Konspiracyjne Wojsko Polskie, KWP - Polish Underground Army

A Historical Brief

The Konspiracyjne Wojsko Polskie (Eng. Polish Underground Army - abr. KWP) was one of the most distinguished anti-Communist resistance organizations established after the formal disbanding of the Armia Krajowa (Eng. Home Army) on January 19, 1945. Its units were active in Central and Western Poland, particularly in the kieleckie, łódzkie, śląskie, poznańskie voivodeships. Its creator, leader, and chief ideologist, was Captain Stanisław Sojczyński, nom de guerre "Warszyc". Sojczyński was a former commanding officer of the First Battalion of the 27th Infantry Regiment of the Home Army, active in the Radomsko County. The formal establishment of the KWP coincides with “Warszyc’s” order from April 3, 1945, issued to the former Armia Krajowa (Eng. Home Army) soldiers. In this order he wrote:

“[…] Re-establish temporarily inactive contacts with your subordinates, update evidentiary records of your men and locations of your hidden weapons’ caches, reactivate the [conspiratorial] contact points […]”.

Photo: Captain Stanisław Sojczyński, nom de guerre(s) "Warszyc", "Wazbiw". Before World War II, Stanisław Sojczyński was a teacher. He joined the underground in October 1939. In 1942, he was a Deputy-Commander of the AK District in Radomsko, and was also its Chief of KEDYW. He conducted many successful operations against the Nazis, among them, one on the night of August 7-8, 1943, when his units destroyed the jail in Radomsko, freeing 40 Polish and 12 Jewish prisoners. He was decorated with the Cross of the Virituti Militari - Fifth Class. “Warszyc” was the creator and commanding officer of the Konspiracyjne Wojsko Polskie (abr. KWP). He was arrested by the Polish Polish secret police , the UB, on June 27, 1946. After a staged “trial” of the leadership of KWP in Łódź on December 9-16, 1946, he was sentenced to death. Captain Stanisław Sojczyński, nom de guerre(s) "Warszyc" was executed by the Communist regime on February 19, 1947. In August 1945, “Warszyc’s” battalion consisted of three companies, but only within three months’ time, it grew to nine companies active in several counties. The 1945 “amnesty”, that was to bring about the liquidation of the anti-Communist political and military underground, actually bolstered “Warszyc’s” resolve to continue his fight against the Soviet occupation. It is during this period that Sojczyński wrote an “Open Letter to Colonel Radosław” (Jan Mazurkiewicz) dated September 12, 1945. Radosław, who was arrested by the Polish secret police on August 1, 1945, made a number of appeals to his former subordinates in the resistance to end their conspiratorial activities. On September 8, 1945, Radosław published a “Declaration” that he prepared under the UB dictum [Pol. abbr. Urzad Bezpieczenstwa – Security Services].

In this document, he called upon the Armia Krajowa partisans to leave the underground. The AK soldiers, who were to do so, were to retain their military ranks and decorations. Devastated by Radosław’s betrayal, Stanisław Sojczyński wrote in his open letter:

“What you have done is an obvious betrayal […] we feel sorry for some of you, the AK [Pol. abr. Armia Krajowa – Home Army] Majors, Colonels and Generals. For, the deceitful arrest of the 16 AK leaders, and their trial in Moscow under the circumstances that would bring about the God’s wrath, apparently didn’t teach you gentlemen anything; for, your only response, unbecoming of an officer, was to succumb to panic, and despair. […] [Apparently] the AK [leadership] considers the shameful capitulation at all cost with the renegades and traitors to be its duty, and in turn, sell us, and our accomplishments, out for [meaningless] promises and clichés of ranks and decorations [...]”

Photo: Lt. Ksawery Błasiak, nom de guerre “Albert” - pre-World War II photo. Between December 1945 and March 1945, “Albert” was Captain “Warszyc’s” I Adjutant in the KWP in Radomsko County. He was arrested by the UB on June 29, 1946, and tried along with the command of the KWP in Łódź, during December 9-16, 1946. He was sentenced to death and was murdered in Łódź on February 19, 1947. "Warszyc" continued: "The recognition of military ranks of common AK soldiers by the ‘Reds’, in return for abandoning our fight for our principles, is yet another paradox. These days, when even a common vermin is an officer, and when the bigger the thief the higher the rank, our highest recognition is our certainty, that we remain men of principle, men of honor, and that we remain faithful sons of our Nation.” Apparently, it was the attitude towards the Communists, shown by some of the higher-ranking AK leaders, that prompted Capt. “Warszyc” not to link-up his unit with any other underground organization. He felt, that his independent activities would be more effective in this way.

The General Staff of the Konspiracyjne Wojsko Polski (KWP) consisted of the following individuals:

	Capt. Stanisław Sojczyński, nom de guerre(s) "Warszyc", "Świrski", "Wazbiw", "Awr" - Commanding officer, in charge of Fighting with Lawlessness (Pol. Walka z Bezprawiem), Treasurer, Quartermaster.		Lt. Jan Rogólka, nom de guerre "Grot” - Sojczyński’s Adjutant until December 1945, and thereafter the Commander of Piotrków Trybunalski County.		Lt. Ksawery Błasiak, nom de guerre "Albert" - 1st Adjutant beginning as of December 1945.
	Lt. Henryk Glapiński, nom de guerre "Klinga" - II Adjutant until March 1946, and thereafter the Commandant of Radomsko County.		Lt. Czesław Kijak, nom de guerre "Romaszewski" – 2nd Adjutant from April 1946.		Officer Cadet Stanisław Żelanowski, nom de guerre(s) "Nałęcz", "Wiktor" - Chief of Intelligence from January 1946.
	Sec. Lt. Maria Szczerblik, nom de guerre “Mucha” - Accountant.		Lt. Feliks Kasza, nom de guerre “Szczerbiec” - Communications Officer.		Reverend Marian Frontczyk - Unit’s Chaplain.

Photo: Capt. Stanisław Sojczyński, “Warszyc” - photo taken by Polish secret police, the UB, after his capture. In August 1945r, KWP elected to establish two distinctive components. They were, the “Służba Samoobrony i Ochrony Społeczeństwa”, abbreviated SOS (The Self-Defense and Protection of the Society Service), and as needed, its second component organized from within larger units to combat the Communist UB and MO forces. The combat operations were also carried out by special units, called the “Oddziały Partyzanckie SOS” (Eng. “Partisan Units SOS”). These were divided into two sections: 1 – Political, codenamed "II K" 2 - Tactical, codenamed "II L"

The KWP also recruited agents from within ranks of the Communist UB and MO (Pol. abr. Milicja Obywatelska – People’s Militia) forces.

The KWP was divided into two primary operational areas, or Okręgi:

1 - Area Łódź, which was under the direct command of “Warszyc”. This area consisted of 10 County Commands: Radomsko, Piotrków Trybunalski, Wieluń, Częstochowa, Sieradz, Łask, Zawiercie, Włoszczowa, Łódź i Konin-Koło,


2 - Area Śląsk, which was commanded by Major Gerhard Szczurek, nom de guerre “Erg”. Major Szczurek led 8 County Commands: Bytom, Cieszyn, Gliwice, Katowice-Miasto, Katowice-Powiat, Koźle, Pszczyna and Rybnik.

During 1945-1946, the organization had around 3,500 men in its ranks. The most known armed units were: -

- OP SOS "Warsaw" [active in the Częstochowa and Radom counties],

- OP SOS "Oświęcim" [active in the area of Wieluń and Kluczborg counties]

The SOS units in the Śląsk area were:

The "Wędrowiec" - active in among other places Cieszyń, Pszczyna, and Rybnik. This was one of the most active KWP units. Its codename can be traced to the name it used during the Nazi occupation. This unit had around 150 soldiers, and conducted several dozen operations against the Communists. It was destroyed in mid-1946,

- The "Błyskawica".

Photo: Lieutenant Henryk Glapiński, nom de guerre "Klinga". During the Nazi occupation, Glapiński was an Armia Krajowa soldier. He was imprisoned at the Nazi concentration camp KL Gross Rosen. Between March-April 1946, he was the commander of the Radomsko County KWP, and was a commanding officer in the SOS “Warsaw” unit active in Radomsko and Częstochowa counties. His unit conducted many successful operations against the Communist UB (abbr. Urzad Bezpieczenstwa – Security Service) and KBW (abbr. Korpus Bezpieczenstwa Wewnetrznego – Internal Security Corps) forces. On the night of 19-20 April, 1946, it took part in an operation against the regional PUBP (abbr. Powiatowy Urzad Bezpieczenstwa Publicznego – County Office of Public Security), with headquarters in Radomsko. Because of the lack of support from Lt. “Grot” Glapiński‘s unit, it wasn’t able to take over the building. During their retreat, “Kling’s” soldiers captured 8 members of Soviet NKVD, who were shot on April 20, 1946 at the forest in Graby. Earlier, in the afternoon, this unit conducted a successful operation against the 200-men pursuit unit from the KBW. Glapiński’s 40-man unit completely destroyed the Communist forces. The KBW unit lost several men, and the rest – over 100 soldiers – surrendered. On the following day, “Klinga’s” unit engaged another KBW Company, and again forced it to surrender. Only on April 22, under the pressure from considerable KBW pursuit forces, the unit was forced to disperse. Along with several of his soldiers, “Klinga” fought until September 1946. He was arrested by the UB on September 14, 1946. He was tried and sentenced to death during the trial of the KWP leadership in Łódź between December 9-16, 1946. Lieutenant Henryk Glapiński, nom de guerre "Klinga" was murdered by the Communist regime in Łódź on February 19, 1947.

As a part of its activities, KWP published an underground publication entitled: "W świetle prawdy", (Eng. “In the light of truth”), and also circulated around 30 appeals and flyers, that were for the most part authored by Capt. “Warszyc” himself. In orders issued on August 16, 1945, Capt. Sojczyński outlined detailed responsibilities of the armed section of the KWP, including: self-defense, protecting Polish citizens against acts of thievery and rape perpetrated by the Soviet Red Army and its collaborators, combating the most harmful individuals in the Communist administration, secret police, and army, and counteracting common banditism burdening local populations. The military section of the KWP was also assigned tasks of confiscating provisions and procuring financial means necessary for the functioning of the organization. To combat lawlessness, the KWP established a judiciary branch whose task was to prepare formal indictments against individuals whose actions were particularly harmful to Polish society. The first death sentence issued and carried out by the KWP's judiciary branch was one against Jankiel Cukierman, vel. Jankel Cukierman, vel. Jakub Cukierman, the head of the investigative / interrogation department at the PUBP [Pol. abbr. Powiatowy Urzad Bezpieczenstwa Publicznego – County Office for Public Security – Communist secret police] in Radomsko. Cukierman was liquidated in August, 1946.

Photo: August 30, 1947 near Mr. Tarczewski’s forester house in the klonowski forest (Klonowa municipality). In the photo, is the leadership of the KWP codenamed “Labirynt” (Eng. “Labyrinth”). From left to right, are: Lt. Jan Kwapisz, nom de guerre “Lis – Kula”, Capt. Jan Małolepszy, nom de guerre "Murat", and Lt. Kazimierz Skalski, nom de guerre “Zapora”. The escalation of Communist terror forced the KWP to intensify its military operations. On March 28, 1946, Capt. “Warszyc” ordered his units to destroy Communist jails and regional UB headquarters, to organize ambushes against UB and KBW pacification units, and to forcibly disperse Communist PPR [Pol. abbr. Polska Partia Robotnicza – Polish Worker’s Party] rallies. Shortly thereafter, he also sanctioned the liquidation of UB functionaries without formally issued sentences. During the night of April 19-20, 1946, units of KWP under the command of Lieutenant Jana Rogólka, nom de guerre "Grot" took over the city of Radomsko. During this operation, a Communist jail was destroyed and 57 prisoners were freed. The KBW pursuit unit sent against the retreating units of Henryk Glapiński, "Klinga” was engaged, destroyed, and its soldiers surrendered. The following day, the same unit of KWP won an engagement against the KWB Company in Żytno. Some of the KBW soldiers joined the “Klinga’s” unit.

April 19-20, 1946: Military operations to free political prisoners from the PUBP, Polish secret police county headquarters in Radomsko. Left: A hand-drawn diagram of the Communist secret police PUBP office/ jail, in Radomsko, prepared for the resistance by Urzad Bezpieczenstwa, employee codename "Ryba", who collaborated with "Burat's" KWP unit. Twelve participants in the operation were ultimately captured by Polish secret police, the UB, and were sentenced to death. They were murdered most likely during the night of May 9-10, 1946 in the PUBP (Pol. abbr. Powiatowy Urzad Bezpieczenstwa Publicznego – County Office for State Security) dungeons in Radomsko. Their bodies were buried in the former Nazi bunker near Bąkowa Góra. A week later, the inhabitants of the village and the families of the murdered KWP soldiers buried them at the local cemetery. Left: Polish secret police investigative jail in Radomsko, Poland. Photo Source: noworadomsk.pl The 10 soldiers were laid to rest in a mass grave, while their commanding officer, Lt. Jan Rogólka, was laid to rest in Wola Rożkowa. The youngest one of them, Leopold Słomczyński, was buried in Radomsko. The execution of these KWP soldiers was accompanied by unspeakable tortures and mutilation that included: breaking their legs, ribs, and arms, pounding nails into their sculls, cutting off their tongues, and gouging their eyes out ... Read more about Polish secret police, the UB, torture methods here... The KWP Soldiers who participated in the operation against the PUBP Office in Radomsko: Lt. Jan Rogolka,"Grot" Age 33, executed Sgt. Józef Kapczyński aka Ryszard Kopczynski, "Szary" Age 24, executed Benedykt Ratajski Age 23, executed Leopold Słomczyński Age 19, executed Ryszard Nurkowski Age 20, executed Karol Wieloch Age 20, executed Ryszard Chmielewski Age 22, executed Czesław Turlejski Age 19, executed Stanisław Wersal Age 20, executed Piotr Proszowski Age 23, executed Józef Koniarski Age 37, executed Adam Lasoń Sentenced to 15 years in prison (contemporary photo) Józef Zięba Sentenced to 15 years in prison Kazimierz Matuszczyk Sentenced to 15 years in prison Stanisław Śliwiński Sentenced to 15 years in prison Tadeusz Gala Sentenced to 15 years in prison “On May 9th [1946], around 21:00, I was summoned by a rector, because a UB [Polish secret police] officer came and said that the condemned men wanted to see the priest. I took 12 communions, and along with the commander, went to the UB building on Kościuszki Street. They were locked up in the basement. There was a broken table there. I laid a Pyx on the table, and they approached me one by one – all twelve of them. After the confession, every one of them grabbed and hugged me, and kissed me, because I knew all of them from the forest. There was an 18-year old boy among them - Leopold Słomczyński. The tears were pouring from his eyes when he was saying, “I am not afraid of death. My Dad came with my 4-year old brother. When the visit was over the soldier says – "it’s over!" – and then my brother grabbed my head and didn’t want to let go of it. The soldier dragged his little hands away from my head. The sight of my crying brother and my parents is the suffering before my death”. After confessing all of them, I went upstairs to sign a document about fulfilling my ministry. I told them, “- You shouldn’t be executing an 18-year old boy”, and they said “- this is a military court; there is nothing to discuss”. It was 1:00 a.m. at night when I was leaving this place. I saw that there was a vehicle ready in front of the building. I didn’t know then that it was to transport the bodies. After I left, all the boys were murdered, and were transported to the Bąkowa Góra, and were dumped there in the bunker”. An interview with Reverend Stanisław Piwowarski, confessor, recorded on June 16, 2001.

In June 1946, however, the command of the KWP was destroyed as a result of arrests conducted by the UB. Capt. “Warszyc” fell into Communist hands on June 28, 1946 , after he was betrayed by Henryk Brzózka, who was one of his subordinates.

The KWP’s underground units in the Śląsk area were destroyed as well. Lieutenant Jerzy Jasiński, nom de guerre "Janusz", who survived the wave of Communist arrests, undertook the task of rebuilding the KWP structures. Beginning in August, 1946, he led the 2nd General Staff of the KWP. His second in command, and chief of the SOS units, was Sergeant Wiesław Janusiak, nom de guerre "Prawdzic", while Roman Alama, nom de guerre "Irys", became his Chief of Intelligence, and Adjutant. The function of the Logistics Officer, and Quartermaster, were assigned to Henryk Brzóska, nom de guerre "Niutek". The 2nd Command of KWP never managed to restore the organization to its previous strength. During this period, the KWP was most influential in the area of Częstochowa, Radomsko, and Piotrkow Trybunalski. Some of the units in the field that survived arrests and were not able to re-establish contact with the 2nd General Staff, would operate independently. A pivotal role in the destruction of KWP was played by the Communist secret police agent, Zygmunt Lercel, codename "Z–24" who collaborated with the Zarząd Główny Informacji Wojska Polskiego [Eng. Main Directorate of Information of the Polish Army (Polish Communist: military police, intelligence, and counter-espionage)]. Some of the members of the KWP General Staff were arrested by UB during the night of December 31, 1946 and January 1, 1947. Lt. Jerzy Jasiński, nom de guerre "Prawdzic", who during this time was outside of the Częstochowa area, outed himself during the 1947 amnesty. Others remained in the underground and continued to fight against Communism. Sergeant Jan Małolepszy “Murat”, who even then still commanded several partisan groups, led them. He was arrested on November 9, 1947, and was sentenced to death. He didn’t live until the day of his execution, as he was murdered in his cell in the prison in Łódź.

But, it wasn’t the end of the Konspiracyjne Wojsko Polskie, yet. Some of its units, and smaller armed groups of partisans, survived until 1954.

On September 11, 2009, Capt. Stanisław Sojczyński, nom de guerre "Warszyc", was posthumously promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and decorated with the Grand Cross of Polonia Restituta by President of the Republic of Poland, the Honorable Lech Aleksander Kaczynski.

September 26, 2010, Radomsko, Poland. Unveiling of the Konspiracyjne Wojsko Polskie Monument. In Memoriam of the soldiers and supporters of KWP who perished fighting the Communist regime. This monument was funded and erected by the Foundation "Pamiętamy". Doomed Soldiers - The Untold Story.

[1] The primary goal of the Foundation "Pamietamy" is restoration of the proper social and historical place for the individuals who during second half of the 1940's, and beginning of the 1950's, undertook armed resistance against the Communist regime in Poland. The goal of the foundation is to commemorate those, who in the name of freedom, and in the name of human dignity, laid on the altar of freedom their own personal and professional aspirations, their personal freedoms, and above all, their lives.