People's Army (Poland)

Armia Ludowa (AL, pronounced Template:IPAr; English People's Army) was a pro-Communist partisan force set up by the Polish Workers' Party during World War II. Its aims were to support the Soviet Union's military actions against the German Wehrmacht. It was the largest military organization which chose not to join the structures of the Polish Underground State.

Details

Resistance movement

On January 1 of 1944, the Krajowa Rada Narodowa (KRN)– National Council of the Country replaced the Gwardia Ludowa (GL)– People's Guard with AL. The KRN intended to gain volunteers from other groups. Upon its establishment the organization comprised around 10,000 members, by the end of July 1944 (when much of Poland was occupied by Soviet forces) there were circa 30,000 members, with 6,000 of them being active full-time partisans.

Army

Seven months after it came into existence, on July 21, 1944, AL was integrated into the Polish Military in the USSR and renamed the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (LWP)– Polish People's Army. After the Red Army and the Soviet-controlled 1st Polish Army entered Poland in 1944 and early 1945, most of the AL members joined the latter. After the war many of its members joined the ranks of Ministry of Public Security in Communist Poland.