Edmund Charaszkiewicz Edmund Kalikst Eugeniusz Charaszkiewicz ( ; Poniec , October 14 , 1895 – December 22 , 1975 , London ) was a Polish military intelligence officer who specialized in clandestine warfare . Between the World Wars , he helped establish Poland ' s interbellum borders in conflicts over territory with Poland ' s neighbors . Also , for a dozen years before World War II , he coordinated Marshal Józef Piłsudski ' s Promethean movement , aimed at liberating the non - Russian peoples of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union — an objective that Piłsudski deemed crucial if Poland , sandwiched between Germany and the Soviet Union , were to preserve her just - regained independence . Early career . Edmund Charaszkiewicz was born on October 14 , 1895 , in Punitz ( in Polish , Poniec ) , in the Province of Posen , an area of the German Empire that had been annexed from Poland by Prussia in the Third Partition of Poland ( 1795 ) . He was the son of Stanisław Charaszkiewicz , a building contractor , and Bronisława , née Rajewska . Edmund completed his elementary schooling in Poniec , then attended secondary schools successively in Krotoszyn , Katowice and Kraków . In the latter city , before World War I , his family lived at " ulica Długa 63 " ( 63 Long Street ) . In Kraków Edmund graduated from secondary school on December 17 , 1915 , while already a soldier in the Polish Legions . In that period , it was common for secondary - school students in Galicia to join Polish patriotic paramilitary organizations . On November 1 , 1913 , Charaszkiewicz , aged 18 , joined the Riflemen ' s Association and in 1913 – 14 attended an Association noncommissioned - officers ' school , using the pseudonym " Kalikst " ( his second given name ) . Soon after the outbreak of World War I , on August 4 or 5 , 1914 , Charaszkiewicz enlisted in the Polish Legions . He served successively in several units and convalesced from several illnesses . In November or December 1917 he was inducted into the Polish Auxiliary Corps ( the former Second Brigade of the Polish Legions ) , in which he served till February 1918 as senior sergeant major . He was then released from the Legions to serve in the German Army . In order to avoid such service , and because he was liable to arrest and internment as a former Polish Legionnaire , he went into hiding from February 18 until June 1918 in Kraków , and from November 1918 in Warsaw , where he worked at the Ministry of Military Affairs of the Polish Armed Force . His superiors there were two future Polish generals : Colonel Marian Żegota - Januszajtis and Major Stefan Pasławski . Just after the close of World War I , on November 15 , 1918 , Charaszkiewicz joined the Polish Army in the rank of sublieutenant . During the Polish - Soviet War ( 1919 – 21 ) he participated in battles at Nowoświęciany , Podbrodzie , Bezdany , Vilnius and Ejszyszki . During the Polish defense of Vilnius , he was taken prisoner by the Lithuanians and was interned , July 19 – August 18 , 1920 . He escaped and , on returning to the Białystok Rifle Regiment ( " Białostocki Pułk Strzelców " ) , temporarily commanded the 11th Company ( September 21 – October 6 , 1920 ) , then served as a junior officer in the 9th Company . On February 27 , 1921 , for conspicuous valor behind Soviet lines , he was recommended for Poland ' s highest military decoration , the " Virtuti Militari " . Military intelligence . Meanwhile , on December 15 , 1920 , Charaszkiewicz had been assigned to the Polish General Staff ' s Section II , or Intelligence — specifically , to its Upper Silesia Plebiscite Department . During the Third Silesian Uprising he served ( May 2 – August 15 , 1921 ) as deputy commander of demolition squads known as the Wawelberg Group . For his courage and steadfastness in action against the Germans , as he blew up mined structures in the face of withering enemy fire and thereby halted the German advance , he was on February 18 , 1922 , again recommended for the " Virtuti Militari " . On June 27 , 1922 , Lt . Charaszkiewicz was decorated with the " Virtuti Militari " , 5th class . Charaszkiewicz would later ( February 16 , 1940 , in Paris ) describe the Polish military - intelligence operation in the Third Silesian Uprising as a model operation of its kind : its objectives were clearly defined ; the requisite personnel were skilfully recruited and trained ; the necessary explosives , weapons , ammunition , equipment and supplies were smuggled into the operational areas and cached well in advance ; and the plans were efficiently and resourcefully executed . He would later favorably contrast the Third Silesian Uprising with the indecisive preparations for , and execution of , Poland ' s takeover of Zaolzie 17 years later , in 1938 . Moreover , the preponderant political circumstances in Poland , Germany and the world favored the Polish cause . The Silesian - Polish population gave its enthusiastic support , and all its social groups were recruited except for the communists , who for their part evinced a benign neutrality , having been instructed to back the Polish proletariat . Between 1918 and 1923 , Charaszkiewicz completed three years of the four - year law curriculum at Warsaw University . After the Third Silesian Uprising ( May 2 – July 5 , 1921 ) , in 1922 Charaszkiewicz was assigned to the General Staff ' s Section II . In evaluations , he was commended for his strength of character , initiative , energy , enthusiasm , and devotion to duty , especially in covert operations in Lithuania , with which Poland had a running dispute over Vilnius . In 1927 , when he was decorated with the Silver Cross of Merit , he was cited for actions in the rear of the Soviet Army in 1920 , actions in the Third Silesian Uprising , and actions in the Polish - Lithuanian neutral zone to secure the lives and property of Polish citizens against Lithuanian irregulars . Charaszkiewicz ' s service record noted that his qualifications for intelligence work included a knowledge of German , French and English . He was promoted to lieutenant on June 1 , 1919 , to captain on July 1 , 1925 , and to major in 1935 . By 1931 , until World War II , Charaszkiewicz served , last in the rank of major , as chief of " Office [ " Ekspozytura " ] 2 " of the General Staff ' s Section II . Office 2 , which had been so named on April 1 , 1929 , was charged with the planning , preparation and execution of clandestine - warfare operations . In the face of growing threats from Germany and the Soviet Union , Polish organizing of a " behind - the - lines " ( " pozafrontowa " ) clandestine network had begun immediately after the post - World War I wars for Poland ' s borders . Charaszkiewicz had been assigned to this network already on April 15 , 1922 . Especially after Adolf Hitler ' s accession to power in 1933 , Polish clandestine organizations were vigorously built up . They were meant , in future military actions , to paralyze enemy road and rail transport and destroy enemy military depots . Clandestine centers were created in Poland as well as in neighboring countries , chiefly Germany and the Soviet Union . Personnel for the clandestine networks were recruited with great care . Thanks to this , the intelligence services of Poland ' s neighbors learned nothing about them until mid - 1939 , when the rising German threat prompted mass Polish training of irregular forces . Prometheism . Office 2 was also responsible for " Promethean operations , " conceived by Józef Piłsudski . The idea was to combat Soviet imperialism by supporting irredentist movements among the non - Russian peoples of the Soviet Union . Thus the Prometheists ' ultimate goal was nothing less than the dismemberment of the Soviet Union . As Piłsudski and his adherents ( the " Piłsudskiite s " ) exerted a preponderant influence on Poland ' s government through nearly the entire interwar period , the Promethean agenda became integral to the operations of many Polish public institutions concerned with eastern European affairs . After Piłsudski ' s May 1926 " coup d ' état " , Section II intensified its engagement with Prometheism . The movement ' s leaders included prominent Sanation figures such as Colonel Walery Sławek and the publicist and Sejm deputy , Tadeusz Hołówko . Great importance was attached to Prometheism by Section II ' s successive chiefs , Colonel Tadeusz Schaetzel and Colonel Tadeusz Pełczyński , and by deputy chief Lieutenant Colonel Józef Englicht . The movement ' s intelligence operations were directed by Edmund Charaszkiewicz . Contacts were maintained with Ukrainians and Cossacks , and with representatives of several peoples of the Caucasus : Azeris , Armenia ns and Georgians . In its prosecution of the Promethean agenda , Office 2 worked with official institutions such as the Institute for Study of Nationality Affairs " ( Instytut Badań Spraw Narodowościowych ) " and the Polish - Ukrainian Society " ( Towarzystwo Polsko - Ukraińskie ) " and its " Polish - Ukrainian Bulletin " ( Biuletyn Polsko - Ukraiński ) , published from 1932 . The latter Society included such experts on East European affairs as Leon Wasilewski , Stanisław Łoś and Stanisław Stempowski , and its founder and prime mover as well as the " Bulletin " ' s editor was Włodzimierz Bączkowski , a leading figure in the " Promethean movement . " From March 1934 Charaszkiewicz was a member of the Commission for Scientific Study of [ Poland ' s ] Eastern Lands " ( Komisja Naukowych Badań Ziem Wschodnich ) " and the Committee on [ Poland ' s ] Eastern Lands and Nationalities " ( Komitet do Spraw Ziem Wschodnich i Narodowościowych ) " at the Council of Ministers . He had already become a spokesman for the oppressed peoples east of Poland who wished to deepen their national self - awareness and groom leaders for their liberation . Since 1927 , Wasilewski , Sławek , Schaetzel and Hołówko had been laying foundations for Promethean movements in Paris , Warsaw and Istanbul . They had been studying questions involving national self - determination and federative polities with help from academic experts at institutions such as the Eastern Institute " ( Instytut Wschodni ) " in Warsaw and an analogous one in Vilnius , as well as at an Institute for Study of Nationalities " ( Instytut Badań Narodowościowych ) " and at several publications . Charaszkiewicz ' s deputies at Office 2 were two officers from the Third Silesian Uprising : Major Feliks Ankerstein ( 1929 – 39 ) , who during that Uprising had commanded a group ( from April 27 , 1921 , the subgroup " " Butrym " " ) ; and Major Włodzimierz Dąbrowski , who had commanded group " G " in the Destruction Office ( " Referat Destrukcji " ) . Covert operations . It appears that , as of 1935 , Office 2 employed 11 officers , seven of them in Office [ " Referat " ] " A " ( for the West — Germany , East Prussia , Danzig , Czechoslovakia ) , headed by Ankerstein , and 22 civilian contract workers . The officer cadre were fairly stable ; most of the officers served in Office 2 for at least six years . A principal task of Office 2 was organizing and conducting clandestine operations outside Poland , chiefly in bordering countries , and preparing resistance cells in areas of Poland that , in the event of war , might be occupied by enemy forces . Office " B " ( responsible for the East ) , headed in 1937 – 39 by Major Dąbrowski , prepared clandestine actions against the Soviet Union , conducting " Promethean operations " among non - Russian peoples ( e . g . Caucasus , Tatar , Ukrainian and Cossack émigrés ) and creating covert organizations at Poland ' s borders with Soviet Belarus and Ukraine . Office " A " ( the West ) was tasked with preparing and running clandestine operations against " Western " countries of interest . Agents of Office 2 operated in Germany , Danzig , Czechoslovakia and Lithuania . They also penetrated anti - Hitler German émigré communities in Czechoslovakia and especially in France . In 1935 Charaszkiewicz and Ankerstein organized in the Free City of Danzig a covert " Group Zygmunt " , which in September 1939 , on the outbreak of World War II , would conspicuously defend the Polish Post Office in Danzig . " Group Zygmunt ' s " networks were to cover Poland ' s western border , Pomerania and the Free City of Danzig , and were to concentrate on sabotage and clandestine operations in the event of these areas ' temporary occupation by the enemy . The signing of the Polish - German Non - aggression Pact of January 26 , 1934 , had produced a reorientation in Polish foreign policy . Czechoslovakia ' s Zaolzie area ( which was in dispute between Poland and Czechoslovakia ) had lain outside Office 2 ' s sphere of interest , but from spring 1934 covert propaganda and clandestine operations began to be developed there . Charaszkiewicz suggested to an old Polish Legions comrade , Wiktor Tomir Drymmer — from September 15 , 1933 , to the outbreak of World War II , director of the Polish Foreign Ministry ' s Consular Department — the creation of an organization covering all countries that harbored substantial Polish communities . They agreed that this would be necessary due to the inevitability of war with Nazi Germany . They were also agreed that the organization was to be strictly covert , both in Poland and abroad ; was to be of a nationalist character ; and was to be elite rather than large - scale in nature . The organization ' s regulations were drawn up by Captain Ankerstein . Eventually it was decided that the organization should be run by a " Committee of Seven " ( " K - 7 " ) comprising half Foreign Ministry personnel — Drymmer , his political deputy Dr . Władysław Józef Zaleski , Tadeusz Kowalski , and the latter ' s deputy Tadeusz Kawalec — and half Office 2 personnel : Charaszkiewicz , Ankerstein and the latter ' s deputy , Captain Wojciech Lipiński . Later , Lieutenant Colonel Ludwik Zych , chief of staff of Poland ' s Border Guard " ( Straż Graniczna ) " , would be coopted . K - 7 set about recruiting young Poles residing in Czechoslovakia , Germany , Lithuania , Latvia and Romania ' s Bukovina . They were trained in small groups in Poland , to be deployed in wartime . Beginning in May 1938 , K - 7 conducted courses in Warsaw , Gdynia and several other Polish localities . In Zaolzie , about 1935 , the first Polish clandestine operations had taken place ; later , during Poland ' s 1938 annexation of that territory , K - 7 members participated . The proceedings were directed from Warsaw by Drymmer and Charaszkiewicz , and on the ground by Ankerstein and later Zych . After the Zaolzie takeover , preparations began on October 7 , 1938 , for a covert operation codenamed " Łom " ( " Crowbar " ) in easternmost Czechoslovakia ' s Carpathian Rus , coordinated with Hungarian operations conducted from the south . The Polish commander on the ground was again Major Ankerstein , while at Warsaw Charaszkiewicz was again in overall command . The operation took place in October and November 1938 and helped bring about the First Vienna Award ( November 2 , 1938 ) . In mid - March 1939 , the operation ' s objective was fully accomplished : the restoration of Carpathian Rus to its pre - World War I master , Hungary , and thereby also the recreation of the historic common Polish - Hungarian border . Six months later , during the September 1939 invasion of Poland , the common Polish - Hungarian border would become of pivotal importance when Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy ' s government , as a matter of " Hungarian honor , " declined Hitler ' s request for permission to send German forces across Carpathian Rus into southeastern Poland to speed Poland ' s conquest . Horthy ' s refusal allowed the Polish government and tens of thousands of Polish military to escape into neighboring Hungary and Romania ; and from there , to France and French - mandated Syria , to carry on the war as the third - strongest Allied belligerent after Britain and France . Office 2 ' s next task was organizing " behind - the - lines covert - operation networks " " ( siatki dywersji pozafrontowej ) " that were to undertake intelligence , sabotage and covert operations upon the outbreak of war , especially in areas occupied by the Germans . Charaszkiewicz was a conceptual founder of these networks . Particularly intensive work on them began early in May 1939 . These structures were given diverse names such as " Secret Military Organization " ( " Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa " , or " TOW " ) and " Mobile Combat Units " " ( Lotne Oddziały Bojowe ) " . In many cases — in Silesia , in southwestern Poland , and in western Poland — after Poland had been overrun by Germany in September 1939 , these networks became the foundations for the first local underground resistance organizations , which in many cases later became part of the Union for Armed Struggle " ( Związek Walki Zbrojnej " , or " ZWZ ) " . One such organization that arose on the foundation of a " behind - the - lines covert - operation network , " in Kraków on September 22 , 1939 , was the White Eagle Organization ( " Organizacja Orła Białego " , or " OOB " ) , which soon , in 1940 , became part of " ZWZ " . The " OOB " was a major organization that , in addition to southern Poland , also held some sway in Silesia , Warsaw and Lublin . The order to form " OOB " was issued by Charaszkiewicz ' s deputy , Major Ankerstein , who had returned from Hungary to Kraków expressly for that purpose . He also conducted a three - day covert - operations training for Organization members before making his way back to Hungary and proceeding on to the West . Before the war , a network of clandestine groups was created , tasked with paralyzing lines of communication and destroying enemy supply depots and command networks . Their membership was drawn from varied backgrounds , including the Riflemen ' s Association ( " Związek Strzelecki " ) , Reserve Noncommissioned Officers ' Association ( " Związek Podoficerów Rezerwy " ) , Reserve Officers ' Association ( " Związek Oficerów Rezerwy " ) , referrals by County Offices of Physical Education and Military Training ( " Powiatowe Urzędy Wychowania Fizycznego i Przysposobienia Wojskowego " , or " PUWFiPW " ) , the Polish Scouting Association ( " Związek Harcerzy Polskich " , or " ZHP " ) , the Polish Socialist Party ( " PPS " ) , and a host of other organizations . The preparatory work was coordinated by a Department for Planning Wartime Intelligence and Covert Operations ( " Wydział Planowania Wywiadu I Dywersji Wojennej " ) , created in late 1937 . Its tasks included organizing mobilization procedures for the foreign intelligence network and assuring its functioning under wartime conditions , as well as securing covert support for the army at the front . Spring 1938 saw expanded training of clandestine networks . Courses organized by Office 2 , disguised as civil - defense training , might cover cryptology , intelligence microphotography , toxicology , railway sabotage , hand - to - hand combat , new weapon s , explosive s , and suppression of fires . In view of the enemy ' s growing preponderance in armor , artillery and especially air force s , it had been decided to increase the tasks set for covert - operations networks . On June 3 , 1939 , Section II sent , to army commanders , regulations for covert operations ; among other things , it was set down that only those members of a covert unit should know each other who were to carry out practically defined assignments . In summer 1939 , weapons and explosives began to be distributed to clandestine centers and patrols . Deliveries were also made to networks created within the Third Reich . Despite the secrecy of the preparations , German intelligence obtained information on the Polish networks , and German security agencies received orders to suppress the Polish networks . When overt war did come in September 1939 , the mass terror applied to the Polish population by the Germans , in many instances — though by no means universally — paralyzed the Polish clandestine networks . In September 1939 , during the Polish retreat before advancing German forces , Drymmer and other clandestine - operations leaders , as early as their stop at Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula River , left behind K - 7 members and freshly sworn - in individuals . Likewise , at a Polish consulate in Romania ' s Bukovina , K - 7 trained a group of young men in covert action . Major Charaszkiewicz himself , at the outbreak of war , became head of Department ( " Wydział " ) F at the Staff of the Commander - in - Chief and carried on this function from September 1 to September 20 , 1939 . According to other information , he was special - assignments officer to the Commander - in - Chief , Marshal Edward Rydz - Śmigły , and in that capacity with the Marshal ' s approval commissioned the creation of at least one underground organization about September 12 . Next Charaszkiewicz , along with other K - 7 members , crossed Poland ' s border into Romania . There he organized a group of officers who were to return to occupied Poland to set up another underground organization . In Romania , Charaszkiewicz established ties with a Sanation group , the " Schaetzel - Drymmer group , " that was ill - disposed to Marshal Rydz - Śmigły and supportive of Foreign Minister Józef Beck . Charaszkiewicz also played a substantial role in creating an Office ( " Ekspozytura " ) " R " of Polish intelligence headquartered in Bucharest , with satellite outposts scattered about Romania . It was important not only to the conduct of intelligence work but to liaison with occupied Poland . In Bucharest , in October 1939 , Charaszkiewicz received from his British colleague , Lt . Col . Colin Gubbins — soon to become the prime mover of the Special Operations Executive ( S . O . E . ) — a very warm letter informing him that Gubbins had been personally searching for him , and offering every possible assistance , including financial ( Charaszkiewicz declined the money ) . Through Gubbins ' good offices , Charaszkiewicz obtained from the British military attaché a British visa . France and Britain . Charaszkiewicz never used the visa . On October 31 , 1939 , he arrived in France , where at first ( November 1939 – April 1940 ) he found himself without assignment at the Bessieres barracks . After a brief stay ( April – May 1940 ) in an officers ' camp at Vichy , he joined the Officers ' Legion at Niort . During the " phony war , " the new Polish premier and commander - in - chief in exile , General Władysław Sikorski , investigated the causes of Poland ' s defeat in September 1939 . Officers with pertinent knowledge were instructed to submit reports . Probably it was in response to this that Charaszkiewicz drew up the series of intriguing reports in late 1939 and early 1940 that comprise the bulk of his " Collection of Documents " that was published 60 years later , in 2000 . Sikorski , whose own military and political career in Poland had been stymied while the Piłsudskiite s held sway after the May 1926 coup d ' état , now sidelined many officers deemed to have been close to the Piłsudskiites . Perhaps that was why an officer as experienced in clandestine warfare as Charaszkiewicz , then only 44 years old , apparently was never again entrusted with such operations . After France ' s capitulation ( June 22 , 1940 ) Charaszkiewicz managed to evacuate to Great Britain . In Scotland he was accommodated at the Douglas officers ' camp ( July – August 1940 ) , then the Broughton officers ' camp ( August – September 1940 ) . He organized , and served as deputy commander , then commander , of armored train s " C " and later " D " ( October 1940 – August 1943 ) of the 1st Armored Train Command ( " 1 Dywizjon Pociągów Pancernych " ) . On August 3 , 1943 , he was transferred to the Polish Infantry Training Center ( " Centrum Wyszkolenia Piechoty " ) , then to the Administrative Department ( " Oddział " ) of the Polish Ministry of National Defense . Next , to the conclusion of military operations and till February 1946 , he was deputy chief , then chief , of the Information Department of the Inspectorate of Polish Military Headquarters . On May 27 , 1945 , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . From February to April 1946 he directed the General Department ( " Wydział " ) in the Inspectorate for Civilian Affairs , and in September 1946 he joined the Polish Resettlement Corps . He was demobilized September 11 , 1948 , and settled in London . Charaszkiewicz took an active part in Polish émigré life : in the Piłsudskiite " League for Polish Independence " ( " Liga Niepodległości Polski " ) and in the Józef Piłsudski Institute ( of which he was for many years president ) . He founded and for some years edited the Institute ' s periodical , " Niepodległość " ( Independence ) . He was also prominent in the Silesian Insurgents ' Association ( " Związek Powstańców Śląskich " ) . He continued to be a foremost exponent of Prometheism , whose perhaps most important voice he had been over the many years of his involvement with the movement . During his career as an intelligence and covert - operations officer , Charaszkiewicz helped pioneer modern techniques of asymmetric warfare . Just before World War II , during a week ' s visit to London , he shared information on these with Britain ' s Colonel Holland , Lt . Colonel Gubbins ( future leader of the Special Operations Executive ) , and technical specialists . In his reports about these meetings , Charaszkiewicz noted how far Poland ' s techniques outstripped Britain ' s . He died in London on December 22 , 1975 . Decorations . Charaszkiewicz received many Polish decorations , including the Cross of " Virtuti Militari " ( Silver Cross , 1922 ) , the Order of " Polonia Restituta " ( 3rd [ Commander ] , 4th [ Officer ] and 5th [ Knight ] classes ) , the Cross of Independence with Swords ( 1931 ) , the Cross of Valor ( " Krzyż Walecznych " , 1922 , three times ) , the Silver Cross of Merit , and the Silesian Sash of Valor and Merit ( " Śląska Wstęga Walecznych i Zasłużonych " ) , as well as numerous foreign decorations .