Polish red-and-white flag with superposed Kotwica (lit.'anchor') emblem of the Polish Underground State and Home Army
Active
14 February 1942 – 19 January 1945
Country
German-occupied Poland
Allegiance
Polish government-in-exile
Role
Armed forces of the Polish Underground State
Size
c. 400,000 (1944)
Commanders
Notable commanders
Tadeusz Komorowski Stefan Rowecki Leopold Okulicki Emil August Fieldorf Antoni Chruściel
Military unit
The Home Army (Polish: Armia Krajowa, pronounced[ˈarmjakraˈjɔva]; 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 aftermath of the German and Soviet invasions in September 1939. Over the next two years, the Home Army absorbed most of the other Polish partisans and underground forces. Its allegiance was to the Polish government-in-exile in London, and it constituted the armed wing of what came to be known as the Polish Underground State. Estimates of the Home Army's 1944 strength range between 200,000 and 600,000. The latter number made the Home Army not only Poland's largest underground resistance movement but, along with Soviet and Yugoslav partisans, one of Europe's largest World War II underground movements.[a]
The Home Army sabotaged German transports bound for the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union, destroying German supplies and tying down substantial German forces. It also fought pitched battles against the Germans, particularly in 1943 and in Operation Tempest from January 1944. The Home Army's most widely known operation was the Warsaw Uprising of August–October 1944. The Home Army also defended Polish civilians against atrocities by Germany's Ukrainian and Lithuanian collaborators. Its attitude toward Jews remains a controversial topic.
As Polish–Soviet relations deteriorated, conflict grew between the Home Army and Soviet forces. The Home Army's allegiance to the Polish government-in-exile caused the Soviet government to consider the Home Army to be an impediment to the introduction of a communist-friendly government in Poland, which hindered cooperation and in some cases led to outright conflict. On 19 January 1945, after the Red Army had cleared most Polish territory of German forces, the Home Army was disbanded. After the war, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, communist government propaganda portrayed the Home Army as an oppressive and reactionary force. Thousands of ex-Home Army personnel were deported to gulags and Soviet prisons, while other ex-members, including a number of senior commanders, were executed. After the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the portrayal of the Home Army was no longer subject to government censorship and propaganda.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
The HomeArmy (Polish: Armia Krajowa, pronounced [ˈarmja kraˈjɔva]; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during...
Gendarmerie Home Guard (India) HomeArmy (Armia Krajowa), Poland, World War II Fencibles, British temporary militias Boeitai, a Japanese home guard force...
duty under the military code. Army Air Base, Mountain Home, Nov 1942 Mountain HomeArmy Air Field, 2 Dec 1943. Mountain Home Air Force Base, 13 Jan 1948...
occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led by the Polish resistance HomeArmy (Polish: Armia Krajowa). The uprising was timed to coincide with the retreat...
Polish HomeArmy and cells in almost every major town across Poland. However, both organisations were officially incorporated into the Polish HomeArmy and...
The Cross of the HomeArmy (Polish: Krzyż Armii Krajowej) is a Polish military decoration that was introduced by General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski on 1 August...
main resistance force in German-occupied Poland was the Armia Krajowa ("HomeArmy"; abbreviated "AK"), which numbered some 400,000 fighters at its peak...
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian: Українська повстанська армія, УПА, romanized: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian...
HomeArmy Resistance Movement (Ruch Oporu Armii Krajowej) - Polish anticommunist military resistance organization formed in 1944 by Józef Marcinkowski...
conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish HomeArmy (Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK), the dominant force in the Polish resistance...
The Home Depot, Inc., often simply referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction...
file: Special Forces main equipment". defenceWeb. Retrieved 2024-04-16. "home". Army.mil.za. 2010-12-13. Archived from the original on 2014-04-23. Retrieved...
In Poland, the resistance movement during World War II was led by the HomeArmy. The Polish resistance is notable among others for disrupting German supply...
(such as the HomeArmy), and nationalist Belarusian forces opposed to Germany. After the victories of the Wehrmacht against the Red Army in 1941, Belarus...
"Armia Krajowa (HomeArmy), the AK, which could fairly claim to be the largest of European resistance"; Gregor Dallas wrote "HomeArmy (Armia Krajowa or...
supplied to the navy and its units for field use at Iwo Jima. The Polish HomeArmy developed a version which ignited on impact without the need of a wick...
War that begun on August 1, 1944. Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, poet and HomeArmy soldier, KIA on August 4 Gustaw Billewicz, codename Sosna, commander of...
Global Information