The idea to create a special group of paratroopers appeared after the defeat of Poland in September 1939. Its initiators were Cpt. Jan G\u00f3rski and Capt. Maciej Kalenkiewicz, who in November 1939, in German-occupied Poland, fought in the unit of the legendary Major Henryk Dobrza\u0144ski, aka “Hubal”.<\/p>\n
This concept was accepted by the commander of the Union of Armed Struggle, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski. For this purpose, at the end of June 1940 in London, a new unit – Division VI was established within the structure of the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief. Its tasks included the organization of dropping off people and equipment to occupied Poland and the recruitment of future Cichociemni. The instructors searched for young soldiers in excellent physical condition, brave and intelligent with high moral values. A total of 2,413 applicants were qualified for training.<\/p>\n
The courses were very intensive and required strict selection criteria completed by only 605 candidates. The training included parachute program, counterintelligence, diversion, or document forgery. Another crucial element was acquiring the ability to build a false identity. The candidates were learning foreign languages, especially German. The tasks performed by the Cichociemni were varied. Some of them trained partisans in the occupied territories of Poland, others conducted intelligence or sabotage actions.<\/p>\n
They reached the territory of the General Government by parachuting. The first such operation took place on the night of February 15\/16, 1941, and the last one on December 27, 1944. A total of 316 Cichociemnis were transferred to occupied Poland including one woman – El\u017cbieta Zawacka aka “Zo”. The most spectacular actions carried out by Silent Unseen include the rescue of prisoners in Pinsk on January 18, 1943, and the attack on German units in Ko\u0144skie on September 1, 1943.<\/p>\n
In the training center for future paratroopers, there was a pre-war map of Poland with the slogan “Win Its freedom or die”. It was not an empty cliche, considering that 102 Cichociemnis were killed by Germans. Another 18 were murdered by both the Soviet and Polish communist security service after the war. Many of them spent many years\u00a0in communist prisons. Major Aleksander Tarnawski aka “Up\u0142az” (born 1921) is the last living Silent Unseen. In 2014, he made his last parachute jump in tandem with a soldier of the GROM Military Unit, which continues the traditions of the Cichociemni.<\/p>\n
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