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The Chrobry II Battalion was a unit, formally subordinate to the Polish Home Army (AK), which took part in the Warsaw Uprising. It was named after the Polish king Bolesław I Chrobry ("Chrobry" is old Polish for "valiant").
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Formation and name
It was formed as a battalion on August 1, 1944, the day the Warsaw Uprising broke out. It was later expanded to a Battalion group. Its first commander was Major Leon Nowakowski (Lig). Later the Battalion group was led by Major Zygmunt Brejnak. Since it was organised without direct oversight from the Home Army High Command it soon turned out that there already was another battalion of the same name operating in the same area of Warsaw, under the command of Major Gustaw Billewicz (Sosna - Pine). As a result, the unit was redesignated with the Roman numeral "II" and came under the command of the 1st Region's Śródmieście (City centre) officer, Edward Pfeiffer.
Because of the chance nature of the unit's formation, it contained fighters of various underground formations and ideological backgrounds, including those from the Home Army and from the nationalist National Armed Forces (NSZ).
The battalion fought in the city centre and on the 3rd of August its "Warszawianka" company, led by Lieutenant Zbigniew Brym carried out a successful assault on the Railway Post Office, located at the junction of Żelazna St. and Aleje Jerozolimskie. On the 8th of August it captured the building of the Ministry of Water and Sewerage in Starynkiewicz Sq., which it lost four days later having to retreat after a counter attack by the Russian-backed Kaminski Brigade.
Notable soldiers of the unit
At its height, the battalion group Chrobry II had 3200 personnel, including 3000 fighters. During the uprising, about 400 of them were killed.
One of the platoons of the battalion was led by the author of the first ever report about the Holocaust, Witold Pilecki, later executed by the Polish communist secret police.
Notable soldiers in the battalion, in addition to those mentioned above, included Captain Piotr Zacharewicz ("Zawadzki") commander of the "Warszawianka Company" located in Dom Kolejowy (The Railworkers' Union Building), Tadeusz Siemiątkowski and Mirosław Biernacki
The unit has also been noted for having a high number of Jewish soldiers in its ranks, most of whom had emerged from hiding on the outbreak of the uprising. These included the diarist Calel Perechodnik, who served with the NSZ platoon, and Wiktor Natanson ("Humieński"), aged 14 and Jakub Michlewicz 15 years old, who were among the youngest members of the battalion.