Forgotten peasant battalions

REMEMBER OF THE NATIONAL ARMY

They were the second in terms of number of fighting formations of the underground Poland – they had 170 1000 people under arms. Why don't we remember the Boys' Battalions?

They caused severe losses to the occupiers and even destroyed regular German troops. Many times they saved the inhabitants of Polish villages pacified by Germans and Ukrainians. Why were the Boys' Battalions forgotten by past and not taught about them in schools? Was it due to the fact that their soldiers came from the village?

The words of the poet “history is deafly silent about them” fit perfectly with the Boys Battalions. Publications on them are few, anniversary celebrations happen rarely. And if they are, they have a modest dimension. In fact, we are flooded with publications on little many and little effective branches of the National Armed Forces, on which there are serious allegations of collaboration with Germany. It is hard to realize specified a situation, given the many conflict successes of the Boys' Battalions, even erstwhile fighting in defence Zamość or Volhynia.

First she was “Gross”

After the September defeat, all political forces in Poland began building an underground state and underground armed forces. The folk movement has besides joined in the fight against the occupier. Initially, the underground activity in the village was organized from the bottom up, later the peasant conspirators went under the command of the organizing Armed conflict Union. However, folk political organizations were dissatisfied with this fact and decided to make their own combat troops.

By Hitler's order, Germany has already begun to implement Generalplan Ost, in which they expanded the alleged Lebensraumfot.public domain

By order of Hitler, Germany has already begun to implement Generalplan Ost, in which they expanded the alleged Lebensraum

Apart from political issues, this decision was dictated by the current situation. It was essential to send armed people to the area immediately to fight Germany and to defend the countryside from pacifications, displacements and mass executions. It was impossible to wait until “Warsaw” created troops from scratch, trained them and armed them. There was simply no time for this, due to the fact that by Hitler's order Germany had already begun the implementation of Generalplan Ost, in which they expanded the alleged Lebensraum, or "lifespace".

This plan included the displacement of Polish villages and the settlement of German settlers. The consequence of the folk movement to these actions was the establishment of an armed formation in 1940 called the “Boy Guard”, which was given the code name “Głostra” (similar to the word “flash” – intended. Later, the name was changed to “Boys Battalions”.

COOPERATION WITH AK

The ZWK-AK command from the beginning was against the existence of an independent peasant combat organization and sought to bring it into the Home Army, trying to concentrate under 1 command all troops fighting against the Germans, regardless of their political roots. It was like December, due to the fact that the agrarian environment accepted the order of incarnation reluctantly. It was not until March 1943 that the authoritative BCh agreement with the AK was signed. The merger was formally completed in 1944, however, most of the BCh-Polish combat troops remained organizationally outside the AK.

Exhibition of portraits of soldiers of the Boys' Battalionsfot.National Digital Archive

Exhibition of portraits of peasant battalion soldiers

Regardless of the decision ‘top-up’, BCh troops in the field regularly interacted with the partisan units of the AK and jointly organized actions against the Germans. The relations with the branches of the National Armed Forces, which the village considered to be "your sons" and bandits, were worse. In turn, the nationalists saw BCh-ows as communists wishing to change political relations in pre-war Poland. BCh informed the KG of the AK about cases of cooperation between the NSZ and the Gestapo and about political murders committed by the NSZ.

Read also: In this village Germans shot and burned 204 Poles alive. How did the National Army respond to a disgusting crime?

Strong and well armed

The largest armed formation of the Polish underground was, of course, the AK, counting – according to reports of the Main Command – about 400,000 soldiers. The Peasants Battalions reached close to 170 000 by the end of the war. The National Armed Forces had a highest improvement period of 75,000, while the People's Army had about 50,000 people.

Due to its large numbers, the cognition of the area and the support of the village from which they came, BCh troops were able to fight Germany evenly. In many cases they even managed to break up regular troops of the Wehrmacht or SS, as well as gain weapons and ammunition and dense equipment, including tanks (!). These are provincial BCh troops, reacting to the situation, being the first to fight UPA erstwhile it began attacking Polish villages in the Kresach.

During the war, peasant troops conducted about 6,000 combat actions, fought 900 battles and skirmishes. Among them were the battles of Woja and Zaboreczne and fighting in defence of the alleged Pińczowska Republic.

Read also: “We were not afraid of death. We were afraid of the way we would die.” Shocking accounts of survivors of the Volyn massacre [18]

Successes of the Boys' Battalions

What else have they succeeded?

The demolition of the ammunition train under the Dove, which took place on September 12, 1943. 3 BCh platoons led by Stefan Rodak ps. “Rola” blew the tracks, derailed the locomotive and attacked the train's escort. The Germans were knocked to the leg. erstwhile it turned out that there was no weapon and ammunition on the train, but only aerial bombs and missiles to the Nebelwerfer launcher, the “Rola” ordered the train to blow up. 2 locomotives and 56 freight wagons blew up with a load. The explosions were heard within a radius of 50 kilometres, and the section of the track between Puławy and Dove was impassable for 2 days.

On May 31, 1944, BCh soldiers of Lublin territory ambushed the Tannenberg ship, carrying after the pacification of the village of Zastatowo Polaneckie German and Turkmen soldiers. A branch of Jan Jabłoński "Drzazgi", previously alerted by scouts, was waiting for the ship on the Vistula River close Machów. The BCh-men started shelling the unit from the shore. 60 Germans were killed and 50 wounded. The wrecked ship sank into the water and after being towed to Puławy was found unfit for repair. “The Drazga” attacked due to the fact that he was assisted by a strong AK-owski unit under Bolesław Frańczak, ps. Argil, who joined the fight at a decisive moment.

Certainly the most crucial accomplishment of BCh-owski troops were fighting in defence of villages in Zamość, pacified by Germansfot.public domain

Certainly the most crucial accomplishment of BCh-owski troops were fighting for the villages in Zamość, pacified by the Germans.

July 1, 1944 in the village The fine soldiers from the BCh battalion of Marian Grzebisz “Wicher” and Marian Kosieradzki “Franciszek” disabled the military train, wrecked the military defender and captured many weapons and ammunition. The shovel filled 10 peasant carts!

Breaking up a prison in Pinczów is another successful action of agrarian guerrillas from BCh. The prison scored twice: June 10 and July 13. They released respective 100 prisoners each time. After the Second Action (July 13) The Germans felt that prison should be eliminated. On July 15, BCh-ows broke up a prison in Opole Lublin, releasing 30 prisoners.

Against Tanks

Two weeks later, on 2 August, under the Słupia (Pacans municipality), the BCh-owski branch fought a victorious conflict against the regular units of the German 17th Armoured Division. Partisans under the command of Piotr Pawlina attacked and crashed the transport column. Many weapons and ammunition were recovered, including 3 mortars.

The effectiveness of the fighting peasant partisans is evidenced by respective cases of dense weapons: armored cars and tanks. In the case of irregular individuals, specified successes are highly rare. Most of us are acquainted with the past of soldiers taking over 2 Pantera tanks in Warsaw. But the communicative is completely forgotten about how, on 23 July 1944, the BCh division from the Pulawy region, under the command of the aforementioned Stefan Rodak "Roli" and Zygmunt Kozak "Walter", captured the German armored car Sd.Kfz. 231, in Kurów Lubelski, and incorporated it into its transport column.

The Soldiers of the Peasants Battalions besides deserved intelligence. They took part in the reconnaissance of the rocket scope in the Scar, observing the attempts of V-1 missiles and V-2fot rockets.Bundesarchiv, Bild 141-1880 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

The Soldiers of the Peasants Battalions besides deserved intelligence. They took part in the reconnaissance of the rocket scope in the Scar, observing the attempts of V-1 missiles and V-2 missiles

Two days later, on July 25, the platoons of the People's safety defender (leading from BCh) from the Przeworski circuit attacked a Wehrmacht unit of about 300 people under the River. It's hard to believe the conflict study from this battle, but it sounds like this:

"Five Germans died in the fight and 1 was badly wounded. The others in the panic swept through the woods. 5 tanks were captured, six armored cars, 1 man, 1 anti-aircraft gun, six device guns, 17 motorcycles, 32 bikes, 3 horse-drawn wagons and a large amount of handguns and ammunition.”

On the same day, BCh soldiers from the Krasnystaw region from the troops of Jan Pochwatka "Yellow" and Józef Pochwatka liquidated the German tanker, and 4 remaining battleships escaped... Leaving the tank. Unfortunately, the further destiny of this device is unknown.

Another success in the fight against armored weapons was achieved on 13 January 1945, erstwhile a branch of BCh from the Radomszczanski region under the command of Alexander Ostałowski attacked about 100-member German troops in the area of Wielgomlyna-Kruszyn-Zalesie. After a two-hour fight, the ward was broken up, about 40 Germans were killed. In this skirmish, the guerrillas captured 2 armored wagons, 4 trucks, 3 motorcycles and 3 passenger cars.

Soldiers and spies

It is worth noting that the soldiers of the Peasants' Battalions have besides earned it in the intelligence field. They took part in the reconnaissance of the rocket scope in the Scar, observing attempts to launch V-1 missiles and V-2 missiles, locating the locations of their collapse, as well as searching for remains of crashed missiles. Parts found in forests and swamps were sent via KG AK by air to London, where they were subjected to method testing. 13 parts of the rocket were collected and delivered by Michał Kasz, Chief of BCh of Niwisk.

Certainly the most crucial accomplishment of BCh-owski troops were fighting in defence of the villages in Zamość, pacified by the Germans and besides from the Volyn villages attacked by Ukrainians. Thousands of inhabitants of tiny villages and siblings were saved by BCh-ows from destruction. A separate article should be given to this issue.

Bibliography:

Gmitruk,” Peasants Battalions and conspiratorial folk movement organizations”, du. Bellona, Edipresse.

Gmitruk J., P. Matusak, J. Nowak, "Calendar of Combat Activities of the 1940–1945 Boys' Battalions", LSW.

Rodak, “They march the Boy Battalions”