83 years ago, on February 14, 1942, the Commander-in-Chief Gen. Władysław Sikorski transformed the Union of Armed Struggle into the Home Army and appointed General Stefan Rowecki, codename Grot, as its commander (he was the commander of the Home Army until June 30, 1943).
On February 14, 2025, the National Remembrance Day of the Home Army Soldiers was celebrated for the first time. The new national holiday was adopted on January 9, 2025 in tribute to the soldiers of the Home Army - the largest underground army in Europe conquered by Germany and Russia, an army that, as the armed wing of the Polish Underground State, led a heroic fight for the Republic of Poland to regain its sovereignty and independence, and whose soldiers were persecuted by the communist authorities dependent on the Soviet Union after World War II.
It was after midnight on July 26, 1944, when a Douglas C-47 "Dakota" transport plane in Royal Air Force colors landed on a meadow near Tarnów - a few dozen kilometers east of Kraków. Unloading and loading had to be done as quickly as possible, because the operation was taking place almost under the Germans' noses. After fifteen minutes, the plane was ready to fly again, but its wheels were sinking into the soft ground. "Time was running out. The nervous tension was growing," remembered Capt. Włodzimierz Gedymin, one of the participants in the action. It seemed that the plane would have to be burned to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. On the fourth attempt, the "Dakota" finally took off. Early in the morning, it safely reached the base near Brindisi in southern Italy. Two days later, the cargo from occupied Poland was already in London.
The risky mission was so important that Prime Minister Winston Churchill later mentioned it in his memoirs. Parts of the V-2 rocket, the German Wunderwaffe that was to change the course of World War II, arrived in Great Britain. What's more, the shipment included a detailed report on the new weapon.
The capture and development of the V-2 was one of the greatest successes of the Home Army, which American historian Lynne Olson calls "the best-organised resistance movement in all of Europe".
Underground Front
"Poland has not yet perished / While we live" - these are the first words of our national anthem. Józef Wybicki wrote them at the end of the 18th century, shortly after Poland had disappeared from the map of Europe, divided between Prussia, Russia and Austria. In the autumn of 1939, two totalitarian powers - the Nazi German Reich and the communist Soviet Union - destroyed Polish independence and divided Polish lands between themselves. Even then, the bitterness of our compatriots did not stifle the belief that Poland had not died, as long as her daughters and sons were alive - and that action was needed to once again break free.
Soldiers of the Home Army (Source: DlaPolonii.pl)
Already on 27 September 1939, while Warsaw was still defending itself, the clandestine Service for Poland's Victory was formed "with the task of continuing the fight to maintain independence and the integrity of its borders". Its mission was taken over the same year by the Union of Armed Struggle, renamed the Home Army on 14 February 1942. Those joining the ranks of the Home Army swore to be loyal to Poland and "to fight with all their might for its liberation from captivity", even to the point of sacrifice of their lives. They also declared - which is extremely important - unconditional obedience to the President of the Republic of Poland, who at that time was in exile in Great Britain. The Home Army was not the armed wing of this or that political formation, but an integral part of the Polish Armed Forces subordinate to the constitutional state authorities, who out of necessity operated in exile. Together with the clandestine civil administration, it formed the Polish Underground State.
Polish soldiers fought effectively alongside Western allies on many fronts of World War II: in the air battle for Great Britain, in the defense of Tobruk, in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and at Monte Cassino. They fought with dedication "for our freedom and yours". The same fight - in much more difficult conditions - was fought by AK soldiers. The strategic goal was clearly defined: to prepare a nationwide uprising that would break out at the moment of the collapse of the Reich's military power. In addition, there was the ongoing fight against the occupier: diversion, sabotage, special operations, intelligence, propaganda. In time, broad partisan activity was added to this, including the protection of the population from common banditry.
The AK's activity lifted the spirits of the terrorized society. For a large part of the youth, service in the Home Army became a formative experience, a school of patriotism and civic engagement.
In the summer of 1944, the Home Army had – according to its commander at the time – around 380,000 sworn soldiers. This forced the Germans to maintain significant military and police forces in occupied Poland – forces that were therefore bound to be lacking at the front. However, the role of the Home Army is not only shown by the number of blown-up bridges, derailed trains or assassination attempts on officers of the occupation authorities. It is shown not only by Operation Tempest or the 63-day Warsaw Uprising. Thanks to the brave people of the Polish underground – such as Captain Witold Pilecki, who made it to Auschwitz, or the courier Jan Karski, who managed to enter the Warsaw ghetto twice – information about the German terror and the extermination of Jews reached the most important politicians of the free world. The intelligence service of the Home Army also rendered invaluable services to the Western Allies, successfully operating not only in the occupied country, but also deep in the Reich.
The great achievement of Stefan Ignaszak "Nordyk" and other AK officers was the discovery of the German center in Peenemünde on Uznam Island, where experiments with the "new weapon" - V-1 missiles and V-2 rockets - were taking place. Information on this subject was passed on to the West. This in turn resulted in Allied air raids on Peenemünde, which significantly delayed German work on Wunderwaffe.
The Germans moved the testing ground to the Pustków-Blizna region near Dębica – beyond the range of Allied aircraft. The Home Army intelligence also managed to locate this place. What is more, on May 20, 1944, the Home Army captured a complete V-2 rocket, which fell into the marshy area above the Bug River and did not explode. “The Poles […] waited until the Germans gave up searching, then extracted it and dismantled it under the cover of darkness,” Churchill later recalled. A little over two months after the capture of the V-2, its parts, along with a description, were already in London. The British were able to learn the principles of operation and capabilities of the new weapon in time.
Dungeons for Heroes
A year later, Germany was already defeated, but for my countrymen it did not mean the desired freedom. Poland found itself in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.
On January 19, 1945, the Home Army was disbanded. Some of its soldiers continued to fight underground in the following months and years in an unequal fight against communist enslavement. However, even many of those who put down their weapons were met with severe repression: arrests, torture, death sentences. The new government was so afraid of war heroes faithful to the idea of a truly sovereign Poland. The Home Army survived in the memory and hearts of Poles, becoming an inspiration for resistance against communist enslavement for the next half-century.
Today, in a free homeland, we pay our Heroes their deserved tribute.
