Holy Cross Mountains Brigade
| Holy Cross Mountains Brigade | |
|---|---|
.svg) |
|
| Active | August 1944 - June 1946 |
| Country | Poland |
| Allegiance | National Armed Forces |
| Type | Polish underground |
| Engagements | Liberation of Holýšov 1945 |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Colonel Antoni Szacki |
The Holy Cross Mountains Brigade (Polish: Brygada Świętokrzyska) was a tactical unit of the National Armed Forces (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne, NSZ), one of the Polish underground military organizations during World War II. It did not obey orders to merge with the Home Army in 1944 and was a part of the Military Organization Lizard Union faction.
During its presence in Poland, the brigade fought primarily communist underground units (Armia Ludowa and the Soviet partisans). Brygada Świętokrzyska avoided the approaching Soviet Red Army, left Poland and entered occupied Czech territory (the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia), with permission from the German military.
In 1934, within the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe, SN), a secret radically right-wing faction emerged, known as the Internal Organization. They were critical in respect to the democratic traditions of the SN and in April 1934 gave rise to the splinter National Radical Camp (Obóz Narodowo Radykalny, ONR). The movement was quickly delegalized by the Sanation regime and many ONR activists ended up in the Bereza Kartuska camp for political opponents. In 1935 the ONR split further into the National Radical Camp Falanga and the National Radical Camp "ABC", the latter dominated by members of the Internal Organization. The ONR "ABC" promoted an extreme "social-national" ideology, which included elimination of ethnic minorities in Poland, especially the Germans, Ukrainians and Jews, and allowing only ethnically pure Polish members of the organization in state leadership positions.
...
Wikipedia