In 1939, the Nazis did not have the greenest idea of how well the Poles were prepared for their invasion. Our underground fought with the Germans once. And she was doing just fine.
The First World War raged from August 1914, but it was only a year later that Warsaw fell into the hands of the Germans, and the Russians were driven out of Poland. Once they had won the trophy, they never let go of their hands, and in 1917 they expanded their influence even more.
The Russian Empire collapsed, and for a moment it seemed that the whole of Eastern Europe would be part of the new German order. Quite unexpectedly, the Germans encountered resistance not from the Bolsheviks, but from ... the Polish underground!
Not that nice change
Attacks on the occupant began immediately after the fall of the tsarist regime, and shots and explosions could be heard on the eve of regaining independence. If anyone had any hopes for the collapse of the eastern empire, he was quickly and quite brutally forced to verify his views.
The Poles did not forget about the German zeppelins bombing Warsaw in 1914.
Even the independence activists associated with Józef Piłsudski lost their illusions. It was enough that both the commander of the Polish Legions and a number of other Polish leaders were imprisoned by the Germans.
The author of the article also published the book "Polish terrorists" (more about it on the publisher's website). If you are not afraid of controversial topics, it is definitely worth reading!
The German apparatus of repression turned out not only to be as common as the Russian one, but above all it was much more systematic and operated with almost mechanical precision.
This was especially true when Dr. Erich Schultze. Even the Polish fighters themselves remembered him as "a capable and energetic officer who became a formidable and dangerous unit for the independence movement."
Arrests and searches took place almost every day. The seized archives of the Russian services provided data on active activists and that the law of war was still in force, the risk of a court trial and execution was considerable.
Wet za wet
"There was only one answer on our part to the repression of the occupiers:to destroy the German police apparatus with all our strength, to kill the managers" - later recalled Antoni Purtal, a carpenter and printer by profession, privately an activist of the Polish Socialist Party Combat Ambulance Service in mid-1917.
“I was pursued by the police for the murder of two German beaters who entered our secret printing house. In Warsaw, Comrade Korcz informed me that I had been appointed by the Combat Department to assassinate Schultze. I accepted the order with joy, ”he later admitted.
German troops entering Warsaw on August 5, 1915 expected a hot party. Never wait!
He just groaned:Herr Jesus!
On October 1, 1918, at 6 a.m., Purtal arrived in Warsaw's Nowy Świat, where he met his comrades Trzciński and Trojanowski in an underground place, and the three of them went to the nearby Smolna Street, where they were expected to meet the police chief. Purtal reports the whole incident in detail:
According to our intelligence, police agents were constantly hanging around on Smolna Street. Today, or at least now, we didn't see any, hardly any passers-by. The street is empty. We quickly enter gate No. 11. Trzciński is waiting calmly, as he said, for the performance.
Antoni Purtal did not look like a terrorist.
Nobody bothers us here. Openwork gate. So you can see everything perfectly. We are waiting. Of those present, only I knew Schultze. The attention of these two comrades focused on me. Suddenly I whispered through my teeth:Attention! He! He! He! - I ran out with my gun drawn, ready to fire.
I blocked its way. A moment of silence. We looked at each other's eyes. We got to know each other. Schultze froze - his eyes filled with tears. A shot was fired. The chief of the German police fell at my feet. All I heard was a groan, "Herr Jesus." At this point, Trojanowski jumped and fired two more shots to the fallen man.
Schultze was already dead. Another moment of silence, broken by the voice of a lady: Kaziu, take the dog and let's run to the gate. It touched us. With the weapon lowered to the ground, we walked in the middle of the street towards the Poniatowski Bridge, and behind us along the Trzciński sidewalk.
One and the other passers-by were asking:who are these gentlemen? "Chief of the secret German police," we replied. That's good, that's good - we heard their voices. Run away gentlemen down to the bridge, there is nobody there. On Czerwonego Krzyża Street we only set off at full speed, bumping into a woman with a child, who fell over and flooded us with a steak of curses.
The Germans did everything to create the impression that life in Warsaw goes on in the old way. Meanwhile, they were unable to keep even the chief of their own police safe!
Volatile army of the Polish underground
The peculiarity of the assassination attempt on Schultze was that took place just over a month before Poland regained independence. In fact, shooting at the occupiers, expropriation and sabotage operations continued practically continuously throughout the entire period of World War I.
Initially, it was a classic diversion carried out by the Polish Army Volunteer Unit, separated from the 1st Legions Brigade, consisting mainly of former Combat Organization fighters. The regulations left no doubts as to the nature of the formation:
Flying Troops are currently fighting against Russia, which for now has a subversive character:breakdown of communication, attacks on post offices, municipalities, poviats, rolling stock, police. (…)
The Flying Squad will always fight at the rear of the enemy army until the enemy is driven out of Poland. (...) Weapons owned by members of the Flying Units can only be used for self-defense or fighting the enemy. Members of the Flying Units are not allowed to put themselves into enemy hands with weapons.
Terrorist tradition
But if the Air Forces were limited only to subversive activities - the railway line was destroyed with great success and bridges were blown up - then the PPS Combat Emergency Service, under the leadership of Tomasz Arciszewski, unambiguously continued the terrorist tradition of the Combat Organization.
Activity in several of the largest Polish cities was developed, at its peak - in the fall of 1918 - about 1,500 trained fighters belonged to the Ambulance Service, who committed several dozen attacks and robberies until independence regained independence. . On November 11, 1918, it was they who took the most active part in disarming German soldiers in the Kingdom of Poland.
Everyone was just waiting for this moment:disarming the occupant. Probably even Germans living in fear of the Polish underground.
Germany has a good memory
And Antoni Purtal, who executed the chief of the secret police? He took part in the Third Silesian Uprising, in which he used his terrorist experiences as part of the Wawelberg Destruction Group. Later he made a quick political career, eventually becoming the vice-president of Łódź in 1939.
The German services, however, have a good memory. From the beginning of the war, the Gestapo was looking for him precisely for the murder of Erich Schultze. Captured in 1942, died a few months later in Auschwitz.
Sources:
The article was based on the sources, literature and materials that the author collected while working on the book "Polish terrorists" (Znak Horyzont 2014 ).