Warsaw was inactive fighting with a remnant of forces, erstwhile the Polish triumph Service – an organization that was to give emergence to the largest conspiracy structure in occupied Europe – was among its defenders. It was headed by Gen. Michał Tokarzewski-Karashewicz. However, he did not gain the favour of the emigration authorities.
Gen. Michał Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz in North Africa 1944.
"The full city is on fire. Hundreds of people buried in basements under the rubble of collapsed housing homes are in vain for help. Food supplies and medical supplies, dressing agents, are under the rubble. There is no water even for the wounded, due to the fact that fewer active wells cannot deliver adequate of it. Fires don't go out anymore. Soldiers in position in many cases have not eaten hot food for 3 days. At any facilities in the city's first line of defense, not a single soldier remained alive. In another positions deficiency of ammunition" – Władysław Bartoszewski, who worked in 1 of the field hospitals as a stretcher, reported on 26 September 1939. The Germans furiously attacked from land and air. The destiny of a million-dollar metropolis was foregone. In the afternoon, General Julius Rómmel called a gathering of the War Council in the Post Office of the Savings Bank in command of the Army of “Warsaw”. After a short discussion, the decision to surrender is made. However, there were those who wanted to fight inactive – not by France or the UK, but by the country. That was his plan. gene. Michał Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz.
Total Mission
Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz was an officer who was highly experienced, a walsudczyk, with a past in the Polish Legions. In September 1939, he commanded an operational group of his name, which was part of the Army of Pomerania. He fought over Bzura and then broke into Warsaw. Before the decision to surrender the city was made, he checked in with Gen. Rommel with a proposal. He wanted this to let him to build conspiracy structures like the Polish Military Organization from the erstwhile war. "After a brief discussion ... I received a answer that the General mostly accepts my proposal. Before that, however, he wants to find out what the chief chief of police brought a courier, about which landings were reported to the general during our conversation," General Tokarewski-Karaszewicz recalled after the war.
This courier was Major Edmund Galinat, which on board a Sum bomb plane flew consecutive from Romania. The journey was highly difficult. He spent it in a tight bomb hatch, and over Warsaw his device got under German fire, from which he miraculously came out alive. The continuation of the peripety was already after landing. As Colonel Tadeusz Tomaszewski, Chief of Staff of the Warsaw Defence Command said: “We look forward to the MP of good news or bad news, but he does not arrive. I'm calling once, two, three: they explain something to me, they're clearly shooting. This lasts about 3 hours, and yet a well-baked MP arrives [...]. I was enraged at this view, but then everything became clear and Major Galinat's “confusion” was justified.” The courier paid for the flight with severe indisposition, the commander of the company waiting for it at the airport, while seeing Galinata's mediocre condition, began to treat him with further shots of vodka.
Eventually, however, the messenger stood on his feet and met General Rommel. He gave him orders from the Chief Chief, written on a thin silk strip. An interned march in Romania. Edward Rydz-Śmigły recommended that the commander of the Army "Warsaw" organize a conspiracy organization to fight Germany. He was expected to propose that Galinat should be the 1 to lead her. However, Rommel made a different decision. utilizing the powers given to him, the mission of building an armed underground entrusted Tokarzewski-Karashewicz. Galinat was expected to be his deputy. It was September 27, 1939. On that day the Polish triumph Service was born.
Wrong address
To begin with, the SZP commander received... a million zlotys for the operation. The money came from army money and civilian resources of the capital. People turned out to be a much bigger problem. Most of the high-ranking officers who defended the capital didn't truly want to get active in the conspiracy. They explained utmost intellectual and physical exhaustion, claiming that honor commands them to go into captivity along with their soldiers. On the first day of Tokarewski-Karaszewicz persuaded only 7 of them to service in the underground. respective women besides made the organization strong.
After the first turmoil, however, the Polish triumph Service began to grow. More soldiers joined the organization, including later AK commanders, Colonel Stefan Rowecki and Colonel Leopold Okulicki. Tokarewski-Karaszewicz besides gained expanding support from political groups. In addition to the Main Command and the Main Political Council, the Provincial Commands were created – in Krakow, Łódź, Lublin... Conspirators assumed that in the spring of 1940, there would be fighting on the Western Front. And erstwhile France and Britain yet decision on, they'll hit from the east. At the same time, further centres of temporary power will be established in liberated lands. But they did not intend to wait for that minute with their hands on.
In September 1939, SZP Command accepted a bravado plan to assassinate Hitler. The task was born in the head of Major Franciszek Niepokolczycki. While clearing the city from the ruins, its bomb squads placed explosives at the intersection of the fresh planet and the Jerusalem Avenue. It was to be launched on October 5, during the German triumph parade. But the master plan was blown. Just before Hitler passed, the Germans swept off the street all the passers-bys, and along with them the observers who should have given the signal to the crouched in neighboring ruins to the bomb squad. This 1 was incapable to identify Führer's car himself and yet gave up the detonation.
Meanwhile, emigration authorities approached the SZP commander with distrust. In Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz, they saw a man close to sanitization, and she was accused of September defeat. shortly there was a misunderstanding that deepened this aversion. In mid-October, the general made a study on his organization. He addressed the Chief Leader, whom he did not mention by name. The paper was to be served by a Hungarian military attaché. And he did deliver, only... an interned march in Romania. Rhyd Blade. He was formally serving as such, but in days he would give up. His successor (and at the same time the Prime Minister), or resident in French Angers General Władysław Sikorski, a study from the country was not received until January 6, 1940. “The fact [that] was to be fatally weighed against the further destiny of Tokarevsky. The next 3 of his reports [...] were sent to the right address, but they failed to improve the situation,” explained Stefan Korboński, an activist of the Polish underground.
Sikorski points to Lviv
Gen. Sikorski had already had the intention to destruct the Polish triumph Service. In her place, he intended to establish a fresh organization, more closely controlled by the authorities on emigration. In November 1939, in France, he signed a paper about the creation of Armed Combat Union. He took the lead General Kazimierz Sosnkowski. He intended to direct the underground from Angers. shortly a courier was sent to the country to pass the decision on to the authorities. but not Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, but Colonel Rowecki. In January 1940, a courier from France appeared again in occupied Poland. This time he brought the SZP commander an order to proceed immediately to Lviv. There, he was expected to be the commander of Area 3 of ZWZ. "This was equivalent to a conviction sentenced to death or prison, due to the fact that Tokarzewski in Lviv, where he was the commander of the Corps VI territory for a long time, knew everyone, and this fact from the point of view of the conspiracy was the worst recommendation," Korboński argued. Against the removal of Tokarevsky-Karashevich, he adds, they were to protest his subordinates. In the end, he became commandant of the ZWZ-et for the full russian occupation, while Rowecki held a akin position in the areas occupied by the Germans.
The conspiracy service of the erstwhile SZP commander did not last long. In March 1940, he was arrested by the Soviets who, however, initially did not know who they were dealing with. The general first went to the camp, and erstwhile the investigator yet discovered his actual identity – to the NKVD prison in Lubianka. Freedom was regained after German assault at ZSRS and initialling Sikorski-Majski. He went consecutive from his cell to Anders' army, with which he then marched to the mediate East.
Meanwhile, the EGM took over the structures of the SZP to in February 1942 turn into a National Army. The Polish underground grew stronger. It shortly became the largest specified organization in occupied Europe.
I used: Władysław Bartoszewski, “1859 days of Warsaw”, Kraków 2008; Stefan Korboński, “Polish Underground State. Underground Guide 1939–1945", Warsaw 2008; "Defend Warsaw 1939 in Memories", Warsaw 1984; "National Army in Documents", Vol. 1, Wrocław 1990.
