Władysław Kochański Władysław Kochański ( noms de guerre " Bomba " and " Wujek " , born 7 November 1918 in Stanisławów and died 12 December 1980 at Cracow ) was an infantry captain in the Polish Army during World War II . He was then part of the Polish resistance army Armia Krajowa after Germany occupied Poland , leading the Cichociemni special forces paratrooper resistance unit , and was one of the leading organizers of the . Invasion of Poland and Polish Armed Forces in the West . During the German Invasion of Poland in 1939 Kochański served in the 48 Kresowe Infantry Rifle Regiment as commander of air defenses at Stryj . After the fall of Poland he escaped to Hungary , where he was held at the Magyrovar camp . After escaping from the camp , he travelled to France and attended a training camp at Coetquidan , earning the post of machine gun platoon leader under the school ’ s ensign . Kochański took an active part in the Battle for France in a mixed battalion attached to the 4th Infantry Division ( Poland ) . At the end of June 1940 he evacuated to Great Britain on the Royal Navy destroyer " Viscount " and was assigned to the 2nd Grenadier Battalion " Kratkowane Lwiątka " ( Rampant Lion ) of the 1st Rifle Brigade , where he commanded a machine gun platoon . Service in the Polish Underground Army 1942 - 43 . From October 1941 to 6 June 1942 Kochański served in the 1st ( Polish ) Independent Parachute Brigade . He then undertook a specialist training course in diversion ( sabotage ) tactics with the Special Operations Executive at Audley End , in order to join the ranks of the Cichociemni ( Silent and Dark ) paratroopers , who engaged in sabotage and special operations behind enemy lines . He completed the training course on 18 August 1942 and was parachuted into occupied Poland on the night of 1 – 2 September 1942 during Operation Chickenpox . Kochański landed at the receiving outpost Rogi , 16 km northeast of Grojca . After a period of acclimatization in Warsaw , he was assigned under the name " Bomba " to the second sector of the Wachlarz network in Volhynia , where he commanded the Kowel - Sarny diversion centre moving towards Kiev . When Wachlarz was winding down , Kochański was directed to help restructure the Volhynia - region Armia Krajowa ( resistance army known as AK ) . On 8 July 1943 the AK inspector of Równe , Captain Klimowski " Ostaja " entrusted Kochański with rebuilding the underground network in Kostopolski County , which had broken up following arrests by the Germans . Kochański started in the village of Wyrka , near Huta Stepańska , to carry out this mission , but faced the intensification of anti - Polish operations by Ukrainian nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( UPA ) . When the Volhynian massacres started , Kochański took command of the self - defense center at Huta Stepańska where over 5 , 000 Poles were taking shelter . On 7 July 1943 the UPA began to concentrate its forces in the region , and on 16 July the Banderists prepared to attack , burning down 15 towns adjacent to Huta Stepańska . On the same day , UPA forces attacked the center itself and the fighting turned to hand - to - hand combat . After 32 hours of combat , Kochański decided to break through the ring of stronger Ukrainian forces along with the people . The plan partly succeeded . The civilians were evacuated to the area of Wydmer below Włodzimierz , where they dispersed to Kowel , Sarny and Przebraże . 40 people fell defending Huta Stepańska and Kochański himself was wounded in the arm . More than 600 civilians died in attacks on nearby villages or during the evacuation of Huta Stepańska , when panic led some to break away before the group effort . During the second half of July 1943 , Kochański organized a unit of almost 500 men to operate in the Stara Huta district in the Kostopol region , where the Polish self - defense base was located . The core of the unit was made up of former defenders of Huta Stepańska . For five months , they fought a series of skirmishes with UPA units in the Kostopol district , saving thousands of Poles . Kochański also continued fighting the Germans , sometimes with the cooperation of Soviet units such as the famous Kowpak unit . Kochański ' s biggest victory took place 19 November 1943 at Moczulanka , where with the cooperation of Soviet units assembled around Szytow and commanded by Captain Kotlarow , he was able to break up and partly disperse a group of 1200 UPA troops carrying out an assault on the self - defense center at Huta Stara . This was the last time the UPA were able to launch attacks on Huta Stara . Kochański ' s unit become a major force , numbering nearly 700 well - armed soldiers . The unit made long marches to defend the Poles and demonstrate its strength . In the second half of December 1943 Kochański , recently promoted to captain , led the unit to Huta Stara , where was to be stationed over Christmas . Arrest and return from the Soviet Gulags . In December 1943 Kochański stopped with his unit in the town of Bronislawka . He learned that Soviet commander General Naumov wanted to meet him , and invited him to his headquarters in the nearby village of Zawolcze . Kochański went to the headquarters accompanied by Lieutenant Strzemia , Father Leon Spiewka and an escort of several non - commissioned officers . During the feast at Zawolcze the whole Polish group was disarmed and arrested . The Soviet unit moved out in a hurried march to the east . During a rest stop the soldiers of the escort were shot and Captain Kochański , Lieutenant Strzemia and Father Oboznik were taken to Kiev and later to Moscow . The loss of the commander resulted in the partial break up of Kochański ' s unit . After his arrest and kidnapping , his unit was significantly reduced with many soldiers going to the self - defense center and others returning home to their families . In Moscow Bomba was tried and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment as a representative of a " foreign agency " . After four years in prison in Moscow , he was sent to the gulags at the copper mines in Kamchatka . Due to his age and poor health , he was returned to Poland in December 1956 . He worked and studied at the Higher School of Economics , graduating in 1963 with a master ' s degree . He was awarded the Silver Cross of Military Virtue and died on 12 December 1980 at the age of 62 in Cracow . Bibliographies • Michał Fijałka : Oddział " Bomby " . [ dostęp 24 sierpnia 2009 ] . • Michał Klimecki , Zbigniew Palski : Samoobrona ludności polskiej na Wołyniu w 1943 roku . [ dostęp 24 sierpnia 2009 ] . • Władysław Siemaszko , Ewa Siemaszko , Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939 – 1945 , Warszawa 2000 , ISBN 83 - 87689 - 34 - 3 . • Jędrzej Tucholski , Cichociemni , Warszawa : Wydawnictwo PAX , 1985 , ISBN 83 - 211 - 0537 - 8 . • Józef Turowski , Pożoga . Walki 27 Wołyńskiej Dywizji AK , Warszawa : PWN , 1990 , ISBN 83 - 01 - 08465 - 0 . • Wiadomości / Wiadomosci - Wypad , Pismo Koła 2 Baonu Grenadierów " Kratkowane Lwiątka " ( w późniejszym czasie . . . i Komandosów ) . Kwartalnik wydawany w latach 1962 - 1996 w Edynburgu na prawach rękopisu . Numer 32 , marzec 1970 , strona 28 . • Kalendarium I batalionu 45 pp 27 . Wołyńskiej Dywizji AK . [ dostęp 24 sierpnia 2009 ] . • Cichociemni - Encyklopedia skoczków AK . [ dostęp 30 sierpnia 2009 ] .