Polish resistance movement in World War II
In Poland, the resistance movement during World War II was led by the Home Army. The Polish resistance is notable among others for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front (damaging or destroying 1/8 of all rail transports), and providing intelligence reports to the British intelligence agencies (providing 43% of all reports from occupied Europe). It was a part of the Polish Underground State.
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 would eventually incorporate most other Polish armed resistance groups (except for the communists and some far-right groups).[2][3] It was the military arm of the Polish Underground State and loyal to the Polish government in Exile.[2]
Most of the other Polish underground armed organizations were created by a political party or faction, and included:
The largest groups that refused to join the AK were the National Armed Forces and the pro-Soviet and communist People's Army (Polish Armia Ludowa or AL), backed by the Soviet Union and established by the Polish Workers' Party (Polish Polska Partia Robotnicza or PPR).[12]
Size[edit]
In February 1942, when AK was formed, it numbered about 100,000 members.[3] In the beginning of 1943, it had reached a strength of about 200,000.[3] In the summer of 1944 when Operation Tempest began, AK reached its highest membership numbers, though the estimates vary from 300,000[14] to 500,000.[15] The strength of the second largest resistance organization, Bataliony Chłopskie (Peasants' Battalions), can be estimated for summer 1944 (at which time they were mostly merged with AK[4]) at about 160,000 men.[16] The third largest group include NSZ (National Armed Forces) with approximately 70,000 men around 1943–1944; only small parts of that force were merged with AK.[9] At its height in 1944, the communist Armia Ludowa, which never merged with AK, numbered about 30,000 people.[12] One estimate for the summer 1944 strength of AK and its allies, including NSZ, gives its strength at 650,000.[1] Overall, the Polish resistance have often been described as the largest or one of the largest resistance organizations in World War II Europe.[a]