Editing Operation Tempest (section)

=== Southeast Volhynia ===
Operation Tempest began in [[Volhynia]], a region which until 1939 had belonged to the [[Second Polish Republic]] (see [[Wołyń Voivodeship (1921–1939)]]), in January 1944, after the [[Red Army]] had entered prewar Polish territory east of the town of [[Sarny]] on January 4. The operation, which was mainly carried out by the [[27th Home Army Infantry Division (Poland)]] (some 6500 soldiers) was aimed at the [[Wehrmacht]] units, still operating in the region.

* January 4, 1944: the Red Army enters Volhynia east of Sarny
* January 15: a mobilization of ethnic Poles takes place in the area of Kowel and Włodzimierz Wołyński
* January 28: the 27th Volhynian Home Army Infantry Division is officially created
* February 10: Colonel [[Jan Wojciech Kiwerski]] is named commandant of the Volhynian District of the Home Army
* March 4: first Home Army unit meets the advancing Red Army
* March 17: a Wehrmacht company is disarmed at the village of Zasmyki near [[Kowel]]
* March 18: first skirmishes against Germans take place
* March 20–27: heavy battles in the Turia river valley
* March 23: a German detachment is disarmed at Stezarzyce
* March 24: a skirmish near Kapitulka
* March 26: Colonel Kiwerski meets Soviet General Sergeev
* April 1944: heavy fighting with the [[Wehrmacht]] west of Kowel. Due to German superiority, on April 12 Polish forces try to get in touch with the [[Red Army]], after a failed attempt to capture Włodzimierz Wołyński. Eventually, the division is surrounded, and on April 18, its commandant, Colonel Kiwerski, was killed in action. On April 21 the unit escapes the encirclement, and after several skirmishes, on June 10 it crosses the [[Bug River]], entering [[Lesser Poland]]. The division then took part in Operation Tempest in the region of [[Lublin]], remaining active until late July 1944.

All together, between January and June 1944, the 27th Volhynian ID of the Home Army took part in over 100 skirmishes, losing over 600 soldiers. German and Hungarian losses are estimated at up to 750 KIA and 900 wounded.