Anti-Nazi Resistance: Polish People’s Army

The Gwardia Ludowa (People’s Guard) underground army was created in 1942 by the Polish Workers Party, and carried out 1,700 military actions against the Nazis in 1942 and 1943. In January 1944, Gwardia Ludowa became Armia Ludowa (People’s Army), absorbing all the Communist resistance organizations and their sympathizers, plus Jewish partisan units; by summer it had 34,000 fighters who carried out more than 1,500 attacks. The Gwardia Ludowa provided arms to the Jewish Fighting Organization for the Warsaw ghetto uprising. In 1944 the Armia Ludowa merged with the Polish Army in the Soviet Union, which fought with the Red Army, and out of this formation was created the postwar Polish government.