2017-06-10 05:42 update: 2018-09-30, 15:12
The legendary symbol of Poland's WW2 resitance Marcin Obara
The night from June 8 to 9 marked the 75th anniversary of a failed attempt on Adolf Hitler by the Gryf Pomorski (Pomeranian Griffin) underground resistance organisation in north Poland during World War II.
On June 8 1942 Hitler left his Wolfschanze (Wolf's Lair) quarters in Ketrzyn, north Poland, and boarded a train to Berlin to attend the funeral of top SS executive Reinhard Heydrich, who had been killed by the Czech resistance in Prague. News about Hitler's journey got through to the underground Polish Home Army (AK, see: NOTE), whose leaders ordained the Pomeranian Griffin group to blow Hitler's train up.
Disguised as SS soldiers and divided into two groups, the Pomeranian Griffin units managed to dismantle the tracks and derail the train, after which they shelled it with machine gun fire and retreated, convinced they had killed everyone, including Hitler. As it turned out, however, Hitler was not on the train, having decided to remain in nearby Malbork for a meeting with the Nazi governor of Gdansk Albert Forster.
Pomeranian Griffin's attack killed 12 German soldiers, including two generals.
The organisation partook in another famous AK intelligence operation codenamed Synteza (synthesis), which enabled the location of a German fuel factory in Police (Germ. Hydrierwerke Pölitz). The plant manufactured synthetic fuel for the V-1 and V-2 rockets (as well as U-boats - PAP), and stored it in special depots. In effect the Allies successfully bombed the installations. (PAP)
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NOTE: Founded in 1942, the Home Army was the largest underground resistance force in German-occupied Europe, with up to half a million soldiers fighting in its ranks. In his book 'God's Playground. A History of Poland', historian Norman Davies said that "the Home Army could fairly claim to be the largest of European resistance [organisations]".
Along with various combat activities, the AK was also widely involved in rescuing fellow citizens of Jewish descent, among others through the famous 1942-founded Council to Aid Jews (Rada Pomocy Zydom) codenamed 'Zegota' - the only organisation in Europe and the world established to defend and provide help to Jewish people in ghettos and outside.
After the war many Home Army soldiers refused to lay down their arms and continued fighting against Poland's Soviet-imposed communist regime, winning the name "Enduring Soldiers". They are also sometimes called the "Cursed Soldiers" for being treated as outlaws and forced into oblivion by the communist state. (PAP)
