The National Military Union (; NZW) was a Polish anti-Communist organization, founded in November 1944, after the collapse of 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 ...

. It was among the largest and strongest resistance organisations established in the PRL in mid and late 1940s. The NZW was the result of a merger between the

National Armed Forces National Armed Forces (; NSZ) was a Polish right-wing underground military organization of the National Democracy (Poland), National Democracy operating from 1942. During World War II, NSZ troops fought against Nazi Germany and Gwardia Ludowa, c ...

and the National Military Organization. The NZW's name was intentioned to differentiate itself from the National Armed Forces. The National Military Union was aligned with and supported 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 of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent Occupation ...

. NZW's first commander was Colonel Tadeusz Danilewicz, then Colonel Bogusław Banasik. The organisation was organised into sixteen "areas" and was most active in the districts of

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

and

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

. It had several armed units, called Pogotowie Walki Zbrojnej, which fought many skirmishes with both the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

and the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. Its headquarters were destroyed in early spring of 1946, when Stalinist secret police arrested hundreds of its members. However, several units remained active until the mid-1950s.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/39559,,,,narodowe_zjednoczenie_wojskowe,haslo.html * http://powstanie-warszawskie-1944.ac.pl/zw_nzw.htm * http://www.zebrane-doswiadczenia.salon24.pl/30841,index.html Military history of Poland during World War II Polish dissident organisations National liberation movements Anti-communist organisations in Poland Paramilitary organisations based in Poland National Democracy {{Poland-org-stub

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links