"Auschwitz was a game" - said Witold Pilecki about the communist prison. Captain, like thousands of tortured and murdered by the Soviets, learned first-hand the terror and cruelty of the new occupant. Immediately after the war, the independence underground in Poland found itself in a new situation. The communist regime was in many ways inferior to the Nazi regime ...
The living conditions of the partisans also changed for the worse. Thousands of soldiers who did not want to agree to the Moscow cleanup were hiding in the forests. They lacked food, clothes, medicines. There were only… weapons.
"Overloaded" forests
In 1945, despite the dissolution of the Home Army, tens of thousands of soldiers remained in hiding. The second branch of the underground was constituted by the National Armed Forces. In the initial period of anti-communist guerrilla warfare, the forests were literally "overloaded" with the military.
In 1945, despite the dissolution of the Home Army, tens of thousands of soldiers remained in hiding.
Stanisław Płużański, who described the conditions of the partisans' functioning in the book "Frost, hunger and lice. Everyday life of the Cursed ”, he reports:
some parts of Poland were full of troops. Even in the Lodzkie Voivodship, where the saturation of partisan units was lower, the Security Service, describing the activities of the soldiers of "Groźny", reported:
During (...) the activities of the gang in the following poviats:Turkowski, Kalisz, Koło and Konin , regardless of this gang, other gangs (...). Sometimes gangs or groups overlapped in one area, but never clashed with each other.
Weapons galore
Compared to the Nazi occupation, only one thing that changed positively in the activity of the underground - access to weapons. The anti-communist partisans did not complain about the weapons, although there was less than the opponent had, and there was a shortage of ammunition. Nevertheless, compared to the Second World War, the soldiers were well equipped. Płużański writes in his book:
Already while the front was being traversed, the partisans started collecting weapons, getting ready to fight the new invader, as Stefan Siekliński pseudonym. "Stefek":" We were all armed, because there were a lot of weapons. As the Russian front passed, there were both German and Russian weapons. Everything was in the bushes, in the woods, just abandoned anywhere ” .
Compared to the Nazi occupation, only one positive thing in the activity of the underground has changed - access to weapons.
In the initial period of partisan activity, the posts of the Civic Militia and UB were easy targets. Partisans even organized rallies to the outposts of the new regime. Stanisław Płużański quotes:
To illustrate the situation, it is worth quoting an excerpt from the report on the operation of "Zapora":On May 16 a terrorist attack was carried out on the Citizens' Militia police station in Wojciechów, pow. Lublin. The bandits raided the station at lunchtime. They terrorized and disarmed the station's crew, taking 7 KBK, 400 ammunition and 4 grenades that were on the equipment of MO officers as well as 1 KBK and 1 pistol passed to the MO by the local population.
In addition, 17 pouches, 1 first aid kit, 5 grenade launchers, 5 military coats, 2 uniforms, 4 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of underwear, 3 blankets, 8 main belts, were stolen from the Post. 3 trouser straps, 7 military caps, 2 civilian caps, 2 scarves and a beret, 1 watch, 1 razor, 2 capes and food items.
Chasing money
The partisan ate whenever the opportunity arose, because the next one might not be available until a few days. Most of the food came from the locals - farmers from the surrounding villages. The troops tried to pay for them. Stanisław Płużański writes:
They obtained money just like weapons - by breaking up MO and UB posts, but also through organized attacks on the cash desks of municipal boards , credit unions, railway unions, post offices and other state institutions or state shops.
Antoni Biegun ps. In his memoirs, the Sztubak noted:
Then we took the money in Huta Metal "Węgierska Górka". We knew when they brought the paycheck to the establishment. Part of the unit pulled the UB out of the city, which was looking for him in the woods. In the city itself, there were five officers who were disarmed by us. We took the money easily and went back to the forest.
They also obtained food at the expense of collaborators with the new government, PPR activists, policemen, security officers and informers.
Thanks to this money, the army bought food from farmers. It also obtained food at the expense of collaborators with the new government, PPR activists, policemen, security officers and informers. In the receipt issued by the partisans of Antoni Bieguna, pseud. The trick was written:
For the purposes of the Forestry Units of the National Armed Forces, the following were confiscated from Biała Władysław:1 heifer, 1 pair of shoes, 1/2 kg of soap, 1 shirt. (…) The penalty that Biela suffered tonight was for too zealous stirring up political passions, for the aggressive attitude of the local population against us, for cooperation with the Soviets. Unless it ceases to operate, we will apply absolute methods immediately.
Dinner after goodness or force
The soldiers from the forests realized that putting too much strain on the population would cause the villages to turn away from them, and without the help of the locals they would not have a chance to survive. That is why they tried to act "fairly" and at least partially compensate for the losses of the cruelly impoverished population after the war. Marcin Zaremba in the book “Wielka Trwoga, Polska 1944–47. The popular response to the crisis, ”he writes:
There was a shortage of basic things:clothes and shoes, but most of all food. Some light on the state of its supply is shed by the then comparison of the production of basic foodstuffs per capita in 1938 and 1945/46 by the Ministry of Supply and Trade. It shows that there was a two or even threefold decline in production .
So it happened that the population hid food from the partisans. There were also conflicts and taking food by force.
If there was no money, the guerrillas tried to pay back the hosts somehow. One of the soldiers recalled:
When we didn't have any provisions with us, we used the help of people. We ate them more than once. They weren't too rich either (…). We remembered it and the next time we had some supplies (...), we would come and feed the hosts.
In practice, however, the balance rarely turned out to be zero for farmers. So it happened that the population hid food from the partisans. There were also conflicts and taking food by force. “We stopped in the village of Malinie, cold and hungry. It is difficult to find anything to eat in the village, only after a thorough search we found everything galore. Nevertheless, we had to take food by force, that is, fist-fight with the women for a slice of bread and a pot of milk "- recalled Ryszard Zieniewicz pseudonym. The bastard from the "Zapora" squad.
It also happened that hunger pushed the Cursed Soldiers into battles no longer with fists, but with the use of live ammunition - against the forces of the new regime. Soldiers of the unit of Antoni Bieguna pseud. For example, the kids were fighting a fierce battle with the outnumbered enemy, because the stake in the game was a box full of ... pork fat, which passed from hand to hand during a firefight. The guerrillas did not want to withdraw without her.
Toadstool soup and toothpaste
In practice, the soldiers of the anti-communist uprising suffered constant hunger. It happened that they did not eat for several days. It happened that the raids of MO, UB, NKVD or KBW meant that it was impossible to get to the village. Several dozen kilometers long night walks were extremely exhausting. The food was made of literally "anything" that could cheat your stomach. Quoted by Stanisław Płużański, Marian Pawełczak pseud. Morwa recalled:
"Miś" figured it out, he was in the 27th Division in the Vilnius Region, there they used mushrooms that were not collected here. It was then that I met the reddish toadstool for the first time (...). "Teddy" went with the boys and directed them to find these mushrooms, they picked them up and brought them. Later, they prepared them, and whoever ate these mushrooms received a glass of vodka. And to increase the volume of this prepared food, they added toothpaste there, and I don't know what stuff (...). I remember eating it.
Interestingly - although the hunger was taking its toll, in the memories of soldiers from various units, from different parts of Poland, the topic of hunting for forest animals practically does not appear.
Lice from the east
In friendly families, they changed their underwear for clean ones, mended uniforms, and repaired shoes at shoemakers. When they stopped in the villages, they changed and changed. "There were no bathing areas, bathtubs or showers, then partisans had cattle watering troughs, bowls, tubs or wells" - is described by Stanisław Płużański.
Despite all of this, the level of hygiene was drastically low. Bathing twice a week (or even once) did not surprise anyone. Just like insects :cockroaches and lice, which were a real plague right after the war. The hygiene deteriorated drastically after the Red Army passed through Poland. Stefan Siekliński, ps. Stefek recalled:
In 1945, when the Russians came, after a month or two, when the Russians walked around these houses and plundered, it was such an extraordinary amount of lice. It was there. lice in every building, everyone had no say. For example, under the shirt collar, for example, in rows, under the armpits, where you were sweating .
The hygiene deteriorated drastically after the Red Army passed through Poland.
Marian Pawełczak, on the other hand, described:“We noticed that when a man took a bath somewhere, washed it properly and put on new underwear, all the lice came to him. They liked cleanliness apparently. ”
Lice were killed by cooking clothes. Others treated them with an iron, still others burned them over the fire. In the extreme conditions of life, however, the real salvation was the extremely powerful PZT washing powder, which killed insects. It happened that partisans took action only to get this drug. Marian Pawełczak reported:
We had such a rally in 1946 in the Rzeszów region that we found two cars from UNRA. We weren't interested in any food stories, just that we got PZT powder against lice. Yes, at most a uniform, underwear was thrown into the anthill, as it was in summer, or you were ironing with an iron so they fired like a machine gun, when driving over the seams of a shirt. But it did help for a short time.
It is worth adding that the Soviet army left behind in Poland not only lice, but also an epidemic of venereal diseases, the cause of which were mass rapes by Red Army men on women - regardless of their age - from girls to old women. In Masuria, the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases reached 50 percent of the population.
This is not a country for weak people
Anticommunist guerrillas who lived until our time recalled that they were only able to endure because they were young. It happened, however, that even youth did not guarantee survival . Those who could not stand the long walks at night, living in constant fear, with weapons with them, in a state of constant escape, manhunts, hunger and disease - were sometimes sent home by commanders.
The autumn-winter period was the most difficult. Winters - always frosty in those days and always very snowy - marked the increase in manhunts and ambushes. The communists realized that the underground was weaker and less mobile in winter. Płużański writes:
In cold winters, snow often reached up to your chin. Wading through the snowdrifts was extremely tiring and drastically slowed down the pace of the walk. All this meant that the guerrillas practically fought for their lives on each wandering.
Anticommunist guerrillas who lived until our time recalled that they were only able to endure because they were young.
Corns, ulcers, gunshot wounds, pneumonia - any disease, even the smallest one, could mean death. “The autumn was the worst, because the man was thickly dressed and soaked in water, and everything had to be dried on yourself. I was one of those people, who are a good example of health, I still survived it somehow, but there were people who got pneumonia, and they ended up "- recalled Wacław Szacoń.
Some of the wards had "their" doctors, but sometimes people had to wait many hours for the transport of the sick or injured to the hospital, until there was a convenient opportunity to "smuggle" him to the facility. “» Zenit «was hit in the leg. They put it in a sewer pipe like that. He stayed there until evening, in the evening they took him to Gorlice, they took him to the hospital, because we had a doctor in Gorlice, ”reported Józef Oleksiewicz, pseud. Terrible.
Epilogue
The extremely difficult living conditions certainly - despite the great ideological nature of the anti-communist partisans - discouraged them from further fighting. The so-called The Cursed Soldiers stayed in the woods for several years . Despite the initial successes and the recovery of large swaths of the country from the hands of the communists, the pressure of the new regime grew stronger each month. The Soviet invader turned out to be experienced, clever and ruthless in the fight against the guerrillas. He was also often much more cruel and foul-mouthed than the Nazis.
“Berlingowcy and the NKVD apply unprecedented terror to the Polish population. Plunder, murder, rape. On 7.03. the village of Guty, poviat Ostrów Mazowiecki. The population was murdered. Children and women were thrown alive into the fire "- this was the Report of the Commander of the Bialystok District to the Commander-in-Chief in London of May 1945.
It was a fantasy to believe that the communists would hold fair elections to the legislature in 1947. These - under the watchful eye and with the active participation of the NKVD - were forged. The West did not react. Additionally, it became clear that there would be no World War III between the Allies and Moscow, as a result of which Poland would regain independence. The partisans also felt an increasing indifference, and often hostility, of civilians in the villages, who, even despite their initial sympathy, eventually, after years of war, were able to accept any power that would introduce stabilization.
Until 1950, only a few hundred people remained in the forests of the tens of thousands of partisans who fought with the communists after the war. A large number, including the most important underground commanders, died in combat or as a result of death sentences after fake trials and torture. The vast majority, however, left the forests voluntarily and submitted to the amnesty announced by the new regime in 1945 and 1947. The amnesty was a fraud and a trap that allowed the communists to completely smash the underground. Thousands of those disclosed died, others were deported to Siberia. It is estimated that as many as 120,000–180,000 people went through anti-communist organizations in Poland after the Second World War.
Bibliography:
- Grzegorz Baziur, The Red Army in Gdańsk Pomerania 1945–1947 . "IPN Bulletin". 7, pp. 35–38, 2002. Bulletin of the Institute of National Remembrance.
- Arthur Bliss Lane, I saw Poland betrayed . Ed. II Polish. Warsaw:Fronda Publishing House 2008.
- Stanisław Płużański, Frost, hunger and lice. Everyday life of the Cursed , Warsaw 2021.
- Krzysztof Szwagrzyk, The security apparatus in Poland. Management staff , Warsaw 2005.
- Marcin Zaremba, Wielka Trwoga, Poland 1944–47. People's reaction to the crisis , Mark 2012.