{"id":158016,"date":"2023-02-12T13:22:23","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T18:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=158016"},"modified":"2023-02-12T13:22:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T01:55:25","slug":"major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Aleksander Tarnawski: The Unkillable Polish Commando"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Major
Even in his nineties this freaking dude still looks like he could just flat-out kill you.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On January 8, 2022, Aleksander Tarnawski turned 101 years old. 101 years prior he had entered the world kicking and screaming in S\u0142ocin in the Rzesz\u00f3w poviat in Poland. At age seventeen, Tarnawski graduated from the gymnasium in Chorz\u00f3w. He then enrolled in the University of Lviv studying Chemistry. The following year the entire world conflagrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
It just sucks to be stuck between Germany and the former USSR.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Poland suffers from some of the most lamentable geography. Poland is on the way to any number of juicy geopolitical targets and has suffered from some of the most deplorably unneighborly neighbors. Like most of the young males of his generation, Aleksander Tarnawski soon found himself swept up in the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
Aleksander Tarnawski was cursed to have been born in Poland in 1921.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tarnawski was not drafted in time to serve during the German invasion, but he was eventually arrested by the Soviet NKVD. At this time in this place, the NKVD didn\u2019t need much of an excuse to arrest or even kill you. After presenting his documents from the University of Lviv he was ultimately released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
This is the Polish GROM special forces unit sending Aleksander Tarnawski well wishes from Afghanistan. Uplaz was Tarnawski’s code name during the war. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tarnawski’s was the first generation of modern Poles to come of age in a free nation. When commenting on his mindset and that of his comrades he said this, \u201cDuring my childhood and youth, after so many years of captivity, patriotism and the need to sacrifice oneself for the motherland were the main slogans. And if a young man like me grew up in such an atmosphere, it was as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Germans launched WW2 with a classic false flag operation and rolled into Poland like a juggernaut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Poland fell to Germany in 35 days. Their dedicated professional army was outnumbered by more than two to one. The overwhelming combat power of the Wehrmacht secured the nation on October 6, 1939. 874,700 Poles were hors de combat. 66,000 gave their lives in defense of their country…in 35 days. By comparison, we lost 58,000 troops in ten years’ worth of intense combat in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The German conquest of Western Europe created literally millions of refugees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Traveling with a large number of refugees fleeing the Nazis, Aleksander Tarnawski made his way across the border to Hungary. After a stint in a Hungarian refugee camp, he crossed into France, where he reported to the WKU recruiting point. From there he was assigned to the 1st<\/sup> Infantry Regiment of the 1st Grenadier Division. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Germans took advantage of western weakness to invade. That seems to be a recurrent refrain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By now the Nazi blitzkrieg seemed irresistible. With the collapse of the Allied armies on the continent, Tarnawski was one of the lucky few to escape across the English Channel to Britain. Upon his arrival, the young man immediately began training to take the fight back to the Germans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
There was really nothing this man would not have done for his country. He’s still rocking that beret like he means it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once in Great Britain Tarnawski trained as an armor soldier. One day in mid-1943 he was approached by a Polish Colonel who asked if he would like to return to Poland. He explained, \u201cI was 22 at the time, and secondly, there was a war all over the world, and I was sitting here idly, I agreed to go to Poland without hesitation.\u201d Aleksander Tarnawski had just assessed into the Cichociemni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Cichociemni were Polish special operators during World War 2.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Cichociemni were the commandos of the Polish underground. The word roughly translates to, \u201cThe Silent Unseen.\u201d Their mission was to infiltrate occupied Poland, coordinate and execute resistance operations, and kill Germans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
To survive under German occupation Tarnawski and his Cichociemni had to be smart, hard, audacious, and wily.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drawn from all units of the Polish Armed Forces not under German subjugation, they knew they were volunteering for the most dangerous work of the war. Tarnawski trained in the art of close combat, silent killing, demolitions, covert communication, and spycraft under the tutelage of the British Special Operations Executive.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Cichociemni trained on a wide variety of small arms. The US-made M1928 Thompson on the left likely came from the British SOE. The man on the right sports a German Bergmann MP35. Both of these open-bolt subguns are charged and ready to rock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tarnawski\u2019s training included extensive physical fitness and the expert use of a wide variety of German, Russian, Polish, Italian, and British weapons. They trained to covertly emplace mines while learning cryptography, land navigation, and advanced marksmanship techniques. They learned about life in German-occupied Poland covering everything from curfews and military laws to contemporary fashion trends. Their hand-to-hand training was based on jujitsu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
Female agents played a critical role in resistance operations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of 2,413 candidates, only 605 passed the training course. Among them were fifteen women. Of those, some 579 qualified for operational assignments. 344 of those trained operators were eventually deployed to Poland. 113 of these were ultimately killed in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Handley Page Halifax served alongside the Lancaster in RAF Bomber Command. These big four-engined heavies were also used to drop SOE teams behind German lines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the night of April 16, 1944, Aleksander Tarnawski climbed aboard a four-engined Halifax bomber from the 300th Bomber Squadron at the Allied airbase in Brindisi, Italy, as part of Operation Weller 12 under Captain Edward Bohdanowicz. After an uneventful night combat insertion near the Polish village of Baniocha at Gora Kalwaria outside Warsaw, Tarnawski went to work. He was ultimately assigned to the Nowogr\u00f3dek District of the Home Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The primary mission of the Polish Home Army was to cause mischief for the occupying Germans. The Home Army was a well-organized and effective unconventional fighting force. Note the indigenously-produced B\u0142yskawica submachine gun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Polish Home Army was designated the Armia Krajowa or AK for short. Their general mandate was to make life as miserable as possible for the German occupation forces. As the Soviet Red Army got closer to the Polish border the AK got more audacious in their combat operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
Here we see three British PIAT antitank weapons as well as a French MAS-38 submachine gun in the hands of these Polish resistance fighters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This mandate was both incredibly complex and unimaginably dangerous. With support from the Cichociemni and Allied logistics, AK operatives conducted sabotage and direct action raids, emplaced mines, and established supply caches to support their sweeping insurgency efforts. The largest coordinated resistance operation of WW2 was the Warsaw Uprising that kicked off on August 1, 1944, under the direction of the AK. The Warsaw Uprising was part of the overarching Operation Tempest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
This is the view into Warsaw as the Russians stood back and let the Germans slaughter the patriotic Poles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For sixty-three days Polish unconventional troops engaged in raging combat with German forces with little to no outside support. The Red Army had drawn up alongside the eastern suburbs of the city on Stalin\u2019s orders and refused to assist the initiative. Stalin knew that the subjugation of Poland would be a necessary part of his post-war plans for conquest. Allowing the Germans to crush the Polish Home Army dovetailed perfectly into his dark schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
Scum like these SS Dirlewanger troops were responsible for rampant atrocities during the Warsaw siege.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Poles began the operation with nearly 49,000 men under arms. However, these were generally highly motivated but poorly trained irregulars armed with little more than a scrounged weapon and a handful of ammunition or a grenade. Arrayed against them were as many as 25,000 battle-hardened Wehrmacht and SS troops amply supplied and equipped with state of the art weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
This is one of the Panther tanks captured by the Polish Home Army and used against the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Major
The Polish Home Army put this armored Sd.Kfz.251 Hanomag halftrack to good use fighting the Germans.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the course of the fight, the Poles employed two captured German Panther tanks, a Hetzer assault gun, and a pair of armored half-tracks. The Germans for their part had dozens of armored vehicles at their disposal along with Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. The end result was a massacre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Poles fought bitterly for Warsaw but were eventually overwhelmed by the combination of air power and logistics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More than 15,000 Polish resistance fighters died in the fight, while another 15,000 were captured. 5,660 Polish First Army soldiers became casualties. Balanced against that the Germans suffered as many as 17,000 killed or missing. There was as many as 200,000 civilian dead. Once the fighting abated the Germans came in and systematically leveled the city. The breadth of destruction precluded reliable numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Polish Home Army improvised armored vehicles like these out of whatever was readily available.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Major
Parts for the B\u0142yskawica submachine gun (top) could be made in crude workshops and then assembled for issue to Polish fighters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Polish AK fought with whatever they could scrounge. They improvised armored vehicles out of civilian trucks and widely employed the B\u0142yskawica submachine gun. A crude Sten-like weapon, the B\u0142yskawica was the only standardized, mass-produced weapon to be built in occupied Europe during the war. The gun fired 9mm Para at around 600 rpm from a 32-round box magazine. Roughly 700 copies were built in underground workshops in Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
Here we see a B\u0142yskawica submachine gun in action.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his time in occupied Poland, Aleksander Tarnawski undertook difficult and hazardous covert missions and also trained AK soldiers in the combat skills they needed to face the Germans. In slightly more than a year in combat Tarnawski earned the Polish Cross of Valor four times. He left the military as a Major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rest of the Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Major
Chicks dig a man in uniform.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the war, Tarnawski got a job with Polish Radio in Warsaw. Despite the chaos of active special operations service against the Nazis, he still retained his passion for Chemistry. He subsequently landed employment as a lab assistant in the Walenty Wawel coal mine in Ruda Slaska. From there, Tarnawski earned a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from the Silesian University of Technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
This retired Chemical Engineer was a holy terror to the Germans during World War 2.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tarnawski eventually served as an assistant professor at the Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals in the 1960\u2019s. He then earned a position as Senior Laboratory Engineer at the Institute of Plastics and Paints in Gliwice where he worked until he retired in 1994. Along the way he was married, widowed, and remarried, this time to a fellow Chemistry professor. Together they had a daughter who eventually earned her own PhD in Economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
This is Aleksander Tarnawski coming in from his last parachute jump at age 94. What a stud.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In September 2014, at age 94 at Ksi\u0105\u017cenice near Grodzisk Mazowiecki, fully seventy years after being dropped into Poland at night from a British Halifax bomber, Aleksander Tarnawski made one last parachute jump. This time he hit the silk with former and current GROM operators. GROM is short for Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno-Manewrowego which loosely translates to \u201cGroup for Operational Maneuvering Response.\u201d I’m told this also means, \u201cThunder.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
Aleksander Tarnawski blazed a trail that these modern-day GROM operators now ably follow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Formally activated in 1990, GROM is one of five special operations units of the Polish Armed Forces and is respected around the world within the specops community. GROM is named in honor of the Silent Unseen of the WW2-era Polish Home Army. GROM operators are colloquially referred to as \u201cThe Surgeons\u201d for their recognized capabilities at precision direct action operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
The Cichociemni suffered horrific casualties during World War 2. Aleksander Tarnawski is the last survivor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As of January 2022, Major Tarnawski was the last survivor of those original 344 Cichociemni sent into combat during World War 2. After fighting the Germans undercover for more than a year and facing the likely prospect of torture and horrible gory death at any moment, Tarnawski went back to school and spent his entire professional life making the world a better place. He also saw to it that his daughter was educated and productive as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
Even at nearly a century old, Aleksander Tarnawski runs that HK MP5 like he owns it. Note the right elbow tucked low and the weapon set for a two-round burst.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As amazing as his story was, Aleksander Tarnawski was typical of his generation. Those crusty old guys grew up with absolutely nothing and then faced literally unimaginable challenges. They not only prevailed in the face of such profound adversity but also thrived. Today\u2019s crop of perennially-offended, easily-breakable social justice snowflakes would do well to learn from their example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Major
This shriveled-up old guy was a stone cold warrior back during WW2.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

***Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a>***<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 8, 2022, Aleksander Tarnawski turned 101 years old. 101 years prior he had entered the world kicking and screaming in S\u0142ocin in the Rzesz\u00f3w poviat in Poland. Like most of the young males of his generation, Aleksander Tarnawski soon found himself swept up in the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":158047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[257,772],"tags":[132,102,2761,752,636,335,3297,1323],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-158016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-historical-guns","8":"category-will-dabbs","9":"tag-buzz","10":"tag-feature-articles","11":"tag-heros","12":"tag-historical-guns","13":"tag-history","14":"tag-military","15":"tag-military-heros","16":"tag-world-war-ii"},"yoast_head":"\nMajor Aleksander Tarnawski: The Unkillable Polish Commando<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Major Aleksander Tarnawski: The Unkillable Polish Commando - Part of an elite operation to fight the Germans behind the lines during WWII.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Major Aleksander Tarnawski: The Unkillable Polish Commando\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On January 8, 2022, Aleksander Tarnawski turned 101 years old. 101 years prior he had entered the world kicking and screaming in S\u0142ocin in the Rzesz\u00f3w poviat in Poland. Like most of the young males of his generation, Aleksander Tarnawski soon found himself swept up in the war.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/will.dabbs.9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-12T18:22:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-08T01:55:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-23-at-8.52.24-PM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1398\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"858\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Will Dabbs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"16 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Will Dabbs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b818f415191c071a88bdc0d8cb33eca\"},\"headline\":\"Major Aleksander Tarnawski: The Unkillable Polish Commando\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-12T18:22:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-08T01:55:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2164,\"commentCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-23-at-8.52.24-PM.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Buzz\",\"Feature Articles\",\"Heros\",\"Historical Guns\",\"History\",\"Military\",\"military heros\",\"world war II\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Historical Guns\",\"Will Dabbs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/\",\"name\":\"Major Aleksander Tarnawski: The Unkillable Polish Commando\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/major-aleksander-tarnawski-the-unkillable-polish-commando\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/Screen-Shot-2022-01-23-at-8.52.24-PM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-12T18:22:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-08T01:55:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"Major Aleksander Tarnawski: The Unkillable Polish Commando - 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