View source for Kedyw

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{{Short description|Polish World War II Home Army unit}}
'''''Kedyw''''' ({{IPA|pl|ˈkɛdɨf}}, partial acronym of '''''K'''i'''e'''rownictwo '''Dyw'''ersji'' ("Directorate of Sabotage")<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lerski|first1=George J.|title=Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945|date=1996|publisher=Greenwood Press|page=251}}</ref> was a [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish]] [[World War II]] [[Home Army]] unit that conducted active and passive [[sabotage]], [[propaganda]] and armed operations against [[Nazi German]] forces and [[Collaborationism|collaborator]]s.<ref>{{in lang|pl}} [http://www.konflikty.pl/a,248,II_wojna_swiatowa,Kedyw.html  Konflikty Zbrojne, Artykuły, Historia, II wojna światowa: Kedyw]</ref>
==Operations==
[[File:Biuletyn Informacyjny 9 marca 1943.JPG|thumb|[[Biuletyn Informacyjny]] from March 9, 1944, informing about the execution of the death penalty for "killing two citizens of Polish Jewish nationality" by Kedyw.]]
Kedyw was created on January 22, 1943, from two pre-existing [[Armia Krajowa]] organisations: [[Zwiazek Odwetu|Związek Odwetu]] (''Association of Retaliation''), and [[Wachlarz]]. Initially, the units were small and town-based.  Eventually, as more were formed, some moved into forested areas to begin [[partisan (military)|partisan]] warfare. Kedyw organized weapon and munition factories, military schools, [[intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]], [[counter-intelligence]], [[field hospital]]s and a communication network.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://histmag.org/Kedyw-elitarne-oddzialy-Armii-Krajowej-7519 |language=pl |title=Kedyw - elitarne oddziały Armii Krajowej |website=histmag.org |author=Grzegorz Rutkowski |date=22 January 2013 |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref>
<!-- Commented out: [[File:Ponury group Wykus.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Cichociemni|Cichociemny]] [[Jan Piwnik]] (''Ponury'') and his colleagues from the Kedyw of the [[Radom]]-[[Kielce]] Home Army area, 1944]] -->
[[File:Warsaw Uprising by Deczkowki - Kolegium A -15861.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Insurgents from the Kedyw's [[w:pl: Kolegium A|''Kolegium A'']] on Stawki Street in the [[w:Wola|Wola]] district - [[Warsaw Uprising]] 1944]]
Most members of Kedyw were [[Scouting in Poland|Boy Scouts]] from [[Zwiazek Harcerstwa Polskiego|Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego]] and its wartime organisation, [[Szare Szeregi]]. Many of the officers were [[cichociemni]], who were special agents trained in the [[United Kingdom]] and parachuted into occupied Poland. Selected Kedyw groups (''patrole'') carried out operations all over occupied Poland. Notable types of operations included:
* the sabotaging of railways, bridges and roads
** the burning of trains and fuel depots
* the destruction or damaging of weapon factories working for the [[Wehrmacht]]
* the liberation of hundreds of prisoners and hostages
** a famous such operation took place on March 26, 1943 and is known as "[[Akcja pod Arsenalem|Akcja pod Arsenałem]]"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wprost.pl/historia/10309679/najbardziej-spektakularna-operacja-szarych-szeregow-w-czasie-okupacji-rocznica-akcji-pod-arsenalem.html |website=wprost.pl |language=pl |title=Najbardziej spektakularna operacja Szarych Szeregów w czasie okupacji. Rocznica Akcji pod Arsenałem |date=26 March 2023 |access-date=20 April 2020}}</ref>
* executions of Nazi collaborators and traitors sentenced by an underground court
** one of them involved [[Igo Sym]], a Polish actor who had been informing the Germans about Home Army operations
* executions of particularly-brutal individuals among the German occupation troops, [[Gestapo]], [[SS]] and police known as [[Operacja Główki|Operation Heads]]<ref>Tomasz Strzembosz, Akcje zbrojne podziemnej Warszawy 1939-1944, Warszawa, 1978</ref>
** those executed included [[SS]] and police General [[Franz Kutschera]], killed on February 2, 1944, SS-Hauptscharfuhrer August Kretschmann, commandant of the [[Gesiówka|Gęsiówka]] [[concentration camp]], SS-Rottenführer Ewald Lange,<ref>{{cite book |last=Strzembosz |first=Tomasz |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Akcje zbrojne podziemnej Warszawy 1939–1944 |url= |location=Warsaw |publisher=Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy |page=313 |isbn=83-06-00717-4}}</ref> SS-Obersturmführer Herbert Schultz,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bartoszewski |first=Władysław |author-link= |date=2008 |title=1859 dni Warszawy |url= |location=Kraków |publisher=Wydawnictwo Znak |page=497 |isbn=978-83-240-1057-8}}</ref> SS-Oberscharführer [[Franz Bürkl]] and many others (more than 2,000 people). Such individuals were officially sentenced to death for their crimes by the [[Polish Underground State]] court, which was delivered to those individuals. Many could not stand the pressure and returned to the Reich.
* executions of individuals from units collaborating with Nazi Germany such as [[Ukrainian Auxiliary Police]] involved in the killing of Poles
** In [[Lviv]], in late February and March 1944, the ''Ukrainische Hilfspolizei'' arrested a number of young men of Polish nationality. Many of them were later found dead and their [[Identity document]]s stolen. The [[Government Delegation for Poland]] started negotiations with the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|OUN-B]]. When they failed, Kedyw began an action called "Nieszpory" (''Vespers'') where 11 policemen were shot in retaliation and the murders of young Poles in Lviv stopped.<ref>[[Grzegorz Motyka (historian)|Grzegorz Motyka]], Rafał Wnuk, Pany i rezuny, 1997, p. 63</ref>
* [[Operation Belt]], targeting German border guard stations on the night of 20–21 August 1944. A prominent member of the organization and a protagonist of [[Aleksander Kamiński]]'s book ''[[Stones for the Rampart]]'', [[Tadeusz Zawadzki]], was killed during the operation in [[Sieczychy]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://dzieje.pl/wiadomosci/80-lat-temu-w-akcji-pod-sieczychami-polegl-tadeusz-zawadzki-zoska |language=pl |title=80 lat temu w akcji pod Sieczychami poległ Tadeusz Zawadzki „Zośka” |website=dzieje.pl |date=20 August 2023 |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref>
==Warsaw Uprising==
[[File:Warsaw Uprising - Radosław, Hordyński & Klara (1944).jpg|thumb|250px|Members of Kedyw General Staff during the [[Warsaw Uprising]]: (from left) [[Jan Mazurkiewicz]], Wacław Chojna, unknown soldier and Stanisław Wierzyński]]
Prior to the [[Warsaw Uprising]], most of the Kedyw units in the [[Warsaw]] area were moved into the city and grouped into infantry battalions. Notable among them were "[[Batalion Zośka|Zośka]]", "[[Batalion Parasol|Parasol]]" and "Miotła". After fighting broke out, most of the Kedyw forces joined the [[Radosław Group|''Radosław'' Group]]. Kedyw units were among the most successful in the Uprising. The boy scouts not only had more experience than many regular soldiers but also had managed to collect more supplies and arms.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |last=Sowa |first=Andrzej Leon |date=2016 |title=Kto wydał wyrok na miasto. Plany operacyjne ZWZ-AK (1940–1944) i sposoby ich realizacji |trans-title=Who Sentenced the City: Operation Plans ZWZ-AK (1940–1944) and the Methods of Its Realization |url= |language=pl |location= |publisher=Wydawnictwo Literackie |isbn=978-83-08-06095-7}}</ref>
Kedyw units first took part in seizing control of Warsaw's [[Wola]] district. After two days of heavy fighting in the [[Powązki Military Cemetery|Powązki Cemetery]] in which all German attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties, the units withdrew overnight to the city centre and [[Starówka]] (''the old town''), where they regrouped and defended their sectors until the capitulation of the uprising in October 1944.<ref name="auto1"></ref>
==Commanders==
* Brigadier-General [[Emil August Fieldorf]] (''Nil'') (until March 1944)
* [[Jan Mazurkiewicz]] (''Radosław'') (until August 1944)
==Bibliography==
*HENRYK WITKOWSKI "KEDYW" OKRĘGU WARSZAWSKIEGO ARMII KRAJOWEJ W LATACH 1943 - 1944", Instytut Wydawniczy Związków Zawodowych 1985, {{ISBN|83-202-0217-5}},
*Rybicka Hanna "Kedyw okręgu Warszawa Armii Krajowej Dokumenty - rok 1944", Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 2009, {{ISBN|978-83-235-0508-2}}
*Drzyzga Bernard "Kedyw Okręgu AK Łódź i 60 Pułk AK", 1988,
*Jan Gozdawa-Gołębiowski "Kedyw "Białowieży", Książka i Wiedza 1990, {{ISBN|83-05-11968-8}}, {{ISBN|978-83-05-11968-9}},
==See also==
{{Portal|Scouting}}
* [[Armia Krajowa]]
* [[Cichociemni]]
* [[Polish Secret State]]
* [[Kotwica]]
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Refbegin}}
* Struktura Organizacyjna Armii Krajowej, Marek Ney-Krwawicz w: [[Mówią wieki]] nr 9/1986.
{{Refend}}
{{Armia Krajowa}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Units and formations of the Home Army]]
[[Category:Scouting and Guiding in Poland]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1943]]
[[Category:1943 establishments in Poland]]