2019-07-31 14:57 update: 2019-08-01, 11:42
Photo PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Poland held on Wednesday a memorial service for Ryszard Bialous, commander of Poland's legendary wartime "Zoska" (Sophie) scout battalion which played a major role in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi Germans.
Bialous, who died in Argentina 27 years ago, wanted to be buried in Poland. The Wednesday ceremonies were attended by Poland's top officials including President Andrzej Duda, Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Piotr Glinski and the head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, Jan Jozef Kasprzyk.
"This is an extraordinary moment, the dream of a free Poland is realised. For Colonel Ryszard Bialous, for 'Jerzy', a dream for Poland to be independent, fully sovereign and flourishing is just coming true," Duda said during the ceremony.
Captain Bialous, by a decision of the defence minister, was promoted posthumously to the rank of colonel in the Polish Army.
"The colonel's attitude is a model for today's soldiers of the Polish Army," Blaszczak said presenting the colonel's nomination to Bialous's son. He thanked the colonel's family for agreeing to bring his remains back to his homeland and thus fulfilling his will.
On his final journey from Argentina to Poland, Bialous was assisted by soldiers of the Polish Army, the Territorial Defence Force.
The Zoska battalion, formed in late August 1943, was part of the Polish Home Army (AK) resistance movement during World War Two. Including mainly members of the Szare Szeregi (Gray Ranks) paramilitary scouting organisation, it played an instrumental role in the Warsaw Uprising and won fame for liberating prisoners of the Warsaw concentration camp Gesiowka in August 1944. Zoska scouts freed 383 prisoners (including 348 Jews) from the Gesiowka camp, most joined the battalion and fought in its ranks during the Warsaw Uprising.
Zoska was named after the nom-de-guerre of Polish scoutmaster and AK resistance fighter Tadeusz Zawadzki, who was killed in a 1943 attack on a German border police checkpoint near Wyszkow, central Poland. The Zoska unit was formed soon after Zawadzki's death, adopting his codename.
Ryszard Bialous (April 4 1914 in Warsaw - March 24 1992 in Neuquen, Argentina) was a Polish scoutmaster and a captain in the Gray Ranks organisation. He commanded the Zoska battalion before and during the Warsaw Uprising. Before the unit adopted the name Zoska it took part in the famous March 1943 Operation Arsenal, the first major operation by the Gray Ranks, under Bialous's and Zawadzki's leadership. Its name deriving from the Warsaw Arsenal in front of which it took place, the operation aimed to free scoutmaster and resistance fighter Jan Bytnar "Rudy" (ginger), who was arrested with his father by the Gestapo. The operation was carried out by 28 scouts, the attack group was led by Zawadzki.
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