Armia Krajowa
The Home Army was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. Its allegiance was to the Polish Government-in-Exile in London, and it constituted the armed wing of what became known as the "Polish Underground State".
Estimates of the Home Army's 1944 strength range arround 400,000 largest in Europe during World War II.
The Home Army fought several full-scale battles against the Germans, particularly in 1943 and in the 1944. The Home Army, in support of the Soviet military effort, tied down substantial German forces and destroyed much-needed German supplies. The most widely known Home Army operation was the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
The Home Army also defended Polish civilians against atrocities committed by German and collaborationist non-German military. Due to the Home Army's allegiance to the Polish Government in Exile, the Soviet Union saw the Home Army as an obstacle to a Soviet takeover of Poland. Consequently, over the course of the war, conflict grew between the Home Army and Soviet forces.
Photo-compilation from our different events:
Powstanie Warszawskie
Was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The Uprising was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces.However, the Soviet advance stopped short, enabling the Germans to regroup and demolish the city while defeating the Polish resistance, which fought for 63 days with little outside support. The Uprising was the largest single military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II.
The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a nationwide plan, Operation Tempest, when the Soviet Army approached Warsaw. The main Polish objectives were to drive the German occupiers from the city and help with the larger fight against Germany and the Axis powers.
Winston Churchill pleaded with Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt to help Britain's Polish allies, to no avail. Then, without Soviet air clearance, Churchill sent over 200 low-level supply drops by the Royal Air Force, the South African Air Force and the Polish Air Force under British High Command. Later, after gaining Soviet air clearance, the US Army Air Force sent one high-level mass airdrop as part of Operation Frantic. The Soviet Union refused to allow American bombers from Western Europe to land on Soviet airfields after dropping supplies to the Poles.
Although the exact number of casualties remains unknown, it is estimated that about 16,000 members of the Polish resistance were killed and about 6,000 badly wounded. In addition, between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians died, mostly from mass executions. Over 85% of the city was destroyed by January 1945, when the course of the events in the Eastern Front forced the Germans to abandon the city.
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