The Iwieniec Uprising was an attack carried out by units of the Polish anti-German resistance, 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 ...

(''Armia Krajowa'', AK) against a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

garrison in the town of Iwieniec in

German-occupied Poland German-occupied Poland can refer to: * General Government * Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany * Occupation of Poland (1939–1945) * Prussian Partition The Prussian Partition (), or Prussian Poland, is the former territories of the Polish� ...

(today Ivyanets,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

) on 19 June 1943. The action was carried out by the ''Polish Partisan Unit AK Stołpce Region''. The purpose of the attack was to free imprisoned members of the Polish underground, capture weapons and provisions from the Germans, capture and punish Nazi-collaborators, pre-empt a German conscription of local men for

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

in Nazi Germany, and to demonstrate the significance of the Polish underground in the region. The Polish units suffered four casualties (two killed, two wounded) while killing approximately 150 German soldiers and policemen. Between 100 and 200 Belarusian Auxiliary policemen deserted during the attack, switched side to the Poles and ended up joining the Polish partisans. While the attacks was a success (although some of the collaborators sought by the partisans managed to escape), it invited severe reprisals from the Germans. Around 150 civilians were murdered in reprisals for the uprising. In July 1943 the Germans launched the major anti-partisan

Operation Hermann Operation Hermann was a German anti-partisan action in the Naliboki forest area carried out between 13 July 1943 and 11 August 1943. The German battle groups destroyed settlements in the area. During the operation, German troops burned down ove ...

against all the partisan units (Polish as well as Soviet) in the nearby

Naliboki forest Naliboki Forest (; ) (''pushcha'': wild forest, primeval forest)) is a large forest complex in northwestern Belarus, on the right bank of the Neman River, on the Belarusian Ridge.Dagnoslaw Demski, NALIBOKI I PUSZCZA NALIBOCKA — ZARYS DZIEJÓW I ...

, during which civilian communities were destroyed, the fit deported as slave labor and the unfit murdered by the Germans. The attack was one of the major operations carried out by the Home Army in Poland prior to 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 ...

References

* Paweł Kosowic
W Puszczy Nalibockiej
Tyg.Powszechny, 1978, nr 40 (pl) {{Armia Krajowa Military operations involving the Home Army Military operations of World War II involving Germany 1943 in Poland Byelorussia in World War II Uprisings during World War II June 1943 in Europe