Wachlarz

Wachlarz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈvaxlaʂ], folding fan) was a Polish World War II resistance organization formed by the Armia Krajowa for sabotage duties behind the German Eastern Front, outside of the Polish borders. Its commanders were Lieutenant Colonel Jan Włodarkiewicz (until 1942) and Lieutenant Colonel Adam Remigiusz Grocholski. Originally formed in 1941, shortly after the outbreak (22 June 1941) of the German-Soviet War, the organisation was subordinate to Związek Walki Zbrojnej and bore the cryptonym 18, later changed to 27. The final name, Wachlarz, resulted from the subdivision of the organisation into several branches, each trying to spread its influence from certain portions of the Polish border deep into Soviet territory. Wachlarz had five different sectors, each acting independently and forming along several main supply-lines of the German war machine: Lwów-Tarnopol-Zhmerynka-Dnipropetrovsk Równe-Zhytomir-Kiev Brześć nad Bugiem-Pińsk-Homel Lida-Minsk-Borisov-Orsha Wilno-Daugavpils-Polotsk The main aim of the organisation was to prepare reconnaissance, intelligence, sabotage and diversion between the Eastern Front and the prewar Polish borders from the Baltic Sea to southern Ukraine. The organisation was to be prepared to isolate the German frontlines by cutting the supply lines and disrupting troop movement during the planned pan-Polish national uprising. Its aim was to separate the German army from its supply depots and to allow the Polish underground forces to liberate Poland while the Germans in the Soviets were crushed from both the East and the West.