Armia Krajowa

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"Home Army" redirects here. For , see .

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The Armia Krajowa (Home Army) or AK functioned as the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II in German-occupied Poland, which was active in all areas of the country from September 1939 until its disbanding in January 1945. The Armia Krajowa, one of the largest underground resistance movements during World War II, formed the armed wing of what subsequently became known as the "underground state" (państwo podziemne).

Contents

• 1 History
• 1.1 Second World War
• 1.2 Postwar
• 2 Structure
• 3 Weapons and equipment
• 4 Relations with other forces
• 4.1 Relations with Jews
• 4.2 Relations with Lithuanians
• 4.3 Relation with the Soviets
• 5 See also
• 6 External links
• 7 References

History

Second World War

The AK originated from the Służba Zwycięstwu Polski (Polish Victory Service), set up on 27 September 1939 by General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski. On 17 November 1939 General Władysław Sikorski replaced this organization with the Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Union for Armed Struggle), which after joining with the Polski Związek Powstanczy (Polish Union of Resistance) became the AK on 14 February 1942.

Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski.

Stefan Rowecki (pseudonym Grot, or "Arrowhead"), served as the AK's first commander until his arrest in 1943; Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski commanded from July 1943 until his capture in September 1944. Leopold Okulicki, pseudonym Niedzwiadek ("Bear Cub") led the organisation in its final days.

While the AK did not engender a general revolt, its forces did carry out intensive economic and armed sabotage in addition to engaging the occupying forces in guerilla attacks. In 1944 it acted on a broad scale, notably in initiating the Warsaw Uprising, which broke out on 1 August 1944 with the aim of liberating Warsaw before the arrival of the Soviet Red Army. While the insurgents released a few hundred prisoners from the Gesia St. concentration camp and carried out fierce street-fighting, the Germans eventually defeated the rebels and burned the city, finally quelling the Uprising only on 2 October 1944.

Throughout the period of its existence AK units carried out thousands of armed raids and daring intelligence operations, bombed hundreds of railway shipments, and participated in many partisan clashes and battles with German police and Wehrmacht units. AK also conducted retaliatory operations to assassinate Gestapo officials in response to Nazi terror tactics imposed on the civilian population of Poland.

There are some accusations of negative actions committed by the AK towards ethnic minorities, particularly the Lithuanians (see below).

Major military and sabotage operations included:

• Operation Belt
• Operation Tempest
• *Wilno Uprising
• *Lwów Uprising
• *Warsaw Uprising

Armia Krajowa supplied valuable intelligence information to the Allies, for example, about V-1 and V-2 flying bombs.

Postwar

The AK officially disbanded on 19 January 1945 to avoid armed conflict with the Soviets and a civil war. However, many units decided to continue their struggle under new circumstances.

Soviet Union and Polish communists viewed the underground loyal to the Polish government in exile as a force which had to be removed before they could gain complete control over Poland. Future General Secretary of PZPR, Władysław Gomułka, is quoted as saying: "Soldiers of AK are a hostile element which must be removed without mercy". Another prominent Polish communist, Roman Zambrowski, said that AK had to be "exterminated".Rzeczpospolita, 02.10.04 Nr 232, [Wielkie polowanie: Prześladowania akowców w Polsce Ludowej] (Great hunt: the persecutions of AK soldiers in the Poeple's Republic of Poland), last accessed on 7 June 2006

The first AK structure designed primarily to deal with the Soviet threat was NIE, formed in the mid-1943. NIE's goals was not to engage the Soviet forces in combat, but rather to observe and conduct espionage while the Polish governent in exile decided how to deal with the Soviets; at that time the exiled govenrment still believed that the solution could be found through negotiations. On 7 May 1945 NIE ("NO") was disbanded and transformed into Delegatura Sił Zbrojnych na Kraj ("Homeland Armed Forces Delegation"), this organization however lasted only until 8 August 1945, when the decision was made to disband the organization and stop partisan resistance on Polish territories.

The first Polish communist government, PKWN, formed in July 1944, declined jurisdiction over AK soldiers, therefore for more than a year it was the Soviet Union agencies like NKVD that took care of dealing with AK. By the end of the war approximately 60,000 soldiers of AK were arrested, 50,000 of them were deported to Soviet Union's Gulags and prisons; most of those soldiers were captured by Soviets during or in the aftermath of Operation Tempest, when many AK units tried to cooperate with the Soviets in a nationwide uprising against the Germans. Other veterans were arrested when they decided to approach the government officials after being promised amnesty; after the fake promises of the first few years no AK soldier would trust the government promises.

The third AK organization was Wolność i Niezawisłość ("Freedom and Sovereignty"). Again its primary goal was not combat. Rather, it was designed to help the AK soldiers in transition from the life of partisans into that of civilians; the secrecy and conspiracy were necessary in the light of increasing persecution of AK veterans by the communist government. WiN was however in much need of funds, to pay for false documents and to provide resources for the partisans, many of whom had lost their homes and entire life's saving in the war. Viewed as enemies of the state, starved of resources, and with a vocal faction advocating armed resistance against the Soviets and their Polish proxies, WiN was far from efficient. A significant victory for the NKVD and the newly created Polish secret police, Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, came in the second half of 1945, when they managed to convince several leaders of AK and WiN that they truly wanted to offer amnesty to AK members. In a few months they managed to gain information about vast numbers of AK/WiN resources and people. Several months later when the (imprisoned) AK and WiN leaders realised their mistake, the organization was crippled and thousands more of their members were arrested. WiN was finally disbanded in 1952.

NKVD and UB were certainly not beyond using force. In Autumn of 1946 a group of 100-200 soldiers of NSZ group were lured into a trap and then massacred. By 1947 a colonel of the communist forces declared that "Terrorist and political underground has ceased to be a threatening force, although there are still man of the forests" that need to be dealt with.

The persecution of AK was only a part of the big picture of stalinism in Poland. In the period of 1944-1956, approximately 2 million people were arrested, over 20 thousand, like the hero of Auschwitz, Witold Pilecki, were exectuted or murdered in communist prisons, and 6 million Polish citizens (i.e. every third adult Pole) were classifed as a 'reactionary or criminal element' and subject to invigilation by state agencies. In 1956 an amnesty released 35,000 former AK soldiers from prisons: for the crime of fighting for their homeland they had spent sometimes over 10 years in prisons. Still, some partisans remained in the countryside, unwilling or simply unable to rejoin the community. Stanisław Marchewska "Ryba" was killed in 1957, and the last AK partisan, Józef Franczak "Lalek", was killed in 1963 - almost 2 decades after the Second World War ended. It was four years later, in 1967, that Adam Boryczka, a soldier of AK and a member of the elite, Britain-trained Cichociemny ("The Silent and Hidden") intelligence and support group, was released from prison. Until the end of the People's Republic of Poland AK soldiers were under investigation by the secret police, and it was only in 1989, after the fall of communism, that the sentences of AK soldiers were finally declared invalid and annulled by the Polish courts.

Structure

The executive branch of the AK was the operational command, composed of many units. Estimates of AK membership in the first half of 1944 range from 250,000 to 350,000, including a cadre of more than 10,000 officers. Most of the other Polish underground armies became incorporated into the AK, including:

• The Konfederacja Narodu (Confederation of the People) (1943).
• The Bataliony Chłopskie (Peasants' Battalions).
• A large military organization of the Stronnictwo Ludowe (People's Party).
• The Socjalistyczna Organizacja Bojowa (Socialist Fighting Organization), established by the Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (Polish Socialist Party).
• The Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa (National Military Organisation), established by the Stronnictwo Narodowe (National Party).
• From March 1944, part of the extreme right-wing organization, the Narodowe Siły Zbrojne (National Armed Forces).

The AK divided itself organizationally into sixteen regional branches, subdivided in turn into eighty-nine inspectorates, which further comprised 278 districts. The supreme command defined the main tasks of the AK as preparation for action and, after the termination of German occupation, general armed revolt until victory. At that stage plans envisaged the seizure of power in Poland by the delegatura establishment, the representatives of the London-based Polish government in exile; and by the government-in-exile itself, which would return to Poland.

Soldiers of the 1st Battallion of the 1st Legions Home Army Regiment, from the Kielce-Radom Armia Krajowa inspectorate; August 1944

Soldiers of the 1st company of Sambor command of Drohobycz Armia Krajowa inspectorate armed with German-made arms and dressed in captured German field uniforms

Area	Districts	Code-names	Sub-units	Operation Tempest
Warsaw area Warsaw Col. Łaszcz	Eastern Warsaw-Praga Col. Szeliga	Struga (stream), Krynica (source), Gorzelnia (distillery)		10th Infantry Division
	Western Warsaw Col. Roman	Hallerowo (Hallertown), Hajduki, Cukrownia (Sugar factory)		28th Infantry Division
	Northern Warsaw Lt. Col. Kazimierz	Olsztyn, Tuchola, Królewiec, Garbarnia (tannery)		8th Infantry Division
South-Eastern area Lwów Col. Janka	Lwów Lwów Col. Luśnia	Dukat (ducat), Lira (lire), Promień (ray)		5th Infantry Division
	Stanisławów Stanisławów Capt. Żuraw	Karaś (crucian carp), Struga (stream), Światła (lights)		11th Infantry Division
	Tarnopol Tarnopol Maj. Zawadzki	Komar (mosquito), Tarcza (shield), Ton (tone)		12th Infantry Division
Western area Poznań Col. Denhoff	Pomerania Gdynia Col. Piorun	Borówki (berries), Pomnik (monument)
	Poznań Poznań Col. Kowalówka	Pałac (palace), Parcela (lot)
Independent areas	Wilno Wilno Col. Wilk	Miód (honey), Wiano (dowry)	"Kaunas Lithuania"
	Nowogródek Nowogródek Lt.Col. Borsuk	Cyranka (duck), Nów (new moon)		Zgrupowanie Okręgu AK Nowogródek
	Warsaw Warsaw Col. Monter	Drapacz (sky-scraper), Przystań (harbour), Wydra (otter), Prom (shuttle)
	Polesie Pińsk Col. Leśny	Kwadra (quarter), Twierdza (keep), Żuraw (crane)		30th Infantry Division
	Wołyń Równe Col. Luboń	Hreczka (buckwheat), Konopie (hemp)		27th Infantry Division
	Białystok Białystok Col. Mścisław	Lin (tench), Czapla (aigrette), Pełnia (full moon)		29th Infantry Division
	Lublin Lublin Col. Marcin	Len (linnen), Salon (saloon), Żyto (rye)		3rd Legions' Infantry Division 9th Infantry Division
	Kraków Kraków various commanders, incl. Col. Róg	Gobelin, Godło (coat of arms), Muzeum (museum)		6th Infantry Division 106th Infantry Division 21st Infantry Division 22nd Infantry Division 24th Infantry Division Kraków Motorized Cavalry Brigade
	Silesia Katowice various commanders, incl. Col. Zygmunt	Kilof (pick), Komin (chimney), Kuźnia (foundry), Serce (heart)
	Kielce-Radom Kielce, Radom Col. Mieczysław	Rolnik (farmer), Jodła (fir)		2nd Legions' Infantry Division 7th Infantry Division
	Łódź Łódź Col. Grzegorz	Arka (ark), Barka (barge), Łania (bath)		25th Infantry Division 26th Infantry Division
Foreign areas	Hungary Budapest Lt.Col. Korkozowicz	Liszt
	Reich Berlin	Blok (block)

Other important Armia Krajowa sub-units included:

• Wachlarz
• Kedyw

Weapons and equipment

Soldiers of the 1st company of Sambor command, Drohobycz inspectorate during the Operation Tempest; the soldier on the right is equipped with Kb wz.98a while the one on the left with a German MP40 machine pistol

As a clandestine army operating in a country occupied by the enemy, separated by over a thousand kilometers from any friendly territory, the AK faced unique challenges in acquiring arms and equipment. In a tremendous achievement, the AK was able to overcome these difficulties to some extent and put tens of thousands of armed soldiers into the field. Nevertheless, the difficult conditions meant that only infantry forces armed with light weapons could be fielded. Any use of artillery, armor or aviation was obviously out of the question (except for a few instances during the Warsaw Uprising). Even these light infantry units were as a rule armed with a mixture of weapons of various types, usually in quantities sufficient to arm only a fraction of a unit's soldiers.

In contrast, their opponents - the German armed forces and their allies - were almost universally supplied with plenty of arms and ammunition, and could count on a full array of support forces. Unit for unit, its German opponents enjoyed a crushing material superiority over the AK. This severely restricted the kind of operations that it could successfully undertake.

The arms and equipment for Armia Krajowa mostly came from four sources: arms buried by the Polish armies on the battlefields after the September Campaign in 1939, arms purchased or captured from the Germans and their allies, arms clandestinely manufactured by Armia Krajowa itself, and arms received from Allied air drops.

From the arms caches hidden in 1939, the AK obtained: 614 heavy machine guns, 1,193 light machine guns, 33,052 rifles, 6,732 pistols, 28 antitank light field guns, 25 antitank rifles and 43,154 hand grenades.#redirect However, because of inadequate preservation which had to be improvised in the chaos of the September campaign, most of these guns were in poor condition. Of those that were hidden in the ground and dug up in 1944 during preparation for Operation Tempest, only 30% were usable.

Polish afterwar communist propaganda poster showing soldier of Armia Ludowa and soldier of Armia Krajowa, saying: "The Giant and the spat dwarf of reactionism."

Sometimes arms purchases from German soldiers were conducted on a "grass roots" level. Purchases were made by individual units and sometimes by individual soldiers. As Germany's prospects for victory diminished and the morale in German units dropped, the number of soldiers willing to sell their weapons correspondingly increased and thus made this source more important. All such purchases were highly risky, as the Gestapo was well aware of this black market in arms and tried to check it by setting up sting operations. For the most part this trade was limited to personal weapons, but occasionally light and heavy machine guns could also be purchased. It was much easier to trade with Italian and Hungarian units stationed in Poland, which willingly sold their arms to the Polish underground as long as they could conceal this trade from the Germans.

The efforts to capture weapons from Germans also proved highly successful. Raids were conducted on trains carrying equipment to the front, as well as guardhouses and gendarmerie posts. Sometimes weapons were taken from individual German soldiers accosted in the street. During the Warsaw Uprising, the AK even managed to capture a few German armored vehicles.

Arms were clandestinely manufactured by the AK in its own secret workshops, and also by its members working in German armament factories. In this way the AK was able to procure submachine guns (copies of British Sten, indigenous Błyskawica and KIS), pistols (Vis), flamethrowers, explosive devices, road mines and hand grenades (Filipinka and Sidolówka). Hundreds of people were involved in this manufacturing effort.

The final source of supply were Allied air drops. This was the only way to obtain more exotic but highly useful equipment such as plastic explosives or antitank weapons (PIAT). During the war 485 Allied planes made air drops destined for the AK, delivering 600.9 tons of supplies. During these operations, 70 planes and 62 crews (of which 28 were Polish) were lost. Besides equipment, the planes also parachuted highly qualified instructors (the Cichociemni), of whom 346 were inserted into Poland during the war.#redirect Due to the large distance from bases in Britain and the Mediterranean, and lukewarm political support, the airdrops were only a fraction of those carried out in support of French or Yugoslavian resistance movements.

Kotwica, one of the symbols of the Armia Krajowa

Relations with other forces

Relations with Jews

In February 1942, the Operational Command of the AK Information and Propaganda Office set up the Section for Jewish Affairs, directed by Henryk Woliński[link]. This section collected data about the situation of the Jewish population, drafted reports and sent information to London. It also centralized contacts between Polish and Jewish military organizations. The AK also organised financial aid for Jews (see Żegota). The AK accepted only a few Jews (about one thousand) into its own ranks: it generally turned down Jewish applicants, since they could be more easily identified by the Nazis.

One of AK members, Witold Pilecki, was the only person to volunteer for imprisonment in Auschwitz. The information he gathered proved crucial in convincing Western Allies about the fate of Jewish population.

The AK provided the Warsaw Ghetto with about sixty revolvers, several hundred hand grenades, and ammunition and explosives. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, AK units tried twice to blow up the ghetto wall, carried out holding actions outside the ghetto walls, and together with GL forces sporadically attacked German sentry units near the ghetto walls. Security Cadre (Kadra Bezpieczeństwa or KB), one of the organizations subordinate to the AK, under the command of Henryk Iwański took a direct part in fights inside the ghetto together with Jewish fighters from ŻZW and ŻOB.[Addendum 2 – Facts about Polish Resistance and Aid to Ghetto Fighters], Roman Barczynski, Americans of Polish Descent, Inc. Last accessed on 13 June 2006.

Three out of seven members of the Collective Command of the AK (KG AK) had Jewish origins.

While most historians agree that AK was largely untainted in collaboration with Nazis in the Holocaust,Tadeusz Piotrowski, Poland's Holocaust, McFarland & Company, 1997, ISBN 0786403713. [Google Print, p.88], [p.89], [p.90] the accusations of the complicity of single AK members or groups in anti-Jewish violence in Poland are frequently brought up to this day. The issue remains a controversial one and is subject to a difficult debate.[Review] by John Radzilowski of Yaffa Eliach's , Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 1, no. 2 (June 1999), City University of New York.

Relations with Lithuanians

Relations between Lithuanians and Poles were strained during most of the interwar period due to conflicts over the Vilnius region and Suvalkai region, where there were large Lithuanian minorities. During the war these conflicts resurfaced as Armia Krajowa's ideal of a Polish state included the Vilnius region.

Lithuanian and Polish resistance movements had the same enemies - Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, but they never became allies. The main obstacle in forming an alliance was the question of Vilnius - the Polish government in exile and the Polish resistance regarded Vilnius as part of Poland, while Lithuanian resistance regarded Vilnius as the capital of Lithuania and aimed for an independent Lithuania, which would include Vilnius. Lithuanian resistance saw Soviet Union as the main enemy and Nazi Germany as its secondary enemy. Polish resistance saw Nazi Germany as the main enemy and had no consensus on the Soviet Union. Only in 1944-1945, after the Soviet reoccupation, did Lithuanian and Polish resistance started cooperating in the fight against Soviet occupants and Soviet activists () Arūnas Bubnys. [Lietuvių ir lenkų pasipriešinimo judėjimai 1942–1945 m.: sąsajos ir skirtumai] (Lithuanian and Polish resistance movements 1942-1945), 30 January 2004].

In May of 1944 under the command of Aleksander Krzyżanowski, commander of Vilnius region, there were 9000 armed Armia Krajowa partisans. Members of Armia Krajowa often terrorised, killed, beat Lithuanians and looted their property in Vilnius and Vilnius region () Arūnas Bubnys. [Armija Krajova Rytų Lietuvoje] (Armia Krajowa in Eastern Lithuania). "Atgimimas", 9 June 1989, No. 22 (35)].

On June 23, 1944, AK troops committed a massacre of Lithuanian civilians, at Dubingiai (Dubinki) where 27 Lithuanian civilians, including women and children were murdered () Gazeta Wyborcza, 2001-02-14, [Litewska prokuratura przesłuchuje weteranów AK] (Lithuanian prosecutor questioning AK veterans), last accessed on 7 June 2006. Some Lithuanian authors suggest a higher number of victims (Juozas Lebionka claims 100, some other Lithuanian historians make claims as high as 200. A 2004 publication in a Lithuanian newspaper XXI amžius claims that there were other massacres at Joniškis, Inturkė, Bijutiškis, and Giedraičiai, where approximatelly 80-100 Lithuanian civilians, including women and children, were murdered[() Kazimieras Garšva. Armija krajova ir Vietinė rinktinė Lietuvoje (Armia Krajowa and Local Detachment in Lithuania). XXI amžius, No.61 (1264), 18 August 2004]. All victims in Dubingiai were peasants. They were killed in their own homes. Many of victims were bilingual (in Lithuanian and Polish), and many of them were from mixed Lithuanian-Polish families. The murderers chose victims according the presence of documents: for instanc, if the peasants had a Lithuanian prayer-book, they were killed. There are still witnesses alive who survived by a miracle. Most Polish and Lithuanians historians claim that the massacre at Dubingiai was unique . This view is supported by AK documents ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} that were recently found in Bernardines monastery in Vilnius. These consist of AK reports of actions between 1943 and 1944. It seems probable that the killings were not planned, and were rather more related to a general dislike of Lithuanians by some people in the AK ranks, especially elements connected with the extreme right Narodowe Siły Zbrojne. This was supposedly further provoked by actions of some Lithuanian military units which were fighting against AK and who in turn were accused of murdering Polish civilians. Therefore some of the alleged AK actions might have been direct retaliation for the actions of Lithuanian groups, like the Lithuanian Nazi collaborators among the Lithuanian police or the Local Lithuanian Detachment under the command of general Povilas Plechavičius() Gazeta Wyborcza, 2004-09-01, [W Wilnie pojednają się dziś weterani litewskiej armii i polskiej AK''] (Today in Vilnius veterans of Lithuanian army and AK will forgive each other), last accessed on 7 June 2006. It should be noted that two days before Dubingiai massacre, on 20 June 1944, 37 Poles were killed in Glitiškės (Glinciszki) by Lithuanian policemen in retaliation for four policemen killed, and that the Dubingiai murder was an act of retribution for Glinciszki.

The scale of other killings is also a subject of disagreement. Polish historian Jarosław Wołkonowski puts the number of the Lithuanians killed by rogue AK elements at under 100. The Lithuanian Vilnija organization claims that the number is around 250. One estimate by a Lithuanian investigator Rimas Bružas is that about 500 Lithuanian civilans were killed by Poles during the war () Rimas Bružas, R.Bružas: Mano tikslas buvo sukelti istorikų diskusiją (R.Bružas: My aim was to initiate a discussion of historians), ELTA, 14 March 2005. Estimates of Juozas Lebionka suggest even a higher number of 1000 () Juozas Lebionka. Vilniškės AK bendradarbiavimo su vokiečiais pirmtakas (The start of cooperation between Vilnian AK and Germans), Atgimimas, 1996, No. 8(372), p. 15. On 14 July, 1993. State commission was established by Government of Lithuania to evaluate activities of Armia Krajowa in Lithuania which had to present conclusions by 1 December, 1993 () Government of the Republic of Lithuania. [Potvarkis dėl komisijos Armijos Krajovos veiklai Lietuvoje įvertinti] (Decision to establish commission for evaluating Armia Krajowa activities in Lithuania), No. 526p, 14 July, 1993]. Commission published conclusions that Armia Krajowa was against integrity of Lithuania and in Eastern Lithuania committed crimes against humanity, terrorised and killed innocent civilians, mostly Lithuanians () Vilnijos draugija. [Kodėl negalima sakyti tiesos apie Armiją krajovą ?] (Why the truth about Armia Krajowa cannot be said?), „XXI amžius“ No.61(1264), 18 August 2004]. Lithuanian General Prosecutor Office in 1999 established that "partisan units of AK, not recognising the return of Vilnius region in 1939, were performing genocide of the population of Lithuania, i.e. terrorised, robbed, murdered civilians of Lithuanian, Jewish and Russian ethnicities, hoping that these actions will help in the reoccupation of the area after the war." ^{([Disputed statementdisputed]—see [ A Lithuanian historian Arunas Bubnys admits that there were no mass murders by AK (the only exception being Dubinki), but that AK was only guilty of some war crimes against individuals or selected families; he also notes that any accusations of genocide or widespread actions are false and have an underlying political motive, among them a countereaction to the accusations of widespread German-Lithuanian collaboration and crimes committed by units such as the Lithuanian Secret Police.}

Another issue of the AK's operation in Lithuania is related to incidents of co-operation with Nazis against the common enemy, the Soviet partisans. Germans armed several AK units operating in the Lithuanian area, in order to encourage them to act against the Soviets, just as they did with such Lithuanian forces as the Local Lithuanian Detachment. Germans also did not allow Lithuanian Security Police to arrest known commanders of AK and often released arrested AK commanders from prison () .

Despite the real and alleged crimes of Armia Krajowa against non-Polish civilians in the Vilnius region, commander of the 5th Vilnian Home Army Brigade Zygmunt Szendzielarz "Łupaszka" was awarded the Virtuti Militari, the highest Polish military award^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Similarly the Lithuanian general Povilas Plechavičius who was engaged in fighting the Polish and Soviet partisans received a medal from Lithuanian president() Przewodnik Katolicki (10/2004) by Grzegorz Górny. [Awantura o generała] (Quarrel about a general). Last accessed on 7 June 2006.. For these reasons, the AK, despite of its record in saving the Poles of Vilnius, are considered to be a controversial organisation in today's Lithuania in a manner somewhat similar to the view taken of Soviet partisans.

In 2004 veterans of AK and some veterans of Local Lithuanian Detachment signed a Declaration of Peace . Veterans of Local Lithuanian Detachment who signed the declaration did so without approval of Union of Soldiers of Local Lithuanian Detachment (Lithuanian: ) [() Romas Bacevičius. Dievo pagalba išvengęs mirties (Saved from death by God). Sidabrinė gija, 11 February 2005, No. 1 (11)].

Relation with the Soviets

For more details on this topic, see Soviet partisans in Poland.