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TheUnion of Armed Struggle[1] (Polish:Związek Walki Zbrojnej;ZWZ), also translated as theUnion for Armed Struggle,Association of Armed Struggle, andAssociation for Armed Struggle, was anundergroundarmy formed inPoland following itsinvasion in September 1939 byGermany and theSoviet Union that openedWorld War II. It existed from 13 November 1939 until 14 February 1942, when it was renamed intoHome Army (Armia Krajowa, AK).
Union of Armed Struggle was created from an earlier organization,Service for Poland's Victory (SZP). In January 1940, it was divided into two parts:
Formally, the Union of Armed Struggle was directed fromParis, by GeneralKazimierz Sosnkowski (nom de guerre Józef Godziemba), who after Poland's defeat escaped to France viaHungary. Due to practical problems, however, Sosnkowski's control of the organization was very limited. The instruction of General Sosnkowski, in which he ordered his subordinates to create regional branches of the Union of Armed Struggle, was brought to Warsaw on 4 December 1939. According to Sosnkowski, the Union of Armed Struggle was supposed to be a national military organization, without regard to political differences and social ranks. Furthermore, the idea of a national uprising at the moment of entry of regular Polish units was put forward by Sosnkowski and his staff.
After thefall of France, on 18 June 1940, GeneralWładysław Sikorski named ColonelStefan Rowecki his deputy, with the right to take urgent decisions without consent of thePolish government-in-exile. Sikorski urged Rowecki to closely cooperate with leaders of political parties, gathered in thePolitical Consultative Committee. The headquarters of the Union of Armed Struggle formally was under the authority of the Polish government inLondon, but in reality, military powers were in hands of officers who remained in the occupied country, and had good knowledge of the reality of Nazi- and Soviet-controlled Poland.
After the arrest of General Michał Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz, who was captured by theNKVD on the way from Warsaw to Lwów, the Union of Armed Struggle inEastern Poland was left without a leader. Following theOperation Barbarossa, the whole territory of theSecond Polish Republic found itself under German occupation.
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