Stefan Rowecki Stefan Paweł Rowecki ( pseudonym : " Grot " , " Spearhead , " hence the alternate name , Stefan Grot - Rowecki , 25 December 1895 – 2 August 1944 ) was a Polish general , journalist and the leader of the Armia Krajowa . He was murdered by the Gestapo in prison , probably on the direct order of Heinrich Himmler . Life . Rowecki was born in Piotrków Trybunalski . In his home town he was one of the organizers of a secret scouting organization . During World War I he was conscripted into the Austro - Hungarian army and later into the First Brigade of the Polish Legion . He was interned in August 1917 after the majority of his unit had refused to pledge loyalty to the Emperor of Austria . In February 1918 , he was released from the internment camp in Beniaminów and joined the Polnische Wehrmacht , and after the establishment of the newly independent Poland , he joined the Polish Army . Rowecki fought in the Polish - Soviet war ( 1919 – 1920 ) . After the war , he remained in the army and organized the first military weekly periodical ( " Przegląd Wojskowy " ) . From 1930 to 1935 , he commanded the 55th Infantry Regiment in Leszno . World War II . From June 1939 , Rowecki organised the Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade ( " Warszawska Brygada Pancerno - Motorowa " , 7TP , TKS tanks ) . On 1 September 1939 the Nazi - German Army invaded Poland . Rowecki ' s unit did not reach full mobilization , however it did take part in the defense of Poland . After the Polish defeat , Rowecki managed to avoid capture and returned to Warsaw . In October 1939 , he became one of the leaders , then in 1940 commander , of the Union of Armed Struggle ( ZWZ ) . From 1942 , he was commander of the Armia Krajowa ( Home Army ) . In 1941 , Rowecki organized sabotage in the territories east of the Polish pre - war borders " Wachlarz " . On 30 June 1943 he was arrested by the Gestapo in Warsaw and sent to Berlin , where he was questioned by many prominent Nazi officials ( including Ernst Kaltenbrunner , Heinrich Himmler and Heinrich Müller ) . He was offered an anti - bolshevik alliance , but refused . He was probably executed in August 1944 in Sachsenhausen . Rowecki was arrested due to his betrayal by Ludwik Kalkstein " Hanka " , Eugeniusz Swierczewski " Genes " and Blanka Kaczorowska " Sroka " who were Gestapo agents . All of them were members of the Home Army but in fact collaborated with the Gestapo . Swierczewski , Kalkstein and Kaczorowska were sentenced to death for high treason by the Secret War Tribunal of the Polish Secret State . The sentence on Eugeniusz Swierczewski was carried out by troops commanded by Stefan Rys ( " Jozef " ) . They hanged Swierczewski in the basement of the house at 74 Krochmalna Street in Warsaw . Kalkstein received protection from the Gestapo and was not harmed . He fought in a Waffen SS unit during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 under the name of Konrad Stark . After the war , he worked for the Polish Radio station in Szczecin and was later recruited as an agent by the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa . In 1982 , he emigrated to France ; he died in 1994 . Blanka Kaczorowska also survived the war . Her death sentence was not carried out because she was pregnant . After the war , she also worked as a secret agent for the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa and later for the renamed Służba Bezpieczeństwa . She emigrated to France in 1971 . Rowecki was taken , after his arrest , to Berlin and then imprisoned at Oranienburg . He was executed in August 1944 under orders from Heinrich Himmler . There have been claims that the arrest of Rowecki on 30 June 1943 was a result of a wider intelligence operation against the Polish Underground State with the goal of eliminating top commanders and political leaders of the Polish resistance . During the same period , the Gestapo arrested the commander of National Armed Forces ( NSZ ) , Colonel Ignacy Oziewicz on 9 June 1943 . On 4 July 1943 , General Władysław Sikorski died in a plane crash under mysterious circumstances . Within a period of two months , the Polish Army had lost three top commanders .