Draft:Stanisław Basaj

Stanisław Basaj, pseudonym "Ryś" or "Kraśka" (24 November 1917 – 25 or 27 March 1945), was a Polish soldier and later a partisan of the Peasant Battalions. According to Polish nationalists and patriots Stanisłąw Basaj is considered a National hero, while According to Ukrainian nationalists he is considered a war criminal. In 1944 during the Hrubieszów revolution he organized massacres against the Ukrainian population in Łasków and Szychowice.

Biography
Born on the 24th of November 1917 in Polany to a family of peasants. In 1924 the Basaj family moved to Małków in the Hrubieszów district. Stanisław Basaj attended the four-grade primary school in Małków and then the seven-grade school in Kryłów. As a student of the school in Małków, he joined the scouting movement. As a 16-year-old boy, Stanisław Basaj volunteered for the army. He served in the orchestra of the 23rd Infantry Regiment in Włodzimierz Wołyński. In 1937, due to his father's illness, he gave up his military service, which he had begun as a volunteer. He was an activist with the Union of Rural Youth "Wici". At the end of 1938, he married Genowefa Kołtoniuk, with whom he had two daughters.

Invasion of Poland
As a corporal in the 2nd Regiment of Mounted Riflemen from Hrubieszów, he took part in the 1939 Campaign, in which he distinguished himself by his bravery in the Battle of Mokra and participated in the daring night attack on Kamieńsk. When it ended, he commanded a small unit of post-September partisans, which fought several skirmishes with Wehrmacht patrols between November 1939 and January 1940. In January 1940, he joined the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) and became an active organiser of the underground in the southern part of the Hrubieszów district.

In the Peasant Battalions
After organising BCh units, he joined this organisation. From the spring of 1942, he formed a special unit (OS) for day-to-day fighting; from the very beginning, the OS took on a specific character, as, in addition to the so-called anti-concentration actions, it was focused on the armed defence of the Polish population against the German gendarmerie, Grenzschutz and the Ukrainian collaborationist police, which were numerous in the area. In the second half of 1942, there were four major clashes, of which the "Rysia" battalion emerged victorious (at Kryłów, Mircze, Poturzyn and Kosmów). In addition he eliminated a commander of the Ukrainian Police in Hrubieszów named Malesza, along with several other policemen. After this the Germans and Ukrainians considered the killing of Basaj an award of several hundered złotys.

Zamość Uprising
On 5 January 1943, he fought a battle in Tuchany near Dubienka against the German gendarmerie and Ukrainian police, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.