Secret Military Organization, or Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa, TOW in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

, was a clandestine military formation organized prior to World War II in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

in the event Polish territory was occupied by foreign powers. The country-wide TOW organization was active in the early days of the September 1939 Campaign and during the

Nazi occupation of Poland Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

. Some of the offshoots or independently organized local "TOWs", such as ''Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa Gryf Pomorski'' ("TOW

Pomeranian Griffin The Pomeranian Griffin secret military organization () was a Polish anti-Nazi resistance group active in Pomerania and East Prussia during World War II. A major Polish resistance organization in the Pomerania region, at its height in 1943 it migh ...

") or ''Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa Gryf Kaszubski'' ("TOW Kaszubian Griffin") were active throughout the whole period of the German occupation as well as the early years of the Soviet takeover. During the interwar period, Polish intelligence services in the ''Grupa Operacyjnej Dywersji'' (Operational Group for Diversion) developed contingency plans for creating an underground movement in case the country was occupied by either

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. The sub unit within this service codenamed ''Zygmunt'' was charged with preparing diversionary and sabotage actions to be carried out during the possible occupation. The main, country-wide, TOW was organized by Major (later colonel)

Jan Mazurkiewicz Jan Mazurkiewicz, pseudonym: "Zagłoba", "Socha", "Sęp", "Radosław" (27 August 1896 – 4 May 1988) was a Polish military leader and politician, colonel of Home Army and brigadier general of the Polish People's Army. Founder of the Secret Mil ...

, codename ''Radosław'', in late 1939, in Stanisławów, after the Polish defeat in the

September campaign The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Sovie ...

. Mazurkiewicz's founding of the group received approval from Gen.

Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independenc ...

and the

Polish government in exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovere ...

. Originally the coordinating headquarters of this TOW were located in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, but were transferred to occupied Poland in 1940. In March 1943 the main TOW became part of the general anti-Nazi organization the

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

and the cells of the organization were transformed or transferred into the newly organized "Directorate for Diversion",

Kedyw ''Kedyw'' (, partial acronym of ''Kierownictwo Dywersji'' ("Directorate of Sabotage") was a Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish World War II Home Army unit that conducted active and passive sabotage, propaganda and armed operations ...

. Some of the other TOWs, such as the Pomeranian Griffin, continued to exist independently of the Home Army, or were only nominally subordinated to it.

References

{{Authority control Military units and formations of Poland in World War II Polish revolutionary organisations 1939 establishments in Poland Military units and formations disestablished in 1943 Polish resistance during World War II