Talk:Armia Krajowa

Main goal

The main goal of the AK was the final uprising (Operation Tempest), ie. training of future officers and soldiers, collecting arms. Real resistance caused cruel German vengeance, eg. 100 Polish civilians killed for one German, so the AK preferred to act ouside pre-war Poland or in the East, where ethnic Poles consisted a minority.Xx236 (talk) 10:05, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Post-war paragraph is almost so long as the WWII one, it's biased.Xx236 (talk) 10:07, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

One file isn't available.Xx236 (talk) 10:09, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Operation Vistula

Operation Vistula was carried out by the communist forces of UB, KBW and LWP, not Armia Krajowa. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.75.112.142 (talk) 20:04, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Biased article

This article is problematic in that there is prominence attached to the views of AK sympathizers, which leads to the exaggeration of the significance of the AK and a cover-up of many of its controversies. Cited are alleged quotes from Gomulka and others about "exterminating" the AK. But if the AK critics are going to cited here, why don't we elaborate on their criticism of the AK to show why there was conflict.

Controversies about the AK include: 1)it was not very effective against the Germans, and its activities have been highly exaggerated. More than 30,000 AK men were killed compared with a roughly equal number of Albanian partisans (population of 35 million versus 1 million); 2)it took a "wait and see" approach toward the Russian-German conflict; 3)it betrayed Russian soldiers to the Nazis; 4)it fought with Polish partisans of the Armia Ludowa; 5) it committed war crimes against peaceful people, particularly Ukrainian.

For example, there are the insightful observations of Polish partisan and military leader General Rola-Zymierski, as cited by the journalist Anna-Louise Strong. I'm sure there is a lot more information like this in Polish, but I don't speak the language:

"I sent word to London that their tactics with the Home Army were wrong. Their watchful-waiting policy was demoralizing the Home Army, allowing it to become permeated with enemy agents. Instead of fighting Germans it turned to fighting Polish partisans. I reported this to London time and again in vain. The increasing brutality of the Germans pushed the Home Army into conflict with them. They then concentrated on assassinating especially obnoxious Gestapo chiefs. They avoided on principle any attack on German communications eastward, their policy being to let Germans and Russians 'wear each other out'....The Home Army considered the Bolsheviks enemies more than the Germans. They shot Russian war prisoners trying to escape. I considered Russians our fighting allies. We helped Russian prisoners escape, even giving our own arms to them."

More controversies about the AK from Strong's book

Potapczyk, a wiry, energetic fellow in those days, joined the underground Home Army, under the orders of the government-in-exile in London. "But I got fed up with their policy of watchful waiting. There was a time when a couple of Gestapo officers could come to a village by night and take fourteen or fifteen men away. The Home Army did nothing to prevent. It was 'saving its strength 7 to take power when the Germans, beaten by the Allies, should withdraw from Poland of themselves. That was the talk. Meanwhile some of the county leaders of the Home Army were getting on very well with the Germans. But we of the rank and file were being deported and killed...It also made me angry when the Home Army betrayed Russian prisoners who escaped from the Germans. There was a camp of these Russians not far away; they were starving....The Home Army leaders considered them enemies, but I considered them Allies.'

And then there were the war crimes committed against peaceful Ukrainians, as cited in the report of From the report of the Minister of Public Security of Poland General Nikolai Selivanovsky: (p.469 of the book below)

June 6 - the AK gang of Lieutenant Cybulski, known by the alias "Sokol", vandalized the Ukrainian village Vezhovina, 13km southwest of Kholm. The gang of "Sokol" had more than 200 people, armed with heavy machine guns...Hearing that the gang of Polish troops was returning from the front, the Ukrainian people greeted them with honors. Passing through the village, the bandits came back and started the destruction of Ukrainians...Bandits killed 202 people, including infants, teenagers, men, and women of all ages...

There's also the collection of documents "NKVD in Poland" that has:

"On October 16, 1944 in Kholm district are "AK"... These groups have committed more than 10 armed attacks. 15 local workers were killed. In the district of Zamostyansk, the insurgents killed 11 people, 5 of them Red Army soldiers."

Rola Zymierskia, the NKVD, and other Soviet Generals are all primary sources and are not reliable. Please stop adding this nonsense to the article.Volunteer Marek (talk) 19:46, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

BTW, both your IP address and the POV you're trying to push indicate that you are an indef-banned user.Volunteer Marek (talk) 19:47, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

They are not primary sources, but are part of the research of secondary sources, specifically the work of journalist Anna-Louise Strong, as well as the works that contain the works of Stalin's quote about the unreliability of the AK. You invoke rules about primary sources for keeping this information out, but according to your criteria, this information should also be deleted from this article because they fit your definition of a primary source. So then what if I delete this quote from Himmler that's in the article?

— Heinrich Himmler, 31 December 1942:

Within the framework of the entire enemy intelligence operations directed against Germany, the intelligence service of the Polish resistance movement assumed major significance. The scope and importance of the operations of the Polish resistance movement, which was ramified down to the smallest splinter group and brilliantly organized, have been in (various sources) disclosed in connection with carrying out of major police security operations"” — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.96.6.245 (talk) 20:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)