| Unit Name: | Battalion Zośka |
| Dates: | 1943—1944 |
| Allegiance: | Polish Underground |
| Branch: | Armia Krajowa (Home Army) |
| Type: | Paramilitary |
| Role: | Close combat HUMINT Irregular warfare Raiding Reconnaissance Tracking Urban warfare |
| Size: | Battalion |
| Battles: | Warsaw Uprising |
Battalion Zośka (pronounced /'zɔɕ.ka/; 'Sophie' in Polish) was a paramilitary scouts battalion that specialized in field intelligence gathering, irregular warfare and scouting of the Polish resistance movement organisation - Home Army (Armia Krajowa or "AK") during World War II. It mainly consisted of members of the Szare Szeregi paramilitary Boy Scouts.[1] It was formed in late August 1943. A part of the Radosław Group, the battalion played a major role in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.[2]
Zośka was named after Tadeusz Zawadzki, who used the name as his pseudonym during the AK's early days. He was killed during a partisan action.
The battalion was formed in late August 1943 as part of the Radosław Group, fighting in Wola and the Starówka, from where they allowed the "Rudy" company to do a breakthrough to the centre of the city through the Saxon Garden which eventually failed. After capturing two Panther tanks in 2 August, an armoured platoon was formed under the command of Wacław Micuta. The battalion gained the War Order of Virtuti Militari.
Zośka fighters liberated prisoners of the concentration camp Gęsiówka in August 1944. The 383 able-bodied prisoners (including 348 Jews),[3] both men and women who were left in Gęsiówka to assist with the destruction of the evidence of mass murder, were rescued from certain death. Most of these survivors joined the Zośka unit and fought in the Warsaw uprising.[2]
Other famous Home Army battalions were: Miotła, Czata, Pięść, and Batalion Parasol. Between 1944 and 1956, all surviving former members of Batalion Zośka were incarcerated in the Soviet NKVD prisons.[4]
| Order of battle | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Commander | Second Commander | HQ Officers | |
| Leadership during the Warsaw Uprising | |||
| por. kpt. "Jerzy" Ryszard Białous | kpt. hm. "Piotr Pomian" Eugeniusz Stasiecki † | por. "Szczerba" Jerzy Berowski † por. "Jurek TK" Jerzy Pepłowski † por. "Xen" Bolesław Stańczyk por. "Brzechwa" Roman Grzybowski ks. "Ojciec Paweł" Józef Warszawski | |
| 1st Company "Maciek" | |||
| por. phm. "Blondyn" Andrzej Łukoski † | ppor. "Kmita" Henryk Kozłowski † ppor. "Skalski" Tadeusz Schiffers † | ||
| 1st Platoon "Włodek" | |||
| por. "Tyka" Jerzy Golnik † | |||
| 2nd Platoon | |||
| ppor. "Skalski" Tadeusz Schiffers † | ppor. "Poraj" Stefan Kowalewski † | ||
| 3rd Platoon | |||
| ppor. "Zagłoba" Andrzej Sowiński plut. pchor. "Marian" Marian Bielicki † | sierż. pchor. "Borsuk" Wiesław Brauliński † | ||
| 4th Platoon | |||
| ppor. phm. "Kindżał" Leszek Kidziński † | |||
| 2nd Company "Rudy" | |||
| plut. pchor. ppor. por. kpt. "Morro" Andrzej Romocki † plut. pchor., ppor. "Drogosław" Jan Więckowski | por. "Florian" Jerzy Jagiełło † | ||
| 1st Platoon "Sad" | |||
| por. phm. "Jerzyk" Jerzy Weil † | ppor. "Sielakowa" Jacek Majewski † | ||
| 2nd Platoon "Alek" | |||
| ppor. phm "Kołczan" Eugeniusz Koecher † ppor. phm. "Maryśka" Jan Jaworowski † ppor. phm. "Mały Jędrek" Andrzej Makólski † st. sierż. "Kolka" Czesław Nantel † por. phm. "Xiąże" Andrzej Samsonowicz † ppor. phm. "Lolek" Leonard Pecyna † | |||
| 3rd Platoon "Felek" | |||
| por. phm. "Kuba" Konrad Okolski † por. phm. "Słoń" Jerzy Gawin † | |||
| 3rd Company "Giewont" | |||
| por. hm. "Giewont" Władysław Cieplak † | ppor. phm. "Czarny Jaś" Jan Wuttke † ppor. hm. "Tadeusz" Jan Kubacki † | ||
| 1st Platoon | |||
| ppor. hm. "Howerla" Stanisław Kozicki † | |||
| 2nd Platoon | |||
| ppor. "Michał" Michał Glinka | |||
| Female Platoon "Oleńka" | |||
| sanit. "Zosia Duża" Zofia Krassowska † | |||
| Tank Platoon "Wacek" | |||
| por. kpt. "Wacek" hm. Wacław Micuta | |||
| Platoon "Kolegium A" | |||
| ppor. "Śnica" Bolesław Górecki | |||