Powstanie i struktura Komendy Okręgu Krakowskiego Narodowej Organizacji Wojskowej (1939-1945)

Abstract

The article presents the origins of the conspiracy military organisation of the National Party - the National Military Organisation (NOW), the interrelations and interdependence between the Party and the “military” (NOW), the establishment of the Cracow district, the first county commands, and the problems with staffing the commanding positions. It presents and describes the structure of the NOW Cracow district command, the staff, the competencies of the departments: operations, organisation, intelligence, youth, propaganda, logistics, document preparation, and their commanders. It also presents the structure of the NOW Cracow district “Kościuszko”, “Ugory” with the division into sub-districts: Cracow-town „Krajewski”, Cracow-inner city „Limba”, Tarnów „Cis”, „Santa Maria”, Podhale „Smrek”, Krosno „Grab”, „Podkarpacie”, commanders of the sub-districts with their pseudonyms, the structure of the subordinated county commands, circuits, and posts, with the people commanding them, the armed detachments, and their number of soldiers. It describes the National Women’s Military Organisation in the Cracow district, its subordinate structures, its tasks, as the auxiliary military service: sanitary service, communications service, propaganda services, and their personnel. The text makes an attempt at an approximate determination of the number of soldiers in the conspiracy network of the NOW Cracow district, from the most optimistic of 10 thousand soldiers to realistic ca. 5 thousand as assessed by the author.