Warsaw Uprising by Tomaszewski - Warecka 10

Warsaw Uprising - Soldiers from Parasol on Warecka Street

Battalion Parasol () was a

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

of the

Armia Krajowa 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 ...

, the primary

Polish resistance movement in World War II In Poland, the Resistance during World War II, resistance movement during World War II was led by the Home Army. The Polish resistance is notable among others for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front ...

. It consisted primarily of members of the

Gray Ranks Grey Ranks () was a codename for the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association () during World War II. The wartime organisation was created on 27 September 1939, actively resisted and fought German occupation in Warsaw until 18 ...

. The battalion distinguished itself in numerous underground operations and took part in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

of 1944, as an element of the

Radosław Group Radosław Group () was the codename of a group of Kedyw, a Polish World War II Armia Krajowa organization, units during World War II created shortly before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. Organization The ''Radosław Group'' took its name fr ...

History

It was first organized as "Agat" ("Anti-Gestapo") unit by

Adam Borys Adam is the name given in Book of Genesis, Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Chris ...

"Pług", a

Cichociemni The Silent Unseen ( Polish: ''Cichociemni'', ) were elite special-operations paratroopers of the Polish Army in exile, created in Great Britain during World War II to operate in occupied Poland (''Cichociemni Spadochroniarze Armii Krajowej''). K ...

elite soldier parachuted from England in the fall of 1943. Due to arrest of Tadeusz Kostrzewski "Niemira" on 2 January 1944 it changed its name to "Pegaz" ("Przeciw Gestapo – Against the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

"), and after another arrest it was reorganized as "Parasol" (''umbrella'') battalion. The last name referred to a parachute, as the unit was intended to join

Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade The 1st (Polish) Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute infantry brigade of the Polish Armed Forces in the West under the command of Major General Stanisław Sosabowski, created in September 1941 during the Second World War and based in ...

in free Poland. The battalion is renowned for its numerous military actions in 1943–1944. It organized assassination missions, targeting key Gestapo officers and high-ranking

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 ...

officials who were responsible for extreme terror in the

Warsaw District Warsaw District was one of the first four Nazi districts of the General Governorate region of German-occupied Poland during World War II, along with Lublin District, Radom District, and Kraków District. It was bordered on the north by Regier ...

. One such mission was successfully carried out under the code name Operation Kutschera, which resulted in assassination of the

SS and Police Leader The title of SS and Police Leader (') designated a senior Nazi Party official who commanded various components of the SS and the German uniformed police (''Ordnungspolizei''), before and during World War II in the German Reich proper and in the o ...

Franz Kutschera, who was shot in the center of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

(in front of the SS

Headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

) in February 1944.Franz Kutschera, Search.com
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Józef Szczepański Józef Szczepański (; 30 November 1922 in Łęczyca – 10 September 1944 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet who was a member of the Armia Krajowa Polish resistance. Commander of the Battalion Parasol during the Warsaw Uprising, known under his ...

, a poet, was among the commanders of this unit. The poet

Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, (; nom de guerre: Jan Bugaj; 22 January 1921 – 4 August 1944) was a Polish poet and Home Army soldier, one of the most well known of the Generation of Columbuses, the young generation of Polish poets, of whom several ...

fought in its ranks and was killed in action by a German sniper in the first few days of the Warsaw Uprising. Heir to the tradition of the battalion is

JW Komandosów The Jednostka Wojskowa Komandosów, commonly called ''JWK'' and formerly known as ''1 Pułk Specjalny Komandosów'' (''1 PSK''), is one of six special forces units currently operating within Poland's ''Centrum Operacji Specjalnych - Dowództwo Ko ...

and its detachment Zespół Bojowy C.

Notable members

Jerzy Zborowski Jerzy Eugeniusz Zborowski (''nom de guerre'': Jeremi, Jurek, Jurek Kowalski, Kajman Okularnik, Jurek Żoliborski) was born on 26 July 1922 in Warsaw and died in September 1944 in Warsaw, Poland). Zborowski was a partisan during Operation Arsena ...

* Czeslaw Gajewski

Losses during the Warsaw Uprising

References

External links

Warsaw Uprising Witnesses: Battalion Parasol

The Warsaw Rising Museum
{{Authority control Battalions of Poland Military units and formations established in 1944 Units and formations of the Home Army Special forces of Poland Military units and formations of the Warsaw Uprising *Parasol Scouting and Guiding in Poland Military units and formations disestablished in 1944