left, such as the People's Workers' Militia of the Party of Polish Socialists. The AL was headed by General M. Zymerski "Role". At the beginning of 1944, the AL had about 8 thousand members, and in July of the same year - 30 thousand soldiers. Parts of the AL also took part in battles with the German army, and some of the units of the AL participated in the Warsaw Uprising.
Six AL brigades were created from the Poles, and two more brigades formed from prisoners of war who managed to escape from captivity were added to them. From the territories controlled by the Red Army, a brigade named after V.I. Wanda Vasilevskaya. However, the period of activity of all these brigades was rather short - often did not exceed one month. By a decree of the pro-communist All-Polish People's Council on July 21, 1944, the Polish Army was formed from the AL and the Polish army in the USSR. Parts of the AL that remained in the occupied territories retained the old name until the arrival of the VP. As the territory of Poland was occupied by Soviet troops, most of the officers and soldiers of the AL went to serve in the public security department and in the civilian police. They retired already as servicemen of the new Polish army or law enforcement agencies, as well as war veterans, "heroes of the struggle of the Polish people against the fascist occupation."
Army officer Lyudova (second from left) in the company of Soviet soldiers. The officer wears a pre-war Polish tunic with buttonholes.
During the communist period, veterans of AK and AL practically did not intersect. In modern times, and specifically on January 21, 1991, the law on “veterans and repressed persons” equalized the rights of all Polish citizens who fought for the sovereignty and independence of their homeland ... in the formations of the Polish Army, allied armies, as well as underground organizations that fought for independence , and in civic activities, in danger of being repressed. AK veterans were allowed to create their own organizations, which they began to do in Poland in 1990, since such organizations existed in emigration for a long time. Today, the main veteran organization of the AK is the World Union of AK Soldiers. In total, there are 115 veteran organizations in Poland.
Jozef Zajonc ("Michal") - former commandant of the 10th districtarmiesLudova.
Veterans of AK and AL have practically no enmity towards each other - their enemies were German Nazis and Ukrainian nationalists. There were also NKVDists, but in view of the warming of Polish-Russian relations and in view of the delicateness of this moment in relations between AK and AL, they are remembered more often in the organizations of the former "Siberian exiles". Some veterans organizations cooperate, others do not. In Warsaw, veterans of both armies are part of the Association of participants in the Warsaw Uprising. Veteran's Day is celebrated by everyone, regardless of who served in which armed formation. September 1 is the day of all veterans of the Second World War in Poland.
The meaning of the ARMY OF LUDOV in the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich
ARMY LUDOV
(Armia Ludowa, lit. - People's Army), a Polish military organization that operated in 1944 in Poland occupied by German troops. It was created by decision of the Home Rada of the People on January 1, 1944 on the basis of the Guards of the People. It consisted of parts of the Battalions of the Khlops, detachments of the people's militia, many soldiers and individual detachments of the Home Army. The commander of the Lyudova Army was General M. Zhymersky ("Rolya"). She spent about 120 major battles with the Nazi troops in the Lipsky forests, destroying over 19 thousand German soldiers. July 21, 1944 was merged with the 1st Polish army into a single Polish Army.
Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. 2012
See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what is ARMY LUDOV in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- ARMY LUDOV
(Polish Armia Ludowa - People's Army) was founded on January 1, 1944 as a result of the reorganization of the Guards of the People, acted under the leadership of the Craiova Rada ... - ARMY LUDOV
Lyudova (Armia Ludowa, literally - the People's Army), a Polish military organization that operated in 1944 in Poland occupied by Nazi troops. Created by… - ARMY LUDOV
(Polish Armia Ludowa - People's Army), founded on January 1, 1944 as a result of the reorganization of the Guards of the People, acted under the leadership of the Home Rada ... - ARMY
ARMIA LUDOV (Polish Armia Ludowa - People's Army), osn. Jan 1 1944 as a result of the reorganization of the Guards Ludova, acted in ... - ARMY in Wiki Quote:
Data: 2009-01-21 Time: 13:12:15 Navigation Topic = Army Wikipedia = Army Army - a set of land, naval, air and other paramilitary ... - ARMY in the One-volume large legal dictionary:
- in the narrow sense, the land armed forces of the state (as opposed to the fleet). in a broader sense - all military units ... - ARMY in the Big Law Dictionary:
- in the narrow sense, the land armed forces of the state (as opposed to the fleet). In a broader sense - all military units ... - ARMY in Encyclopedia Japan from A to Z:
Japan like everyone else strongest armies world, has a long and eventful history. By the 7th century on the island of Honshu (on ... - ARMY in the Dictionary of Economic Terms:
PROFESSIONAL - see PROFESSIONAL ... - ARMY in Sayings of famous people:
- ARMY in Dictionary One sentence, definitions:
is a tool for turning the stupidity of rulers into the suffering of peoples. Victor ... - ARMY in Aphorisms and clever thoughts:
it is a tool for turning the stupidity of the rulers into the suffering of the peoples. Victor ... - ARMY in the Dictionary of military-historical terms:
- "an organized association of armed people, maintained by the state for the purposes of an offensive or defensive war" ... - ARMY in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(from lat. armo - I arm) 1) the totality of the armed forces of the state. 2) Ground forces, unlike the Navy. 3) Operational association, ... - ARMY in big Soviet encyclopedia, TSB:
(French armee, from Latin armo - arm), 1) ground troops(ground forces) along with the navy. 2) The totality of armed ... - ARMY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
Army (French). In a broad sense, A. means the totality of the armed ground forces of a state. In a close sense, the word A. means connection ... - ARMY in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
- ARMY
(from the Latin armo - I arm), 1) the armed forces of the state. 2) Ground forces of the state. 3) Ground forces in the theater of operations ... - ARMY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
and, well. 1. Armed forces of the state. Russian a. To serve in the military. Operating a. (troops at the front). 2. pl. no. … - ARMY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
, -i, f. 1. Armed forces of the state. Russian a. Operating a. (troops at the front). Land a. 2. Ground armed ... - ARMY in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
SALVATION ARMY Protestant does good. org-tion. Main in 1865 in London. A.s. presented in more than 80 countries; in Russia … - ARMY in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
HOME ARMY (Polish Armia Krajowa - Fatherland Army), in 1942-45 operated under the direction of. Polish emigrant pr-va in the occupier. fash. Germany... - ARMY in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ARMY (from lat. armo - I arm), a set of arms. forces. state-va. Land. troops, unlike the Navy. Operational association, consisting of… - ARMY in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
(French). In a broad sense, A. means the totality of the armed ground forces of a state. In a close sense, the word A. means connection ... - ARMY in the Full accentuated paradigm according to Zaliznyak:
a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, a"army, ... - ARMY in the Dictionary for solving and compiling scanwords:
Shield … - ARMY in the Thesaurus of Russian business vocabulary:
- ARMY in the New Dictionary of Foreign Words:
(fr. armee lat. armare to arm) 1) the totality of the armed forces of the state; in a narrower sense - ground forces; active a. … - ARMY in the Dictionary of Foreign Expressions:
[fr. armee 1. the totality of the armed forces of the state; in a narrower sense - ground forces; active a. part of the military... - ARMY in the Russian Thesaurus:
1. Syn: army, troops, 2. Syn: association, commonwealth, camp, association, party, detachment, union, bloc, brotherhood, ... - ARMY in the Dictionary of synonyms of Abramov:
army, army, squad, hordes (singular horde), host, army, host. Regular army. Cm. … - ARMY in the Dictionary of the Russian Language Lopatin:
ʻarmy, ... - ARMY in the Spelling Dictionary:
ʻarmy, ... - ARMY in the Dictionary of the Russian Language Ozhegov:
land forces, as opposed to naval and air force Day of the Soviet Army and Navy(All-Union holiday). army in general... - ARMY in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language Ushakov:
army, w. (French armée). 1. all ground forces of the state (military). Red Army. French army. 2. Part of the troops of various weapons, ... - GUARD LUDOV in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(Gwardia Ludowa) in 1942-43 the military organization of the Polish Workers' Party in the occupied Nazi Germany Poland. January 1, 1944 reorganized into the Army ... - GUARD LUDOV in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
Ludova (Gwardia Ludowa is a military organization of the Polish Workers' Party, which operated in 1942-43 in Poland occupied by Nazi troops. G. ... - GUARD LUDOV in Modern explanatory dictionary, TSB:
(Gwardia Ludowa), in 1942-43 the military organization of the Polish Workers' Party in Poland occupied by Nazi Germany. January 1, 1944 reorganized into ...
