Group Szaniec (lit. ''Rampart Group'', ) was a far-right
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Polish underground movement founded by the activists of the Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny ABC party (splinter of the
National Radical Camp
The National Radical Camp () was an ultranationalist and antisemitic political movement which existed in the pre-World War II Second Polish Republic, and an illegal Polish anti-communist,Military Organization Lizard Union.
Its notable activists included Tadeusz Salski.
Notably, the Szaniec Group did not recognize the
Polish Underground State
The Polish Underground State (, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Government of the Republic of Poland ...
, and absorbed part of 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 ...
which refused to join
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 ...
in 1944. Early in the war, Szaniec Group fought the
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 ...
occupiers. Near the end of the war, Szaniec Group saw the communists and the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
as more dangerous to future of Poland than Nazi Germany, and on a few occasions collaborated with the Germans against the Soviets (see for example the
Holy Cross Mountains Brigade
The Holy Cross Mountains Brigade () was a controversial tactical unit of the Polish National Armed Forces established on 11 August 1944. It did not obey orders to merge with the Home Army in 1944 and was a part of the Military Organization Liza ...