The Internal Security Corps (, KBW) was a special-purpose military formation in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
under
communist government, established on 24 May 1945.
History

The KBW consisted of 10 new cavalry regiments, an infantry division, and two buffer brigades. The corps itself was subordinate to the
Ministry of Public Security. By the end of August 1945, its force was made up of 29,053 soldiers and 2,356 officers. The KBW was called forth to protect key public infrastructure such as railways, but mainly to combat and suppress the
anti-Communist resistance in Poland, including activities of the "
Cursed soldiers" as well as all organizations which continued their armed struggle against the Communist takeover, such as the
Freedom and Independence (WiN), the
National Armed Forces (NSZ), and the remnants of the
Polish Home Army (AK) among others.
Between 1945 and 1954, the KBW fell under the responsibility of Minister
Jakub Berman of the
Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
, who was in charge of the
Ministry of Public Security. Later, it was part of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. Between March 1945 and April 1947 alone, units of the KBW killed over 1,500 "Cursed soldiers", wounded 301, and apprehended 12,200 others.
In 1965, the KBW was renamed the
Internal Defense Forces. It was included in the framework of National Defense. Also, in 1962, the Silesian Unit of the Engineering Army (KBW-4) built roads in the
Bieszczady region in the extreme south-east of Poland, strategically important but an uninhabited area.
Commanding officers
#March 1945 – May 1945: Col.
Henryk Toruńczyk
#Jun 1945 – September 1946: Gen.
Bolesław Kieniewicz
#1946–1948: Brigadier General
Konrad Świetlik
#1948–1951: Brigadier General
Juliusz Hibner (born Dawid Szwarc)
#1 March 1951 – 12 March 1965: Brigadier General
Włodzimierz Muś
#August 1956 - July 1959: Brigadier General
Wacław Komar (Acting commanding officer)
#12 March 1965 – 1 July 1965: Brigadier General
Bronisław Kuriata
See also
*
Internal Troops – Soviet model for the Internal Security Corps.
*
Ministry of Public Security of Poland
*
Operation Vistula (1947)
*
Zygmunt Bauman
Zygmunt Bauman (; ; 19 November 1925 – 9 January 2017) was a Polish–British sociologist and philosopher. He was driven out of the Polish People's Republic during the 1968 Polish political crisis and forced to give up his Polish citizenship. ...
References
External links
Narodowe Siły ZbrojneThe Doomed soldiers – Polish Underground Soldiers 1944–1963 – The Untold StoryAntykomunistyczne Podziemie Zbrojne po 1944 roku
National Armed Forces Historical Brief
{{Authority control
1945 establishments in Poland
Military of Poland
Stalinism in Poland