Peasant Battalions

Polish partisan organisation during World War II

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Flag of the BCh with the slogan "Through struggle to victory" Grave of Franciszek Kamiński, the commander of BCh, at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. Part of a series on the

Polish
Underground State

History of Poland 1939–1945

Authorities

* Government
* Administration
* Parliament
* Courts

Political organizations

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Major parties

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* Polish Socialist Party
* People's Party
* National Party
* Labour Party

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Minor parties

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* Camp of National Unity
* Democratic Party
* Jewish Labour Bund
* Hashomer Hatzair
* Betar (Zionist youth)

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Opposition

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* National Radical Camp
* Polish Workers' Party

Military organizations

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Home Army (AK)

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* Service for Poland's
Victory (SZP)

* Armed Resistance (ZWZ)
* Gray Ranks
* National Security Corps (PKB)

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Mostly integrated
with Armed Resistance and Home Army

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* Gwardia Ludowa WRN
* Peasant Battalions

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Partially integrated
with Armed Resistance and Home Army

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* National Military Organization
* National Armed Forces
* Camp of Fighting Poland
* Pomeranian Griffin
* Confederation of the Nation

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Non-integrated but recognizing
authority of Armed Resistance and Home Army

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* Jewish Combat Organization
* Jewish Military Union

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Opposition

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* Armia Ludowa

Related topics

* Cultural activities
* Education
* History of Poland
during 1939–1945

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Peasant Battalions (Polish: Bataliony Chłopskie, abbreviated BCh) was a Polish resistance movement, guerrilla and partisan organisation, during World War II. The organisation was created in mid-1940 by the agrarian political party People's Party and by 1944 was partially integrated with the Armia Krajowa (Home Army). At its height, in summer 1944 the organisation had 160,000 members.[1]

## History

[edit]

Initially after the occupation of Poland by the Soviet Union and Germany, the peasant parties were reluctant to forming their own armed resistance forces. Since mid-1940 several smaller groups were formed, mostly for self-defence of Polish peasants against German terror and economic policies. Most of members of peasant parties grouped into CKRL (Central Directorate of Peasant Movement) who received military training before the war were transferred to other armed resistance organizations, most notably to ZWZ.

However, in early 1941 it was decided that an armed force be created. The core of the newly formed BCh came from the earlier organization Chłostra (an acronym of Chłopska Straż \- Farmers' Guard), as well as from other underground organizations of the farmers movement, such as Związek Młodzieży Wiejskiej (Association of Rural Youth), Chłopska Organizacja Wolności "Racławice" (Peasants' Freedom Organization "Racławice") and Centralny Związek Młodej Wsi "Siew" (Central Union of Village Youth "Sowing").

The structure of the BCh was based on pre-war administrative divisions of Poland. Areas were roughly correspondent to pre-war Voivodeships, and were further divided onto districts (based on powiats) and commune-based units. By mid-1943 10 areas were formed:

1. Warsaw
2. Warsaw Voivodeship
3. Kielce
4. Lublin
5. Łódź
6. Kraków, Rzeszów, Silesia
7. Białystok
8. Volhynia
9. Lwów, Stanisławów, Tarnopol
10. Poznań

Each of the areas fielded its own armed units. The units were basically of two types:

1. territorial militias - created for self-defense, sabotage and preparation of future all-national uprising
2. tactical units - strictly militarized, created for use as the core of the future all-national uprising

The units of the latter type were later mostly joined with the Armia Krajowa. The commander of the BCh was Franciszek Kamiński, his chiefs of staff were Kazimierz Banach (until 1942) and S. Koter.

During the process of unification of Polish underground, large part (approximately 50 000 men) of the BCh soldiers was integrated by the Government Delegate's Office at Home with Armia Krajowa and Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa. Also, by early 1943 part of the tactical units were transformed into Special Units specialized in diversion and reprisal actions. An estimate for summer 1944 the Bataliony Chłopskie had approximately 160 000 members grouped in 70 units.[1] However, the full unification with the Armia Krajowa did not occur until the end of the war.

After the Red Army entered Poland, elements of BCh started to cooperate with the communist-backed Armia Ludowa, while the majority remained loyal to the Polish government. However, the incoming end of the war, as well as information of the Yalta Conference made further resistance futile and on 2 April 1945 most of the Bataliony Chłopskie units came out from the underground. Some of the soldiers were arrested by the communists, while others joined the reestablished People's Party of Stanisław Mikołajczyk. Formally the Bataliony Chłopskie were dissolved in September 1945.[citation needed]

## Tasks and actions

[edit]

The main tasks of Bataliony Chłopskie were:

1. Defense of the peasants against German economic exploitation
2. Defense of peasants against expulsions
3. Self-defense against German terror
4. Aid to the expelled, Jews, the intelligentsia, and to the families of those enslaved by the Germans.

Main article: Zamość uprising

The first major actions of armed resistance began in late 1942 when the Zamość area, due to its fertile black soil, was chosen for German colonization as part of Generalplan Ost. Polish farmers were expropriated and forcibly expelled from the farms with great brutality. Their farms were handed over to German settlers. A minority of the children were separated from their parents and after racial scrutiny sent over to Germany to be raised in German families, but thousands of those "not suitable for Germanization" were dispatched to perform slave labor for the Germans or were murdered by the Germans. After several major battles against German units (the most notable being the battles of Wojda, Róża and Zaboreczno), the Germans had to halt the expulsions and in the end very few German settlers were brought to the area.

Other major actions included liberation of prisoners from prisons in Pińczów and Krasnystaw as well as the sinking of German river patrol ship Tannenberg on the Vistula.[2]

## See also

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* History of Poland (1939–45)
* Cichociemni

## References

[edit]

* Kazimierz Przybysz, Bataliony Chlopskie, published by Ludowa Spóldzielnia Wydawnicza, Warszawa 1985.
* Wojciech Jekielek, Bataliony Chlopskie w Malopolsce i na Slasku. Kalendarium. Warszawa 1987.

1. ^ a b Bogdan Biegalski (1999). Organizacje podziemne na Środkowym Nadodrzu w latach 1945-1956 (in Polish). Lubuskie Towarzystwo Naukowe. p. 61\. ISBN 978-83-910109-2-1.
2. ^ Bataliony Chłopskie Janusz Gmitruk, Piotr Matusak, Witold Wojdyło Wydawn. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej,page 346 1987

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Home Army (Armia Krajowa)

Main articles
Polish resistance movement in World War II
Polish Underground State

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Operations

Uprisings and battles|

* Warsaw Uprising
* Zamość uprising
* Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
* Lwów uprising
* Murowana Oszmianka
* Osuchy
* Ostra Brama
* Tempest

Underground, field,
and espionage|

* Arsenal
* Heads
* Kutschera
* Project Big Ben
* Bürkl
* Most III
* Operation Belt
* V-1 and V-2
* Wieniec

Propaganda|

* Biuletyn Informacyjny
* Operation N
* Operation Antyk

Directorates|

* Civil Resistance
* Covert Resistance
* Underground Resistance

Political|

* Republic of Pińczów

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Personnel, emblems and decorations

Commanders|

* Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski
* Stefan Rowecki
* Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski
* Leopold Okulicki

Senior officers and
prominent members|

* J. Aleksandrowicz
* J.Arkusz
* K. K. Baczyński
* W. Bartoszewski
* J. Batory
* R. Białous
* S. Bittner
* F. Błażej
* A. Bohdziewicz
* J. Bokszczanin
* S. Braun
* T. Gajcy
* H. Lederman
* S. Jankowski
* S. Karpiel
* K. Kierzkowski
* B. Kostrzewska
* H. Krahelska
* A. Krzyżanowski
* L. Kulej
* J. J. Lerski
* J. Mazurkiewicz
* W. Micuta
* K. Moczarski
* A. Nadolski
* T. Pełczyński
* A. Pilch
* W. Pilecki
* R. Reiff
* Z. Romanowiczowa
* Z. Rumel
* J. Rutkowski
* D. Smoleński
* A. Stelmachowski
* R. Syski
* J. Szczepański
* Z. Szendzielarz
* A. Szklarski
* H. Szwarc
* E. Umińska
* J. Zabłocki
* A. Zakrzewska
* W. Zalewski
* J. Zamoyski
* T. Zawadzki
* T. Żenczykowski
* M. Żuławski
* T. Żychiewicz

Membership lists|

* Armia Krajowa members
* Warsaw Uprising insurgents

Emblems and
decorations|

* Armia Krajowa Cross
* Kotwica
* Krzyż Powstania Warszawskiego

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* t
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Units, affiliates, and predecessors

Headquarters and Directorates|

* Information and Propaganda
* Kedyw
* Civil Resistance
* Covert Resistance
* Underground Resistance

Combat units|

* 2nd Legions Infantry Division
* 27th Volhynian Division
* 104th Company of Syndicalists
* Battalion Parasol
* Battalion Zośka
* Żaglowiec Group
* Żbik Group
* Żmija Group
* Żniwiarz Group
* Żyrafa Group

Warsaw commands|

* I Śródmieście
* Żoliborz
* III Wola
* IV Ochota
* V Mokotów
* VI Praga
* VII Warsaw suburbs

Other|

* Błyskawica radiostation
* Little Andrews (Jędrusie)
* Underground Police (PKB)
* Secret Military Printing Works (TWZW)
* Silent Unseen (Cichociemni)
* Wachlarz

Predecessors|

* Service for Poland's Victory (SZP)
* Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ)

Affiliates|

* Peasants' Battalions (BCh)
* Confederation of the Nation (KN)
* Leśni (Forest Soldiers)
* National Military Association (NOW) (split)
* National Armed Forces (NSZ-AK) (faction)
* Camp of Fighting Poland (OPW)
* Grey Ranks (Szare Szeregi - Boy Scouts)
* Secret Polish Army (TAP)
* Socialist Party People's Guard (GL-WRN)
* Union of Retaliation (ZO)

Successors|

* Independence (NIE)
* Freedom and Independence (WiN)

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Opponents and rivals

Opponents|

* Nazi Germany
* Ukrainian Insurgent Army
* Ukrainian Auxiliary Police
* Lithuanian Security Police
* Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force

Rivals|

* AL Armia Ludowa (People's Army)
* Soviet partisans

Related articles
The Holocaust in Poland
Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef
* Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine

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