Editing Operation Tempest (section)

==History==
From its inception, the Home Army had been preparing a national armed uprising against the Germans. The basic framework of the future uprising was created in September 1942. According to the plan, the Uprising was to be ordered by the Polish [[Commander-in-Chief]] in exile when the defeat of the [[Wehrmacht]] on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] became apparent. The Uprising was to begin in Central [[Poland]]: in the [[General Government]], [[Dąbrowa Basin]], [[Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Kraków Voivodeship]], and the [[Białystok]] and [[Brześć]] areas.

The Uprising's basic objectives were to:
# end the German occupation;
# seize arms and supplies needed for a Polish regular army on Polish soil;
# counter the threat from the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] (see [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia]]);
# rebuild a regular [[Polish Army]];
# rebuild civil authority, communications, and an arms industry;
# maintain peace and order behind the front lines; and
# begin offensive operations against Wehrmacht forces still on Polish soil.
[[File:CaptMruk recce Soviet Aug1944 Rad-Kie.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Captain "''Mruk''" of the [[Radom]]–[[Kielce]] area [[Home Army]], with a Soviet reconnaissance patrol]]

Reconstruction of a Polish regular army was to be based on the [[Polish army order of battle in 1939|prewar Polish order of battle]].  Home Army units were to be turned into regular divisions. Initially to be created were 16 infantry divisions, three cavalry brigades and one motorized brigade, to be equipped with captured weapons or with arms and supplies delivered by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]].  The second phase was to see the re-building of an additional 15 divisions and 5 cavalry brigades which, before [[World War II]], had been stationed in eastern and western Poland.

The plan was partly implemented.  Beginning in 1943, Home Army units were grouped into larger units bearing the names and numbers of prewar Polish divisions, brigades and regiments.

==="Allies of our allies"===
In early 1943, after the German [[Battle of Stalingrad|defeat at Stalingrad]], it became clear that the Soviets would be the force the Home Army would most likely have to deal with, and that the planned Polish uprising would face a still-powerful German army, rather than units retreating to an already defeated homeland.

In February 1943, the [[Home Army]] chief, General [[Stefan Rowecki]], amended the plan. The Uprising would take place in three stages. The first stage would be an armed uprising in the east (with main centers of resistance at [[Lviv|Lwów]] and [[Vilnius]]) in advance of the approaching [[Red Army]]. In preparation, the "[[Wachlarz]]" organization was formed. The second stage would be an armed struggle in the zone between the [[Curzon Line]] and the [[Vistula]] River; and the third stage would be a national uprising throughout the rest of Poland.

On April 25, 1943, Polish-Soviet diplomatic relations were broken off by [[Joseph Stalin]] due to Polish inquiries about the [[Katyn massacre]]s, and it became clear that the advancing Red Army might not come to Poland as a liberator but rather, as General Rowecki put it, "our allies' ally." On November 26, 1943, the Polish government-in-exile issued instructions that, if diplomatic relations did not resume with the Soviet Union before the Soviets entered Poland, Home Army forces were to remain underground pending further decisions.

The Home Army's commander on the ground, however, took a different approach, and on November 30, 1943, a final version of the plan was drafted.

===Overview of the operation===
[[File:7InfDivAK Radom-Kielce.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Polish Home Army's 7th Infantry Division, from the [[Radom]]–[[Kielce]] area, during Operation Tempest]]
The plan was to cooperate with the advancing Red Army on a tactical level, while Polish civil authorities came out from underground and took power in Allied-controlled Polish territory. This plan was approved by the Delegate of the government-in-exile and by the Polish underground parliament, the [[Home Political Representation]].

On January 2, 1944, Red Army forces of the [[2nd Belorussian Front]] crossed the prewar Polish border and Operation Tempest began. The Division managed to contact the commanders of the advancing Red Army and began successful joint operations against the Wehrmacht. Together they retook [[Kovel|Kowel]] (April 6) and [[Volodymyr (city)|Włodzimierz]]. However, the Division{{Which|date=November 2023}} was soon forced to retreat west, and in [[Polesia]] was attacked by both German and Soviet forces. Polish soldiers taken prisoner by the Soviets were given the choice of joining the Red Army or being sent to [[Gulag|Soviet forced-labor camps]]. The remnants of the Division crossed the [[Bug River]], where they were attacked by [[Soviet partisan]] units. After liberating the towns of [[Lubartów]] and [[Kock]], the Division (reduced to some 3,200 men) was surrounded by the Red Army and taken prisoner.