Tadeusz Pełczyński Tadeusz Pełczyński ( codenames : " Grzegorz " , " Adam " , " Wolf " , " Robak " ; Warsaw , February 14 , 1892 – January 3 , 1985 , London ) was a Polish Army major general ( " generał brygady " ) , intelligence officer and chief of the General Staff ' s Section II ( the military intelligence section ) . During World War II , he became chief of staff of the Home Army ( " ZWZ " , " Armia Krajowa " ; July 1941 – October 1944 ) and its deputy commander ( July 1943 - October 1944 ) . Family . Tadeusz Pełczyński was the son of Ksawery Pełczyński , a Sanniki sugar - mill technician , and Maria , " née " Liczbińska , a teacher , and was a great - grandson of Michał Pełczyński , a general in the Army of Congress Poland . Pełczyński began school in Łęczyca . In 1905 he participated in a school strike connected with Polish efforts to win independence from the Russian Empire . He continued his schooling in Warsaw at the Gen . Paweł Chrzanowski " Gymnasium " . In 1911 he began medical studies at Kraków University . As a medical student he was a member of the patriotic - gymnastic " Sokół " organization and of the " " Zet " " Polish Youth Association ( " Związek Młodzieży Polskiej " Zet " " ) . He completed a military course conducted by Zygmunt Zieliński , a future Polish Army " generał broni " ( lieutenant general ) . In 1923 Pełczyński would marry Wanda Filipowska , with whom he had a daughter , Maria , and a son , Krzysztof ( Christopher , born 1924 , who died during the Warsaw Uprising on August 17 , 1944 , of wounds sustained on August 1 , the first day of the Uprising ) . Career . The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 found Pełczyński on vacation near Włocławek . After the area had been occupied by the Germans , he was mobilized by them to work as a medic at a Russia n - prisoner - of - war camp . After his release from German service , in June 1915 he joined the Polish Legions . He served as an officer in the 6th Legions Infantry Regiment ( " 6 Pułk Piechoty Legionów " ) and commanded a platoon and a company . In July 1917 , following the Oath Crisis , he was interned at a camp in Beniaminów . In March 1918 , after release from internment , he took up work at a social - services agency ( " Rada Główna Opiekuńcza " ) while continuing his involvement with " " Zet . " " In November 1918 Pełczyński was accepted into the Polish Army and placed in command of a company , then a battalion , of the 6th Legions Infantry Regiment . In March 1920 he was transferred to the Infantry Officer - Cadet School ( " Szkoła Podchorążych Piechoty " ) in Warsaw as a company commander , then a battalion commander . From September 1921 to September 1923 he attended the War College ( " Wyższa Szkoła Wojenna " ) in Warsaw . After graduating with a General Staff officer ' s diploma , he returned to the Infantry Officer - Cadet School as a battalion commander . In July 1924 he was posted to the Office of the Inner War Council ( " Ścisła Rada Wojenna " ) . In May 1927 he began service in the General Staff ' s Section II ( the intelligence section ) as chief of the Information Department ( " Wydział Ewidencyjny " ) . In January 1929 he was appointed chief of Section II . From March 1932 to September 1935 he commanded the 5th Legions Infantry Regiment ( " 5 Pułk Piechoty Legionów " ) in Wilno ( it was part of the elite 1st Legions Infantry Division ) , then returned to again head Section II . As chief of Section II , Pełczyński , like his predecessor Colonel Tadeusz Schaetzel and like deputy chief Lt . Col . Józef Englicht , was very supportive of Marshal Józef Piłsudski ' s Promethean project , aimed at liberating the non - Russia n peoples of the Soviet Union . Pełczyński was the longest - serving prewar chief of Section II ( 1929 – 32 , and 1935 – January 1939 ) . In January 1939 he was relieved of this post and placed in command of the 19th Infantry Division ( " 19 Dywizja Piechoty " ) , stationed in Wilno . His tenure as chief of Section II had reportedly been ended by his wife Wanda ' s political activities against Marshal Edward Śmigły - Rydz and General Felicjan Sławoj - Składkowski . After the outbreak of World War II , from September 5 , 1939 , Pełczyński commanded a force in the rears of the invading German " Wehrmacht " . After the conclusion of the September Campaign , he went to Warsaw to take up underground work with the Service for Polish Victory ( " Służba Zwycięstwu Polski " ) , then with the Union for Armed Resistance ( " Związek Walki Zbrojnej " , or " ZWZ " ) and the Home Army ( " Armia Krajowa " , or " AK " ) . From July 1940 to April 1941 he commanded the Lublin " ZWZ " district . As the local " Gestapo " were closing in , he returned to Warsaw and accepted the post of chief of staff of " ZWZ " ( July 1941 ) . From July 1943 , he was also Home Army deputy commander . In November 1943 , he was promoted to major general ( " generał brygady " ) . He commanded sabotage operations carried out by " Kedyw " units against the German war machine ( including disruption of several rail lines ) . He took part in the decision to begin the Warsaw Uprising . Five weeks into the Warsaw Uprising , on September 4 , 1944 , Pełczyński was gravely wounded when the " PKO " savings - bank building on " Świętokrzyska " Street was bombed , and as a result he could no longer carry on the duties of Home Army chief of staff . After the suppression of the Uprising , Pełczyński was imprisoned by the Germans at the Langwasser camp , then at Colditz . Following his liberation by the Allies in 1945 , he made his way to London , England . " Enigma " . Pełczyński may have made his greatest contribution to Allied victory in World War II well before the opening of hostilities . According to Colonel Stefan Mayer , The Poles ' gift , to their British and French allies , of Enigma decryption at Warsaw on July 26 , 1939 , just five weeks before the outbreak of World War II , came not a moment too soon . Former Bletchley Park mathematician - cryptologist Gordon Welchman has written : " Ultra [ the British Enigma - decryption operation ] would never have gotten off the ground if we had not learned from the Poles , in the nick of time , the details both of the German military . . . Enigma machine , and of the operating procedures that were in use . " After the war , Britain ' s Prime Minister Winston Churchill was to tell King George VI : " It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war . "