2 Structure

The executive branch of the AK was the operational command, composed of many units. Estimates of the AK membership in the first half of 1944 range from 250,000 to 350,000, with more than 10,000 officers. Most of the other Polish underground armies became incorporated into the AK, including:

• The Konfederacja Narodu (Confederation of the People) ( 19431943 is the common year starting on Friday. Events January January 4 End of term for Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Earl Warren. January 11 The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China. January 1).
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• A large military organization of the Stronnictwo Ludowe (People's Party).
• The Socjalistyczna Organizacja Bojowa ( Socialist Fighting Organization), established by the Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (Polish Socialist Party).
• The Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa (National Army), established by the Stronnictwo Narodowe (National Party).
• From MarchFor alternative meanings, see March (disambiguation). March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days. Named for Mars, the Roman god of war. In ancient Rome, March was called Martius. It was named after the war god ( Mars) and 1944Events World War II January January 4 The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. January 5 Murder of Danish playwright Kaj Munck January 17 British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River. January 20 The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin;, part of the extreme right-wing organization, the Narodowe Sily ZbrojneNarodowe Sily Zbrojne ( English National Armed Forces NSZ was one of the Polish armed underground guerilla organizations, fighting Nazi German occupation in General Government. It occupied the extreme right wing of political spectrum. Its program included (National Armed Forces).

The AK divided itself organizationally in Poland into sixteen regional branches, subdivided in turn into eighty-nine inspectorates, which further comprised 278 districts. The supreme command defined the main tasks of the AK as preparation for action and, after the termination of the German occupation, general armed revolt until victory. At that stage plans envisaged the seizure of power in Poland by the delegatura establishment, the representatives of the London-based Polish government-in-exile; and by the government-in-exile itself, which would return to Poland.

3 Operations

200px Kotwica, one of the symbols of the Armia Krajowa While the AK did not engender a general revolt, its forces did carry out intensive economic and armed sabotage. In 1944 it acted on a broad scale, notably in initiating the Warsaw Uprising, which broke out on 1 August 1944. It had the aim of liberating Warsaw before the arrival of the Soviet Red Army. While the insurgents released a few hundred prisoners from the Gesia St. concentration camp and carried out fierce street-fighting, the Germans eventually defeated the rebels and burned the city, finally quelling the Rising only on 2 October 1944.

AK units carried out thousands of armed raids and daring intelligence operations, bombed hundreds of railway shipments, and participated in many partisan clashes and battles with the German police and Wehrmacht units.

In total the AK killed an estimated 150,000 Germans.

Major military and sabotage operations include:

• Operation Belt
• Operation Tempest
  • Wilno Uprising
  • Lwow Uprising
  • Warsaw Uprising

Important Armia Krajowa sub-units include:

• Wachlarz
• Kedyw

4 Relations with Jews

In February 1942, the Operational Command of the AK Information and Propaganda Office set up the Section for Jewish Affairs, directed by Henryk Wolinski . This section collected data about the situation of the Jewish population, drafted reports and sent information to London. It also centralized contacts between Polish and Jewish military organizations. The AK also organised financial aid for Jews (see Zegota). The AK accepted only a few Jews (about one thousand) into its own ranks: it generally turned down Jewish applicants.

The AK provided the Warsaw ghetto with about sixty revolvers, several hundred hand grenades, and ammunition and explosives. During the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943, AK units tried twice to blow up the ghetto wall, carried out holding actions outside the ghetto walls, and together with GL forces sporadically attacked German sentry units near the ghetto walls. One AK unit, the Security Corps (korpus bezpieczenstwa or KB) took a direct part in fights inside the ghetto together with Jewish fighters from ZZW.

Three out of seven members of the Collective Command of the AK (KG AK), had Jewish origins.

5 See also:

• Polish government in exile
• Polish Secret State
• Cichociemni

6 External link

• Home Army (Polish) the Home Army
• Polish resistance - Edited by the London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association

Polish history World War II resistance movements Military of Poland National liberation movements

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