President Andrzej Duda paid tribute to the soldiers of the Home Army (AK) during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of its establishment. At the Powązki Military Cemetery, the president said that the Home Army and the Polish Underground State are a great chapter in Poland’s history, a chapter learned by cadets of all military universities in the world.

Duda expressed his gratitude to all soldiers “who did not hesitate then, who were not afraid, who fought. We pay tribute to them, above all to all those who died and gave their lives for their homeland”, said the president.

“We believe that Poles will never again have to create an underground state, that they will never again have to fight to regain their homeland, that this is something that has become our history, but that will not take place in Poland’s future. Honour and glory to the heroes, eternal memory of the fallen!” – concluded the president.

Eighty years ago, the Home Army was created, the largest underground organization in German-occupied Europe. On February 14, 1942, the commander-in-chief, General Władysław Sikorski, signed an order changing the name of the Union of Armed Struggle to the Home Army. At that moment, it was an organization with several hundred thousand members across the country, with its own intelligence, capable of producing its own automatic weapons, and conduct retaliatory actions in Germany.

The largest initiative of the Home Army was preparing the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, in which units of the Polish Underground State fought for 63 days to liberate the Polish capital. Moreover, the Home Army fought for the liberation of Wilno (Vilnius) and (Lwow) Lviv. The Home Army was also able to carry out effective attacks against strong German garrisons. On September 1, 1943, a group of 70 partisans liberated the town of Konskie, defended by almost 2,000. German soldiers. No Polish soldier was killed in the action.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński