Andrzej Romocki

64
Andrzej Romocki bigraphy, stories - Polish resistance fighter

Andrzej Romocki : biography

April 16, 1923 – September 15, 1944

Andrzej Romocki, codename Morro (April 16, 1923 – September 15, 1944, was a Polish Scoutmaster (harcmistrz) and captain of the Armia Krajowa, (Polish Home Army, AK)-Szare Szeregi.

Romocki died in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. He was the commander of the Rudy Company and, after August 31, 1944, the whole of the Zośka Battalion. He was probably killed by accident by soldiers of the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (LWP, People’s Army of Poland).

Wola and Starówka

The Zośka Battalion fought in the most difficult areas of Warsaw throughout the uprising. At the beginning, Zośka was stationed in the Wola district, where the Germans first attacked the Vistula (Wisła) river to prevent Polish insurgents from merging with the Red Army, and where Zośka liberated Jews from the Gęsiówka internment camp. After August 11, when Wola fell, Romocki and the entire Radosław regiment entered Warsaw Old Town (Starówka/Stare Miasto), where they fought valiantly for the next three weeks.

By the end of August, the Polish insurgents were in a very difficult position. They were trying to defend the Old Town without allowing the Germans to get to the river. Their major problem was that the Old Town had been surrounded for three weeks, resulting in a general lack of food, ammunition and weapons. The siege also meant that civilians were living in very crowded, unsanitary conditions. Given this situation, the Poles decided to attack the German position between the center of town, Śródmieście, and the Old Town, which lay to the north.

The attack began on the night of August 30. However, the strike was poorly prepared and not well coordinated. Zośka was the only Polish unit to penetrate to Śródmieście. Zośka and the other companies lost so many soldiers that Romocki, despite himself being injured in the attack, became commander of the whole battalion.

Czerniaków

After the Old Town fell on September 2, all the best units of the AK in Warsaw were transported to the Czerniaków district, the last river district in Warsaw not occupied by the Germans. After almost two weeks, the first units of the LWP landed there, in spite of Joseph Stalin’s ban. It is possible that they killed Romocki – he was disguised in a German uniform, like most insurgents throughout their operations.

Awards

  • Virtuti Militari, V class
  • Cross of Valour (Krzyż Walecznych), twice
  • Home Army Cross (Krzyż Armii Krajowej) (16 July 1985)