Event History
The Polish Home Army (AK or Armia Krajowa), was one of the two main military organizations of the Polish underground that operated in German-occupied Poland. The other major organization was the Communist-oriented People's Army (Armia Ludowa, known as the People's Guard, or Gwardia Ludowa, before January 1944). The AK, which functioned in all areas of the country from the beginning of the German occupation until January 1945, was linked to the London-based Polish government-in-exile, and shared its political orientation. The first commander of the AK was Stefan Rowecki. After his arrest in 1943, he was replaced by Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, who served from July 1943 until his capture in September 1944. The final commander was Leopold Okulicki. The AK, which had between 250,000 and 350,000 members by 1944, was responsible for intensive economic and armed sabotage during the German occupation. It carried out thousands of armed raids and intelligence operations, bombed hundreds of railway shipments, and was involved in untold numbers of battles with German police and army units. Its forces were behind the Warsaw Uprising of August 1, 1944 that was suppressed by the Germans only on October 2. The AK provided very limited support for the Jewish population. In February 1942 it formed the Section for Jewish Affairs directed by Henryk Wolinski, which collected information about the situation of Polish Jews, on the basis of which reports were sent to London. It also centralized contacts between Polish and Jewish military organizations. The AK provided the Warsaw ghetto fighters with a small amount of guns and ammunition, and during the ghetto uprising, carried out holding actions outside the ghetto walls. Only a few Jews were actually accepted into the ranks of the AK.
[Source: Guttman, Israel (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. "Armia Krajowa," MacMillan, 1990.] m
