Wilno Uprising

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This article is part
of the series:
Polish Secret State
Kotwica
History of Poland
This article is about the 1944 battle for Vilnius between the Armia Krajowa and the Wehrmacht. For combat between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht, see Battle of Vilnius (1944). For resistance activities in the Vilna Ghetto (1941-1943), see that article.
Operacja Ostra Brama
Part of Operation Tempest, World War II
Ostra Brama in Wilno
The chapel of Ostra Brama, the name-sake for the Operation.
Date July 6 to July 15, 1944
Location Wilno/Vilnius
Result Polish Victory[1]
Combatants
Poland (Armia Krajowa)
Soviet Union (Red Army)		 Germany (Wehrmacht)
Commanders
Aleksander Krzyżanowski
Antoni Olechnowicz
Czesław Dębicki		 Rainer Stahel
Strength
12,500
unknown number of Soviets		 30,000
Casualties
ca. 500 unknown
Operation Tempest
Volhynia – Kowel – Łuck – Równe – Włodzimierz Wołyński – Lubartów – Kock – Wilno Uprising – Krawczuny – Miedniki – Rudniki Forest – Lwów Uprising – Jodła – Ceber – Warsaw Uprising

Wilno Uprising also known as Operation Wilno (Polish: Operacja Wileńska) or Operation Ostra Brama was the armed struggle started by the Polish Home Army against the Nazi German occupiers of Wilno (modern Vilnius), during World War II. It started on July 7, 1944, as part of a Polish national uprising, codenamed Operation Tempest, and lasted until July 14. Although the Germans were defeated, on the following day the Soviet Red Army entered the city, and the NKVD started to intern Polish soldiers and arrest the officers. Several days later, the remains of the Polish Home Army retreated into the forest, and the Soviets were in control of the city. Therefore, what started as a Polish underground uprising against the Germans ended up as a Soviet victory.[1]

Contents

[edit] The uprising

On June 12, 1944 General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, Commander-in-Chief of the Home Army, issued an order to prepare a plan of liberating Wilno from German hands. The Home Army districts of Wilno and Nowogródek were to liberate the city before the Soviets could reach it. The Commander of the Wilno Home Army District, General Aleksander Krzyżanowski "Wilk", decided to regroup all of the partisan units in the north-eastern part of Poland for the assault, both from inside the city and from the outside.

The starting date was finally set to July 7. Approximately 12,500 Home Army soldiers attacked the German garrison and managed to seize most of the city center. Heavy street fights in the outskirts lasted until July 14. In the eastern suburbs, the Home Army units cooperated with reconnaissance groups of the Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front.[2]

[edit] Enter the Soviets

General Krzyżanowski wanted to group all of the partisan units into a re-created Polish 19th Infantry Division. However, the advancing Red Army entered the city on July 15, and the NKVD started to intern all Polish soldiers. On July 16, the HQ of the 3rd Belorussian Front invited Polish officers to a meeting and arrested them.[3][4][5]

The internees, almost 5,000 officers, NCO's and soldiers, were sent to a provisional internment camp in Miedniki, a Vilnian suburb (modern Medininkai). Some of them were given the option of joining the 1st Polish Army which was integrated into the Soviet armed forces, while the majority were sent to prisons and GULAGs in the USSR.[6]

Subsequently, the remnants of the local Home Army HQ ordered all units to retreat to Rudniki Forest (modern Rudininkai). It is estimated that by July 18 almost 6,000 soldiers and 12,000 volunteers reached the area. They were soon discovered by Soviet air reconnaissance and surrounded by the NKVD. Commanders decided to split their units and try to break through to the Białystok area. However, most of the Home Army forces were caught and interned.

An unknown number of soldiers under Lt. Col. Maciej Kalenkiewicz "Kotwicz" remained in the forests around the city until early August. On August 21, a minor battle between them and the NKVD occurred. Very little is known of their fate.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b There are some controversies involved in determining the result of the battle. From the Polish point of view, while the German defeat constitutes a Polish tactical victory, the ensuing destruction of the Polish units by the Soviets resulted in the strategic defeat, especially considering the goals of the Operation Tempest. From the Soviet point of view, the operation was a complete success, as both the Germans and the Poles loyal to the London government suffered a defeat.
  2. ^ (English) G J Ashworth (1991). War and the City. London: Routledge, 108. ISBN 0-415-05347-1. 
  3. ^ (English) Anthony James Joes (2004). Resisting Rebellion: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency. University Press of Kentucky, 47. ISBN 0-8131-2339-9. 
  4. ^ (English) Michael Alfred Peszke (2004). The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies, and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II. McFarland & Company, 146. ISBN 0-7864-2009-X. 
  5. ^ (English) Jan M. Ciechanowski (2002). The Warsaw Rising of 1944. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 206-208. ISBN 0-521-89441-7. 
  6. ^ (English) Tadeusz Piotrowski (1997). Poland's Holocaust. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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