Operation Heads

Operation Heads (Polish: Operacja Główki) was the code name of a series of assassinations of Nazi officials by the Polish Resistance during World War II. Those targeted for assassination had been sentenced to death by the Special Courts of the Polish Underground for crimes against Polish citizens during the World War II occupation of Poland. The name of the operation, "Operation Heads", was a sarcastic reference to the Totenkopf (Gr. 'skull') 'Death's Head' symbol from SS Nazi Germany uniforms and headgear.

Operation Heads was the response of Polish Resistance fighters from Home Army to Nazi terror in Poland. On streets of Polish cities, the gentile population was targeted by the łapanka policy, in which Nazi forces indiscriminately rounded up, kidnapped and murdered civilians. In Warsaw, between 1942 and 1944, there were approximately 400 daily victims of łapanka. Tens of thousands of these victims were killed in mass executions, including an estimated 37,000 people at the Pawiak prison complex run by the Gestapo and thousands of others killed in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto. The Nazis also held public executions of hostages. Daily lists of Poles to be executed in the event of any attack upon Nazi troopers were published. In retribution for these acts of terrorism, the Polish Underground leadership prepared lists of Nazi leaders who should be eliminated for the said crimes against civilian non-combatants.

The targets of this operation were members of German administration, police, SS, SA, labor office and Gestapo agents who had been sentenced to death by the Special Courts of the Polish Underground for crimes against Polish citizens. Because of the particular brutality of the police, the Home Army killed 361 gendarmes in 1943, and in 1944 another 584. In Warsaw alone 10 Germans were killed daily. From August to December 1942, the Home Army carried out 87 attacks on the German administration and members of the terror apparatus. In 1943 this number grew radically. During the first four months of 1943, the Home Army increased the attacks to 514.

...
Wikipedia