Andrzej Romocki
Encyclopedia
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- September 15, 1944 in Warsaw, Poland), was a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Scoutmaster (harcmistrz) and captain of the Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
, (Polish Home Army, AK)-Szare Szeregi
Szare Szeregi
"Gray Ranks" was a codename for the underground Polish Scouting Association during World War II.The wartime organisation was created on 27 September 1939, actively resisted and fought German occupation in Warsaw until 18 January 1945, and contributed to the resistance operations of the Polish...
.
Romocki died in the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
in 1944. He was the commander of the Rudy
Jan Bytnar
Jan Roman Bytnar was a Polish Scoutmaster , Polish Scouting resistance activist and Second Lieutenant of the Armia Krajowa during the Second World War...
Company and, after August 31, 1944, the whole of the Zośka
Zoska
Zośka may refer to:* A diminutive form of Polish name Zofia * Polish word for Hacky Sack* Code-name of Polish national hero Tadeusz Zawadzki* Batalion Zośka - elite unit of Warsaw Uprising...
Battalion. He was probably killed by accident by soldiers of the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (LWP, People's Army of Poland).
Wola and Starówka
The Zośka Battalion fought in the most difficult areas of Warsaw throughout the uprising. At the beginning, Zośka was stationed in the WolaWola
Wola is a district in western Warsaw, Poland, formerly the village of Wielka Wola, incorporated into Warsaw in 1916. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it is slowly changing into an office and residential district...
district, where the Germans first attacked the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
(Wisła) river to prevent Polish insurgents from merging with the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, and where Zośka liberated Jews from the Gęsiówka
Gesiówka
Gęsiówka , was a Nazi concentration camp in Warsaw, Poland.- History of Gęsiówka :Before the war, Gęsiówka was a military prison of the Polish Army on Gęsia Street . Beginning in 1939, after the German occupation of Poland, it became a re-education camp of the German security police...
internment camp. After August 11, when Wola fell, Romocki and the entire Radosław regiment entered Warsaw Old Town
Warsaw Old Town
Warsaw's Old Town is the oldest historic district of the city. It is bounded by Wybrzeże Gdańskie, along the bank of the Vistula, and by Grodzka, Mostowa and Podwale Streets. It is one of Warsaw's most prominent tourist attractions....
(Starówka/Stare Miasto), where they fought valiantly for the next three weeks.
By the end of August, the Polish insurgents were in a very difficult position. They were trying to defend the Old Town without allowing the Germans to get to the river. Their major problem was that the Old Town had been surrounded for three weeks, resulting in a general lack of food, ammunition and weapons. The siege also meant that civilians were living in very crowded, unsanitary conditions. Given this situation, the Poles decided to attack the German position between the center of town, Śródmieście
Warszawa-Sródmiescie
Śródmieście is the central borough of the city of Warsaw. The best known neighborhoods in the borough are the Old Town and New Town ....
, and the Old Town, which lay to the north.
The attack began on the night of August 30. However, the strike was poorly prepared and not well coordinated. Zośka was the only Polish unit to penetrate to Śródmieście. Zośka and the other companies lost so many soldiers that Romocki, despite himself being injured in the attack, became commander of the whole battalion.
Czerniaków
After the Old Town fell on September 2, all the best units of the AK in Warsaw were transported to the Czerniaków district, the last river district in Warsaw not occupied by the Germans. After almost two weeks, the first units of the LWP landed there, in spite of Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's ban. It is possible that they killed Romocki - he was disguised in a German uniform, like most insurgents throughout their operations.
Awards
- Virtuti MilitariVirtuti MilitariThe Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war...
, V class - Cross of Valour (Krzyż Walecznych), twice
- Home Army Cross (Krzyż Armii Krajowej) (16 July 1985)
See also
- Jan "Bonawentura" RomockiJan RomockiJan Romocki codename: Bonawentura was a Polish Scoutmaster , Second Lieutenant of AK-Szare Szeregi, poet and younger brother of Andrzej "Morro" Romocki....