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The Raid on Kielce Prison, which took place in Kielce, Poland, in the night of August 4/5, 1945, was carried out by members of anti-Communist resistance, the so-called Cursed soldiers. Their target was a Communist secret services prison, where soldiers of the Home Army, National Armed Forces and other organizations were kept. The raid was carried out by some 200 former Home Army soldiers, led by Antoni Heda and Stefan Bembiński. It resulted in the release of some 350 prisoners. == Background == In the spring of 1945, it became obvious that Communist and pro-Soviet government of Poland would not refrain from using terror as a method of fighting the so-called Cursed soldiers. Apart from mass arrests and repressions, a widespread propaganda operation was carried out, in which soldiers of the former Home Army were presented as “imperialists” and “drivelling midgets of reaction”. With the help from Soviet forces, thousands of World War II heroes ended up in prisons across Poland. Northern Lesser Poland, with the cities of Kielce and Radom, was one of main centers of anticommunist resistance. Various units of the movement fought the NKVD, Służba Bezpieczeństwa and Milicja Obywatelska. In late spring and early summer of 1945, a wave of arrests of Polish resistance fighters took place in the region. Most of them, including Antoni Żółkiewski and Michał Mandziara, were kept in the Kielce Prison on Zamkowa Street. In the immediate postwar period Antoni Heda (nom de guerre Szary), who had been a legendary member of Polish resistance, tried to stay away from active participation in anti-Communist movements. Due to Soviet terror and mass arrests of Polish patriots, who were incarcerated in the former Gestapo prisons, Heda changed his mind and decidedto mobilize his unit and raid the Kielce Prison. At that time in various towns of Lesser Poland, underground organizations of the so-called Cursed soldiers attacked Communist prisons, releasing political prisoners. On March 10, 1945, a group of 100 Home Army soldiers escaped from a prison in Sandomierz. In the evening of April 21, 1945 in Jędrzejów, some 30 prisoners escaped from a local prison. In the night of May 5/6, 1945, a unit of 80 armed soldiers commanded by Captain Władysław Moleda took control of the town of Kozienice. Milicja Obywatelska officers were disarmed, but the rebels failed to capture the prison of local Urzad Bezpieczenstwa, where a number of Home Army soldiers was kept. On September 9, 1945, a unit of Colonel Stefan Bembiński raided the prison in Radom. The prison at Częstochowa was raided twice, but at both times the rebels failed. In the night of June 3/4, 1945, a unit of Zbigniew Stawowczyk and Stanisław Chmielewski tried to seize control over the prison at Pińczów, but failed to do so. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Raid on Kielce Prison」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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