Historical Calendar: May 24, 1945 – Pogrom of Communists in Stocki Forest

Historical calendar: the anniversary of the Polish underground of independency of a large clash with the UB and NKWD authorities attacking them in Stocki Forest.

Today in our calendar we will look at the circumstances accompanying this event.

The battle, which took place on May 24, 1945 in the village of Las Stocki close Kazimierz Dolny, began in the NKWD and UB raid on Polish guerrillas. A day earlier, a division of about 170 people arrived in the area. This division was dissolved in January erstwhile Leopold Okulicki ordered the dissolution of the Home Army, but as a consequence of a wave of communist repression, the commander gathered it back and surrendered Government delegates to the country. Since autumn 1945, it has already operated under the WiN.

The “Orlik” was intensively hunted by NKVD troops, but he escaped to the UB in Puławy on 24 May. An immediate manhunt was ordered. About 200 MO, UB, and NKVD officers were assigned to the action, who had 3 armored cars, 2 transporters, and even a tanker. russian officers were in command of the pursuit group.

After preliminary determination of the location of the partisans' quarters, the communists began rounding and sweeping the area. amazed by the attack, the guerrillas initially suffered losses, as many were tired after a long and exhausting march. any have just finished washing their uniforms, which were hanging on branches. Very quickly, however, there was a fierce and leveled fight.

The Partisans were happy. This is due to the fact that the group which was personally commanded by the “Orlik” accidentally encountered a poorly defended command post of the opponent. Next to russian officers, Poles shot the Head of the Department to fight WUBP Banditism in Lublin, Henryk Deresiewicz and PUBP Deputy in Puławy, Alexander Ligaza.

Losing command brought chaos in the ranks of Soviets and their Polish minions. As a result, communist forces were pushed to the gorge, where Poles eliminated a number of isolated points of opposition of the opponent until dusk. The remaining attackers escaped, but in the news of the approaching forces of the enemy, the guerrillas besides had to escape, taking the dead and wounded with them.

The “Orlik” division lost 11 or 12 killed and 10 wounded. There were about 70 officers on the communist side. The guerrillas besides destroyed 2 armored cars, a tanker and 1 of the transporters with grenades. The conflict of Stocki Forest ended with a large embarrassment to folk power. The fact about this event was carefully hidden from the public.

Photo - soldiers of the “Orlik” branch in 1946.

Previous entry from our calendar is available Here..