Questions about Home Army
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) and when was it formed?
The Home Army, known in Polish as the Armia Krajowa or AK, was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. It was formally established on the 14th of February 1942, growing out of an earlier organization called the Armed Resistance (Związek Walki Zbrojnej), which itself descended from the Service for Poland's Victory founded on the 27th of September 1939. The Home Army was loyal to the Polish government-in-exile based in London.
How large was the Home Army at its peak?
At its peak in 1944, estimates of Home Army membership ranged from 200,000 to 600,000 people, with most estimates averaging around 400,000. The organization included over 10,000-11,000 officers and 88,000 non-commissioned officers. Despite these numbers, chronic weapons shortages meant that only about 32,000 soldiers could be armed at any one time.
What intelligence did the Home Army provide to the Allies in World War II?
The Home Army supplied 48 per cent of all reports received by the British secret services from continental Europe between 1939 and 1945, totaling an estimated 80,000 reports, 85 per cent of which were rated high quality or better. Key contributions included the first reports on the Holocaust and German concentration camps, intelligence on German submarine operations, and critically, technical details on the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, including 100 pounds of V-2 wreckage recovered in Operation Wildhorn III.
What was the Warsaw Uprising and what role did the Home Army play?
The Warsaw Uprising began on the 1st of August 1944 as part of Operation Tempest, the Home Army's nationwide strategy to seize cities before Soviet forces arrived. Polish fighters took control of substantial parts of Warsaw and held them for 63 days before surrendering on the 2nd of October 1944. With Soviet forces halted on the eastern bank of the Vistula and providing no aid, the Germans defeated the uprising and then burned the city to the ground.
What happened to Home Army soldiers after World War II ended?
Around 60,000 Home Army soldiers were arrested after the war, with approximately 50,000 deported to Soviet gulags and prisons. Over 20,000 people were executed in communist prisons, including Witold Pilecki, who had volunteered to be imprisoned at Auschwitz during the war. An amnesty in 1956 released 35,000 former soldiers, and the sentences of Home Army members were not formally declared null and void by Polish courts until 1989, after the fall of communism.
Who were the commanders of the Home Army?
The Home Army had three main commanders. General Stefan Rowecki, codename Grot (Spearhead), led until his arrest by the Gestapo on the 30th of June 1943; he was later executed on personal order of Heinrich Himmler. General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, codename Bór (Forest), commanded from July 1943 until his surrender after the Warsaw Uprising in October 1944. General Leopold Okulicki, codename Niedźwiadek (Bear), led the organization in its final days and formally disbanded it on the 19th of January 1945.