Operation Arsenal

Part of World War II

Date	March 26, 1943
Location	Warsaw, General Government (German-occupied Poland)
Result	Liberation of "Rudy", successful escape

Belligerents

Szare Szeregi

Nazi Germany

Commanders and leaders

Stanisław Broniewski

Tadeusz Zawadzki

Unknown, probably none

Strength

28 men

~15-20 men

Casualties and losses

2 wounded (died later)
1 captured (killed by firing squad)
140 Polish and Jewish hostages shot in retaliation by Germans

4 killed
9 wounded

Polish Underground State
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Related topics Cultural activities Education History of Poland during 1939–1945

The Operation Arsenal, code name: "Meksyk II" (Polish: Akcja pod Arsenałem) was the first major operation by the Szare Szeregi (Gray Ranks) Polish Underground formation during the Nazi occupation of Poland. It took place on March 26, 1943 in Warsaw. Its name was coined after the Warsaw Arsenal, in front of which the action took place. The plan was to free the troop leader Jan Bytnar "Rudy", who was arrested together with his father by the Gestapo. The operation was executed by 28 scouts led by Warsaw Standard Commander Stanisław Broniewski "Orsza". The initiator and the commander of the "Attack Group" was Tadeusz Zawadzki "Zośka".

The successfully conducted operation led to the release of Jan Bytnar and 24 other prisoners, including another Storm Group troop leader, Henryk Ostrowski "Henryk", and 6 women, in an attack on the prison van that was taking the inmates from Pawiak Prison to Gestapo Headquarters at Szucha Avenue. Bytnar himself died four days later on account of injuries sustained due to German torture. Both of his "interrogators" were assassinated by Szare Szeregi within two months.

The Operation was presented in a 1978 Polish film Akcja pod Arsenałem.

Details

	Sections	Commander	Members
	Commander of the operation: Commander of the "Attack Group": Commander of the "Cover Group":	"Orsza" Stanisław Broniewski "Zośka" Tadeusz Zawadzki "Giewont" Władysław Cieplak
Attack Group
	"Bottles"	"Anoda" Jan Rodowicz	"Bolec" Tadeusz Hojko "Heniek" Henryk Kupis "Stasiek" Stanisław Pomykalski
	"STEN I"	"Maciek" Sławomir Maciej Bittner	"Kołczan" Eugeniusz Koecher "Sem" Wiesław Krajewski
	"STEN II"	"Słoń" Jerzy Gawin	"Buzdygan" Tadeusz Krzyżewicz (died, due to wounds) "Cielak" Tadeusz Szajnoch
	"Grenades"	"Alek" Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski (died, due to wounds)	"Hubert" Hubert Lenk "Mirski" Jerzy Zapadko
Cover Group
	"Signalisation"	"Kuba" Konrad Okolski	"Kadłubek" Witold Bartnicki "Jur" Andrzej Wolski
	"Old Town"	"Katoda" Józef Saski	"Kopeć" Stanisław Jastrzębski "Rawicz" Żelisław Olech
	"Ghetto"	"Tytus" Tytus Trzciński	"Felek" Feliks Pendelski "Ziutek" Józef Pleszczyński "Pająk" Jerzy Tabor
	"Cars"	"Jeremi" Jerzy Zborowski "Jurek TK" Jerzy Pepłowski

Operation Arsenal

Details

See also

References

Further reading