Operation Heads
Operation Heads () was the code name for a series of assassinations of Nazi officials by the World War II Polish Resistance. Those targeted for assassination had been sentenced to death by Polish Underground Special Courts for crimes against Polish citizens during the World War II German occupation of Poland. The operation's code name, literally "Operation Little Heads", was a sardonic reference to the "Totenkopf" ("Death's Head") insignia on Nazi German SS uniforms and headgear. Background. Operation Heads was the response of Polish Resistance fighters of the Home Army to Nazi terror in Poland. On the streets  of Polish cities, the non-Jewish population was targeted by the "łapanka" policy, in which Nazi forces indiscriminately rounded up, kidnapped and murdered civilians. In Warsaw, between 1942 and 1944, there were approximately 400 daily victims of "łapanka". Tens of thousands of these victims were killed in mass executions, including an estimated 37,000 people at the Pawiak prison complex run by the Gestapo and thousands of others killed in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto. The Nazis also held public executions of hostages. Daily lists of Poles to be executed in the event of any attack upon Nazi troopers were  published. In retribution for these acts of terrorism, the Polish Underground leadership prepared lists of Nazi leaders to be eliminated for the said crimes against civilian non-combatants. Operation. The targets of this operation were members of the German administration, police, SS, SA, labour office and Gestapo agents who had been sentenced to death by the Special Courts of the Polish Underground for crimes against Polish citizens. Because of the particular brutality of the police, the Home Army killed 361 gendarmes in 1943, and in 1944 another 584. In Warsaw alone 10 Germans were killed daily, which caused repression and  revenge from the German side. From August to December 1942, the Home Army carried out 87 attacks on the German administration and members of the occupation forces. In 1943 this number grew radically. During the first four months of 1943, the Home Army increased these attacks to 514.