In the spring of 1944, the war on the Borderlands of the Second Republic took an unobvious turn. Poles and Soviets fought not only against Germany, but besides against each other. This was even the case in the Nalibocka Forest, where the red guerrilla was going to wipe the National Army down. On the night of 14 to 15 May, a regular conflict took place between them in Stołpecki Stone.
"Kampinos" National Army Group, Poems, September 1944. Exit of cavalry patrol Lt. Adolf Pilcha "The mountains", "The valleys" (third from the right), whose soldiers arrived from the Nalibock Forests. They are dressed in uniforms and pre-war corneas. Zdzisław Nurkiewicz "Night". The second right, Jan Jakubowski "Dąb". photograph from IPN (private gift of Dorota Fatima Wolniarski-Vitek)
The night from 14 to 15 May 1944 was warm and cheerful. There was peace in Stołpecki Stone. Jan Zajączkowski of the Baranowicz Inspectorate was celebrating the camp stations erstwhile he saw people jumping through the church wall in the moonlight. A minute of hesitation... "They cannot be ours," he thought. In a flash, he reached for the weapon and fired. By the time the sound sounded, the night's silence ripped apart the bang of the canonade. Thus began the biggest clash in the Polish-Soviet partisan war smokin' in months.
‘Partisans? They are bandits!”
Nalibock's wilderness and its adjacents resembled a boiling crucible. Not much – the situation there changed like in a kaleidoscope. In September 1939, the region, along with all the Borders of the II Republic of Poland, was seized by the ZSRS. But before russian power settled there for good, Germany came. Following the outbreak of the war between the 2 fresh allies of the Nalibocka Forest, it became part of the Reich East Police Station. In fact, Hitler never full controlled it. "Germany sat only in large cities like Stołpka, Iwiewice, Baranoviche [...]. The remainder of the area was overrun by a russian partisan", Longin Kolosowski, “Longinus”, 1 of the local soldiers of the Home Army, recalled.
Initially, red-armists from the Wehrmacht-broken linear troops operated in extended forest complexes. Soon, however, Moscow began to parachute down officers and polytruds who were to control this impure mass. russian troops grew practically from period to month, while this fact paradoxically felt the local population the most. Historian Bogdan He must quote many testimonies of lawlessness in the work on the red guerrilla, which the Soviets did. "Partisans took everything, it was not a prop, but a simple robbery. They took cows, horses and clothes" – Jadwiga Lipińska from Naliboki recalled. Joseph Szcześniak of Rózanko said: “Partisans? They were bandits! russian guerrillas took everything.” Lieutenant Adolf Pilch, the silent and AK soldier, even mentioned light aircraft that landed at makeshift airports, delivering people, while at the same time exporting meat preparations seized in the villages. As if that were not enough, in late 1942 the Soviets ordered forced conscription to their troops. "The village was simply surrounded and young people were taken to the russian brigade. Parents were liable for desertion," Pilch emphasized. Civilians tried to presume armed self-defense, but these attempts could not have ended well. On May 8, 1943, the Soviets invaded the village of Naliboki and killed over a 100 inhabitants. Pilch: "This crime was committed to destruct the self-defense of Nalibok and intimidate self-defense in another towns."
Meanwhile, its structures in the Nalibocka Forest were besides laboriously built National Army.
Order from Moscow
On June 3, 1943, the arks established the Stołpecko-Nalibockie Group, which rapidly hit the Germans. During the same summer, Polish troops struck Iwiewice guarded by 700 German MPs and Belarusian collaborators. They broke up the local prison and occupied key buildings for a fewer hours. In retaliation, Germany organised Operation Hermann. As a consequence of the raid, the Polish guerrilla suffered crucial losses, but managed to survive. The question was: how should she have relations with the Soviets, who, despite all the evil deeds, were formally allies of the West.
Poems, September 1944. "Kampinos" National Army Group gunsmith workshop. Mounted on the car, a scored 20 mm cannon coupled with a device weapon watch: Major Alfons Kotowski “The Horse” - the commander of the Group (stands by the plot), Lieutenant Adolf Pilch “The Valley” (below the first from the right). Inverted back with a headband on his right hand stands Lieutenant Lech Żabierek "Wulkan". photograph from the IPN resource (private gift of Anna Kacprzak)
In the first fewer weeks, no major irritations occurred. However, the situation changed dramatically in the autumn of 1943. Discovery of the grave in Katyn led to a deep crisis between Poland and the USSR. As a result, Stalin broke ties with the diplomatic government in London. On 30 November 1943 Pantelejmon Ponomarientko, head of the Central Staff of the Partisan Movement in Moscow, issued an order to disarm Polish troops. In response, General Grigorij Sidoruk "Dubov", who was the head of the Stalin russian Brigade, invited officers from the Stołpecko-Nalibocki Group to his seat under the pretext of further cooperation. shortly Poles were arrested. any went to internment camps in the depths of the ZSRS, any activities in the AK paid for their lives. Among the detainees was the commander of the group of Major Wacław Pełka "Wacław". I'm going after him. Pilch, who utilized the nickname “Mountain” in the conspiracy. He had only a fewer twelve men on him. However, he did not want to dissolve the branch due to the fact that he felt obligated to defend the local population from rapes and robberies. So he decided to take a risky maneuver. He made a tactical truce with the Germans. Representatives of both parties agreed that they would not attack for a while. That didn't precisely appeal to the AK General Command. Pilch even received an ultimatum – under punishment he was to break a deal with Germany until June 1944. Meanwhile, his ward was rapidly reborn. In the spring, the mountain had about 800 people under command. However, his group could not compare in this respect to russian forces, which at that time had respective 1000 guerrillas. Soon, too, their command decided to yet deal with Poles. The task was entrusted to Colonel Pavł Gulewicz, who, according to various estimates, had at his disposal between 800 and 2,000 "boys".
A trench under the church
Polish troops occupied respective well prepared bases. 1 of them was located in Stołpecki Stone, where about 90 soldiers were stationed. They set up their quarters in the church courtyard. "Longinus" then explained that it was surrounded by a two-to-three-metre wall in the corners of which bunkers were arranged. The base was surrounded by trenches, spreading within a radius of 200–300 m. The full thing was heavy guarded. And yet the partisans would almost be surprised. "So the Soviets worked us out in detail, that at night they entered the church square with trenches, took down the civilian watch, due to the fact that they knew everything and we slept" – Kołosowski told after years. She saved their Zajączkowski head consciousness. "At that minute the company's quarters were under hurricane device weapon fire. any attackers were no more than 100 m – he described in Pilch's wartime memories. – The fire was so crowded that our infantry could not even take their positions. In any places there was a hand-to-hand fight.” Eventually, however, Poles managed to control the situation. They even called for reinforcements from adjacent bases. Eventually, after a two-hour battle, the Soviets decided the another way around, despite having previously managed to occupy 3 of the 4 bunkers. "In the fierce fight, 21 guerrillas fell, including Company Commander Józef Zujewski >>Mak<
The conflict of Stołpecki Stone was not only the largest but besides the last conflict of the guerrilla conflict in the Nalibocka Forest. shortly Pilch withdrew his squad westward. Through the lands of the Republic, the Red Army has already dragged to Berlin. It became clear that after the war Kresy would be within the limits of the USSR, and Poland would fall into the russian sphere of influence. A tiny division operating in the remnants of Nalibocka Forest was incapable to change the course of history.
While writing, I used: Adolf Pilch, Partisans of 3 Forests, Warsaw 1992; Bogdan Musiał, russian Partisans 1941–1944. Myths and Reality, Poznań 2011; Spoken past Archive – Bartosz Giedrys's conversation with Longin Kolosowski.
