End of childhood

Preparations

In January 1945, the letter – along with quite a few others, and all with the stamps of the Scout Field Post – was found by Józef Giers, a printer and insurgent. Dirty, moist, and muddy lay scattered between the rubble. The man picked them up and kept them for 22 years: until he handed all of them over to Jeriem Kasprzak, a writer who, in the summertime of 1944, was a 14-year-old boy who spread the letters himself. At the time, he utilized the nickname “Albatros”.

He connected with the conspiracy in the autumn of the erstwhile year, joining the 12th Romuald Traugutt Scouting Team. They began by learning basics – drills, reporting, first aid, Morse code. In February 1944, they took an oath. They gathered in a tiny schoolroom in the school building. After listening to the Scout talk, they entered the swastika flag on the floor. It was a common habit in conspiracy to talk the words of vows, trampling on a hated symbol. From now on, they were wrestlers, as was called the youngest – 12, 15-year-old – scouts in the Grey Lines. For the following months, they participated in tiny sabotage operations. They broke windows in German houses and shops, painted on buildings a symbol of the fighting Poland. Before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier they taught Poles that they should remove their headgears by passing through here. In time, they began delivering reports and conspiracy press. They learned the hard art of walking in occupied Warsaw. In order to decision smoothly and safely through it, 1 had to know which yard to enter, which cage, where the ruins are after September 1939, through which 1 can penetrate. Soon, this cognition would be of large usage to them under fresh conditions.

In the planned uprising for the hangars, circumstantial roles were prepared. In November 1943, the Grey Serial office developed an instruction codenamed “Mafeking”. She assumed that during open combat, the youngest soldiers would execute tasks related to traffic regulation, non-frontal communications, informational reconnaissance, air landing and anti-aircraft defense. But the future was expected to show that even the best plans have 1 weak point – reality.

People gotta compose letters

Already in the first hours of the uprising, the city was torn apart. The individual districts were rapidly on their own, and communication between them became difficult. due to the fact that the fights began in the mediate of the day erstwhile people were coming home from work or shopping, many people did not make it home and lost contact with their loved ones. But even those who managed to return had no way of communicating with those surviving in another part of the city. It became clear that it was essential to give the Warsawers the chance to check what was happening to their loved ones.

On 2 August the scout Kazimierz Grenda “Granda”, the recently appointed head of the Main office of the Grey Serials, “Pasieki”, began the construction of the Scout Field Post. Thanks to the aid of the sub-harvest Sigismund Head Victor, he managed to assemble a 40-man squad within 24 hours. In the following weeks, they engaged a full of 200 boys aged 12–15. The youths operated in 8 branches located in Śródmieście, Powiśle, Czerniakow and Mokotów.

The first authoritative information about the Scout Field Post came on Wednesday 9 August. "Rzeczpospolita" reported on that day that "at the initiative of Boy Scouts a post office was launched in the fighting Warsaw, which for respective days has already served almost all the districts of the city. In each territory there are respective mailboxes with an eagle and the inscription ‘Posta Polska’. Boxes are emptied twice a day at 9th and 16th. Those utilizing the message should know about the following details: to compose small and clearly, addresses to give clearly, civilians give their own address and recipients, soldiers do not give their own addresses; lists of civilians in the event of underdelivery are returned, military – destroyed. It is the work of the residents of each of the houses to organize points where scouts bringing the message will submit it for all tenants."

Photo from the Warsaw Uprising depicting a group of people at the Box of Scout Field Post, suspended on the bulletin board on the building at 10 Górskiego Street. On the box you can see an eagle with a painted lily. On the side on the left, a written instructions for sending letters. Description author: Piotr Głogowski. photograph by Sylvester Braun, ps. Kris

The next day, the existence of the post office was confirmed by the Insurrection Commander, Colonel Antoni Chruściel “Monter”. He wrote that the maximum dimension of the letter is 25 words, and the mailboxes are 12 so far. Kasprzak said that “the first mailboxes were average boxes or wooden boxes or even cardboard boxes. Later, post boxes remaining after the business were utilized in any areas, painting the inscription “Deutsche Post Osten” (German Post East) and “gapa” Nazi”. A green scout lily was besides painted in place of the signs of the occupier in addition to the eagle. The user manual was besides included. The service was free – but people were encouraged to bring books as a token of gratitude. These went to the wounded in hospitals and civilians. After the war, it was planned to decision them west – as part of a repolonization action.

Boxes were placed close hospitals, military quarters, in the busiest areas. They were besides tried to suspend them in these hard places so that everyone could benefit from them. It didn't go anywhere. There was no box in the Old Town. In the following days, further orders and recommendations regarding the operation of the message appeared. But the strategy wouldn't substance if it wasn't for Boy Scouts.

Hopemakers

"The Boy Scout's field message bags, hanging over the shoulder, testified about the service we execute in the insurgent Warsaw," Kasprzak noted. For them, that was something to be arrogant of. Looking at their fewer older colleagues who fought on barricades, they envied them. But at the same time they realized that the work they were doing was crucial to thousands of people. On the first day, the post office received about 900 letters. The evidence of the day fell on 13 August and amounted to 10,000 shipments, and on average they fell into boxes of 3–6,000. Each of them meant household or friends who were worried about each another and knew that this was the only way they could find each other.

The insurgent press inactive conquered this painting. On 15 August, the paper “From the Front Front Line” published an article “The Spreaders of Joy”. In the introduction, the author called the mailboxes "little stations of heroism", and about the boys spreading them he wrote that they showed courage in situations where elders would hesitate. The question here is, though, whether this was due to another imagination of the kid and the adult. In an interview with 1 of the wizzards who ran through the streets, even though his feet were bandaged, due to the fact that he cut them from behind his large shoes, the writer heard: “What a joy it is to come to individual and see the joy of seeing the letter, to see the mothers kissing those small scribbled notes. I'm in a hurry to deliver as many letters as possible and come back for fresh ones. They're all waiting for it."

The scouts showed astonishing accuracy and planning. They knew that if they wanted to deliver those thousands of letters, they had to do it efficiently. Before going on the road, they arranged parcels according to streets and home numbers. "The search for the recipient was done in specified a way that it was first found in the flat upstairs, and then it was only coming down to the basement, calling out a name loudly, asking where he moved, where to look for him," he said. On the way, he collected letters from passing people. They were given to him in hospitals, barricades, basements.

Besides, basements were frequently used. The streets under continuous artillery fire or device guns were not safe. Even the many shields placed on them did not warrant a transition from 1 side to another alive.

The first was ‘Bananan’

Sometimes, though, you had to step up and hazard it. And unfortunately, it led to tragedy. "On 17 b.m. he died a Boy Scout soldier, Dr. Banana, aged 16. The deceased was the first Boy Scout to begin spreading letters to the Field Post, delivering them to the most advanced front points" – on 18 August he stated "Information Bulletin". A day earlier, he and his colleagues were to study letters to residents of houses on Smolna Street.

The way was dangerous. On the way, it was essential to cross the wall, which was under the fire of Germans occupying the Poniatowski Bridge. As we approached this place, more and more informing signs were appearing. But the boys wouldn't back out. They were convinced that if they succeeded so many times, then now...

The first 1 of the wimps ran. I did. The second was ‘Bananan’, or Zbigniew Banas. He barely managed to jump forward, and he was half bent to the ground. The guys didn't know what happened, they didn't hear a shot. But before they decided to save their friend, the device weapon series took distant their courage. They pulled out. They rapidly arranged a stretcher and a first aid kit, but they had no way to get to the injured man. The Germans effectively cut off their ability to access it.

It worked the next day. Kasprzak remembered that Banaś “had his neck shot through, he was rolled in a ball, and there was a message bag with letters stuck in his hands.” His death was accompanied by, as reported by the newspaper, a tiny Jubilee of Scout Field Post. On that day, the number of letters that the people passed on reached 50,000.

There were more sacrifices among the youngest insurgents. On August 27, "Information Bulletin" wrote about the death of only an 11-year-old liaison. He died “when he ran with a study from the outpost. He served from day 1 Rising In a certain assault platoon. Wojtek has a number of feats. He erstwhile entered the main station and after a 3-hour stay among the Germans he returned with a study of the forces and quantities of the gun. In 15 B.M. Wojtek brought out 5 people from the cut-off facility through a heavy occupied area and shelled by Germans.” According to the findings of the researchers, nearly 6,000 insurgents were 17 years old and less. How many of them died, we don't know.

To be needed

The list of victims among the youngest participants in the August insurrection includes those who avoided death but experienced things that remained with them for life. 14-year-old Janina Tatarkiewicz “Myszka” has helped 1 of the hospitals in Śródmieście from the start of the fighting. She remembered how 1 day after the raid she was killed along with the others in the yard. “Among the torn human bodies... we found completely naked, with a acquainted grimace of discontent on my face – Dr. ‘Joanna’. There's a small blood spatter in the occipital area. It was the only injury." She admits: “Then I realized that this was not a ‘chance game’, not a large adventure. Fear has come. I guess that's erstwhile I stopped being a child.”

Another traumatic experience for many youths was the service in the sewers. The hangers walked them to decision the post office from Downtown to Mokotów – another road did not exist. Similarly, only underground could you get from Old Town to Żoliborz. On that episode, the Boy Scouts of 227 Squadron of the Giraffe group served, mostly boys aged 14 to 16. Their asset was growth. The poor, alternatively tiny construction, in the frequently tight tunnels did better than adult men. They even got the nickname “channel rats”. But working in complete darkness was exhausting for them – not only physically. 14-year-old Bogusław Kamola “Hipek” remembered: “After being on the watch in the canal – it lasted 3 hours or 4 hours, I don’t remember – it [we left] completely mentally exhausted. Man was not fit for a time to live."

And yet they kept coming down. Not due to the fact that it was required of them, but due to the fact that they wanted to feel needed. Just like erstwhile they volunteered to deliver letters or aid out in hospitals.

Without absolution

In mid-August, Jan Wuttke “Black Jas” wrote a letter to Eugene Stasiecki “Peter Pomiana”. Both were crucial figures in the Grey Lines, adored by the younger. In Wuttke's letter, he returned to the conversation they had a fewer months earlier. It active children's participation in the fight. “I have always been offended by the work of the praisers War heroism of children“The author wrote, pointing out that he had repeatedly intervened erstwhile he fought in the “Zośka” Battalion, and that younger than 18-year-olds were admitted. The participation of 12–15-year-olds in the uprising outraged him. At the same time, he agreed with those who said that if they did not give the most active work distant from the top danger, they would be “involved by 1 mindless linear commander”.

So did they choose the lesser evil? In summary, he asked if caring for the youngest was adequate to absolve them of allowing them to fight. "Advances in troops and services in combat areas are a disgrace. And we ourselves contributed to this mood" – he finished.

The problem in the uprising was that the full city was a battlefield. As a result, the participation of children and minors bears the features of the Greek tragedy. There was no good way out. But is it always in war?

Sources of quotes:

Archive of spoken history, Museum of the Warsaw Uprising. "Barricada Powiśla", 1944.
"Information Bulletin", 1944.
J. Kasprzak, Trails of the Insurgent Shipping, Warsaw 1985.
To serve... From the Diaries and Memories of the Scouts of Warsaw 1939–1945, ed. A. Zawadzka, Z. Zawadzka, Warsaw 1983.
Warsaw Uprising 1 August – 2 October 1944. Services in combat, ed. R. Sreniawa-Szypiowski, Warsaw 1994.
"From the Front First Line", 1944.

Sebastian Pawlina – historian, writer, journalist, all day deals with the past of the Warsaw conspiracy and the influence of war on the human psyche. Author and co-author of books, including “Wars in Channels” (Kraków 2019, 2024) and the latest “Barricade ‘44” (Kraków 2024).