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 Stanisław 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.

Prior to the war
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.

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.

Zamość Uprising and the fight against the Ukrainians and the Germans
In the spring of 1942, a partisan unit of the Peasant Battalions was formed in the village of Małków, whose organiser and commander (at the request of Stanisław Hulak "Stępień" a member of the Powiat People's Movement Management), was appointed Stanisław Basaj. This important event for him coincided with the birth of Kamilka, daughter of Stanisław and Genowefa. Later, Kamila and her mother had to go into hiding to avoid falling victim to the Gestapo or Ukrainian nationalists. They swore revenge on "Rysi" and aimed to strike at the corporal's weakest point - his family. This was, at first, the so-called "OS" Special Branch in Polish

In the second half of 1942, there were four major clashes from which the "Ryś" battalion emerged victorious (at Kryłów, Mircz, Poturzyn and Kosmów ). Moreover, liquidated an officer of the Ukrainian Police in Hrubieszów named Malesza, together with several other policemen. The Germans had already at that time set for the capture or killing of Basaj tens of thousands of złoty as a reward.

From November 1942, the implementation of the next phase of the General Plan East, approved by Heinrich Himmler on 12 June 1942, began in the Zamojskie region; following this, Himmler issued another decree (12 November 1942), which was a formal act recognising Zamojskie as the first settlement area (Siedlungsstutzpunkte) in the General Government (GG); there were to be 14 of them in the GG. On 28 November 1942, a great displacement action began, the brutality and bestiality of which were unprecedented in the history of Europe; villages were surrounded at night, the entire population was herded to a selected square, often murdering the infirm and resistant; the population was also segregated; Children were separated and sent to resettlement or concentration camps in the interior of the country or to concentration camps, while "racially pure" children were sent to be germanised; as the action took place in late autumn and winter, trains full of frozen corpses of children circulated in the country.

The Poles immediately reacted to this rape, and the fighting went down in history as the Zamość Uprising, Stanislaw Basaj played a large part in the fight, his unit turned into a monster that was one of the largest units in the Hrubieszów region. On January 15, 1943, he fought a battle against the German gendarmerie and Ukrainian police in Tuchany near Dubienka, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.But Ryś was not content with such achievements, as on January 20, near Józefów, with only a hundred-strong unit under his command, he easily confronted the enemy forces, inflicting a defeat on them. in February he made a successful operation against the Ukrainian police, in the same month an operation was carried out in which the entire livestock was recaptured from the Ukrainians and heavy losses were inflicted on the Cossacks at Małków The following month, 2 battles were fought against the Bandera at Modryń and Mircz, smashing the Ukrainian nationalist forces there. on 12 february the same year Stanislaw basaj successfully carried out an attack on wereszyne during a wedding where 3 ukrainian policemen were killed and some weapons were captured.

On 15 and 17 March, he liquidated Ukrainian posts in Modryń and Łasków. On March 18, the "Ryś" battalion carried out an operation against a detachment of Ukrainian nationalists in the village of Górki and, in pursuit of them, smashed a German car column, also destroying two cannons. On 20 March, he saved the Polish population in the village of Modryń from being murdered by driving out an Ukrainian Insurgent Army unit. On 3 April, attacking Prehoryłe, he smashed an Ukrainian Insurgent Army unit and took revenge for the murder of the Polish population. On 15 August, 3 platoons from the "Ryś" battalion, near the village of Mieniany, fought a victorious battle with Ukrainian police and units of the collaborationist Ukrainian 14th SS Grenadier Division. On 15 September, 3 platoons from the "Ryś" battalion struck a post in Sahryń, but without success; this is one of the few battalion's lost battles. On 22 October, 4 platoons from the Basaj battalion smashed a detachment of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and German gendarmerie, saving the pacified Polish village of Górka. On 8 October 1943, Stanisław Basaj's "Ryś" BCh partisans, during their first joint combat action with Stefan Kwaśniewski's "Wiktor" Home Army unit, were to smash an Ukrainian police station in Mieniany. According to Sub-District IV B, eight Ukrainians were killed then, one partisan was killed and the building of the post was burnt down. However, according to Kwaśniewski's memoirs, the Ukrainian policemen at the sound of the first (accidental) gunshots left the police station and fled.

on 24 December of the same year two platoons of the BCh Stanisław Basaj "Ryś" unit came to the aid of the Polish population once again attacked by the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) militia in Kol. Modryń. As a result of the skirmish, 14 Ukrainians and 7 Poles were killed. The poles captured 3 kb". From the Ukrainian side, the village was attacked by a BCh unit under the command of Stanislaw Basaj "Rys". "At 10 p.m., near the Orthodox church and parish buildings, in the direction of the road, the village and the milk factory, a massacre began.

A skirmish with Ukrainians and Germans was recorded on 18 January 1944. In late autumn and winter the battalion stayed in quarters and prepared for further fighting; the period of calm was interrupted by the enemy. On 29 January 1944, units of the 14th SS Grenadier Division, in the strength of 2 companies, attacked the villages of Górka-Zabłocie and Małków, where Home army units and the "Ryś" battalion were quartered.The enemy attack was repulsed without losses. On the following day, 250 Basaj soldiers attacked a detachment of Ukrainian gendarmerie and police near Malkow, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy; in this way the enemy was prevented from pacifying Małków. On 16/17 February, in a night battle, an UPA unit was smashed in the village of Prehoryłe. On 27 February, in the village of Górka, the subordinates of "Ryś" clashed with members of the Chełm UNS. According to the OUN, five Bechniks were killed that day. There were also wounded on the Polish side. BCh materials, on the other hand, confirm the death of three Ukrainian partisans. A document of the Hrubieszów district BCh shows that also on 27 February the Ukrainian SD (ULS, 5th SS police regiment) arrived "in the liege". On the same day still Basaj's battalion fought a victorious skirmish near Małkow with a unit of the SS Beyersdorf Combat Group, and with the Ukrainian National Self-Defence (USN). Rescuing the Polish population, he attacked a detachment of the 14th SS Grenadier Division, as well as police and gendarmerie units pacifying the Górna and Łasków colonies, claiming another victory; on that day, Basaj and "Bold", going to collect ammunition, fought a battle with a Ukrainian militia in the village of Małków; 2 militiamen were killed and some weapons were captured.

Throughout the month, Ukrainian partisan units and police officers carried out attacks on Poles, with several people falling victim to each (villages of Medycze, Terebiniec, Pielaki, Turka). On 22 February, a group of Poles, whom Grzegorz Motyka considers criminals, killed six Ukrainians in Cichobórz and robbed two more. In response, the Ukrainians killed eight Poles two days later whom they suspected of having committed this crime. The course of events in Małków on 3, 8 or 13 February was unclear. According to Polish studies, the "Ryś" unit prevented a unit of the 14th SS Grenadier Division from pacifying this village; according to Ukrainian studies, it committed a crime against 14 civilian Ukrainians. Grzegorz Motyka claims that both theses may be true. However Polish attacks on detachments of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police continued. On 28 February, AK units, after a fierce battle with Ukrainian self-defence, burnt down the villages of Liski and Kościaszyn. The losses of both sides are unknown. On 14 February, one of the biggest battles ever was fought with the Germans and Ukrainians at Zablocie, due to the breaking blow of the "Cossack", the Nimets were shocked for a while with the Ukrainians, but only the left part was broken through, and the direction to Mircze was open for the Germans, another conclusion is that the "Hardy" manoeuvre group from the Home Army did not manage to close the road for the Germans in the direction of retreat (to Szczur), to Laskowsky forest. The Germans started to retreat, but the usual retreat turned into a mass panic the only thing that saved the German forces were the unknown forces that were in the south, after the victorious battle it turned out that it was not the Germans who attacked the barrage group, but a platoon of the "Hardy" platoon (Mieczyslaw Olszak). It joined the barrage group in the Wólczański forest 28 February 1944, the "Ryś" battalion and the "Czarusia" AK unit from the Hrubieszów district fought a battle with the German units in defence of the pacified village of Małków, during the battle further 3 AK platoons joined in. After pushing the Germans out of Małków, their forces were taken in ticks from 3 sides, the German expedition ended in defeat, many enemy soldiers and their commander were killed, the Poles captured a large amount of weapons and ammunition; the partisans lost 6 soldiers and 16 were wounded; the next day 3 platoons of "Rys" battalion and an AK platoon (commanded by "Huragan") under the personal command of "Ryś" smashed an outpost of Ukrainian nationalists in the village of Prehoryłe; several dozen Ukrainians were killed, the village was burnt down; during this action the UPA sotnia "Bradiagi" was smashed. On March 5, 4 platoons from the "Ryś" battalion (116. soldiers under the command of "Ryś" and an AK platoon from the "Czarusia" company of 35 soldiers) were attacked in the area of Prehoryłe - Małków by strong units of the 14th SS Grenadier Division and Ortschutz; the attack was repulsed with small losses, equipment was captured.

In the summer of 1943, the Germans practically ceased their displacement actions in the Zamojszczyzna region, as they no longer had the strength to continue implementing the General Plan East, and pacifications and anti-partisan operations were carried out more with a view to ensuring security at the frontline; from the early spring of 1944, the Zamojszczyzna region experienced a new tragedy; the nationalist Ukrainian movement (OUN, UPA), aided by the Germans, undertook concentrated and ruthless actions aimed at pushing back or liquidating the Polish element from the south-eastern districts ofin Zamość (Hrubieszowski, Tomaszowski, Biłgorajski); at the end of February 1944, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's command decided to move its operations to lands lying to the west of the Bug and San rivers. A group of Ukrainian Insurgent Army under the command of Myroslav Onyszkewycz crossed the Bug River and massacred the Polish villages of Tarnoszyn, Posady and Podlody in the Tomaszów County, as well as the villages of Ostrów and Chlewiska near Bełżec, in the forest between Dachny and Monastyre Ukrainians murdered a Polish partisan group, including Soviet paratroopers and a unit of the Home Army "Krakusy"; at the same time, on the land Lubaczów In April they massacred Polish villages Budka and Chotylub, and the town of Cieszanów; in April and May new Ukrainian Insurgent Army units under the command of Col. Ostrózka, in the strength of a dozen or so thousand riflemen; they were aiming at taking over the regions of south-eastern Poland (within today's borders) and establishing a base of operations to fight the Poles; UPA's units were supported by German police, SS-Galizien units and other collaborator formationsIn connection with this, the UPA command categorically demanded that all Poles should leave parts of Chelm and Lublin regions by 6 April 1944, and in the first place the districts of Chelm, Zamojski, Hrubieszowski and Tomaszowski; in these areas, with the consent of the Germans, Ukrainian was introduced as the official language, in addition to German and Polish

The Poles sent their best partisan units to fight, including the 1st BCh battalion "Ryś", which at the time numbered about 800 soldiers. On March 8, 1944 concentrated units of Ukrainian police and the 14th SS Grenadier Division, supported by the USN units from Szychowice, Kryłów and Gołębia attacked the Prehoryłe colony; 4 platoons of the 1st BCh battalion "Ryś" and OP AK J. Ochman ("Kozak") rushed to help the pacified population; after heavy fights Ukrainian nationalists were driven out of the colony, leaving numerous corpses of murdered Polish inhabitants; the next dayUkrainians attacked the Prehoryłe colony again, murdering the inhabitants and burning the village, the "Ryś" battalion rushed to help the inhabitants. The Ukrainian nationalists were driven out of the colony and retreated to Krylov and the surrounding area. The plan for the operation of 10 March 1944 was most likely created by Kwaśniewski. Describing in his memoirs the preparations for, among other things, the attack on Szychowice and referring to the orders given to the commanders of the subordinate units and subdivisions assigned to carry it out, he bluntly stated: "'The objective was clear. I called the large-scale moves undertaken the Tsarist cut. They were intended to lead, by their violence and brutality, to the blunting of the Ukrainian sting. None of the officers who were present [at the briefing in the Olszynka colony - M.Z.] made any amendments to the way I presented [the task]. Both technically, as well as formally, my point of view passed without a conclusion'. "Ryś, on the night of 9-10 March 1944, with an unguarded march, was to take the base for the assault on the village. About the course of the attack on Szychowice and the fate of the inhabitants, Kwaśniewski said that one attack was enough to easily break the Ukrainians. And so it happened. Within hours the resistance of the Ukrainians was broken. And also Kwasniewski wrote that not a single Ukrainian from the village escaped. The Ukrainian data mentioning numerous civilians killed by Poles in Szychowice and Łasków was confirmed by the chronicle of the "Ryś" battalion. Before attacking Sahryń, Polish troops surrounded the village and isolated it from neighbouring villages dominated by Ukrainians, making it impossible for them to warn Sahryń's inhabitants. Polish soldiers shelled the village with tracer bullets, setting fire to the buildings. The attackers were repulsed only by the station staff, and there were exchanges of fire near the church, in the cemetery and by the station building itself. The resistance of the policemen was broken rather quickly. Ukrainian self-defence, on the other hand, quickly fled the battlefield.According to some Ukrainian accounts, the militiamen were outside the police station at the time of the attack. They may have been the ones defending themselves in the church and cemetery. Then a few of them retreated in the direction of Werbkowice. The armed Ukrainians, if not killed in the fighting, were shot on the spot. After entering the village, the Poles also killed civilian Ukrainian residents. Ukrainians they encountered were killed with gunshots, and grenades were also thrown into hiding places in farms. Usually the identity of civilians was checked to avoid killing Poles, but there were also cases of residents being fired upon without warning. The entire attack ended at around 2 p.m. According to data written down by a local priest, the attackers destroyed the Orthodox church, parish buildings and 280 houses. Zajączkowski writes that the village burned almost to the ground. And the perpetrators of this massacre were also Stanislaw Basaj.

On 15 March 1944 "Ryś", surprised near the village of Płoskie, smashed a German patrol. On 16-17 March, the "Ryś" unit fought against a pacification group consisting of gendarmes, SS men and Ukrainian police from the UPA "Jahoda" (in a force of about 600 men), which attacked the village of Łasków, the colonies of Zabłocie and Małków; the unit was assisted by AK units of M. Olszak "Hardy" and A. Aleksandrow "Brawura"; the Ukrainians were defeated; 30 SS men and UPA were killed in the fight, two cars were burnt and villages were saved. On 19 March, units of the 14th SS Grenadier Division, Ortyszutz, Ukrainian police, partly Schupo and gendarmes (about 800 men) launched a large-scale operation against a Basaj battalion and an AK battalion under the command of Zenon Jachymek "Wiktor". When they surrounded one of the Basaj platoons in the village of Łasków, the main forces of the Basaj battalion and the "Wiktor" battalion moved to the aid of the surrounded population, "Ryś" drove the enemy out and captured the Mircze-Kryłów road, at the same time, the "Czarusia" and "Wiktor" companies of the AK drove the enemy away from the Sokal-Hrubieszów road and captured Mircze. Having achieved these objectives, the Polish partisans captured the last Ukrainian resistance points in the villages of Modryń, Modryniec and Masłomęcz, in the third phase of operations, Ukrainian self-defence bases in the villages of Mieniany, Kozodawy, Cichobórz and Kosmów were attacked, completely driving out their crews, the Ukrainians sustaining significant losses.

On 21 March 1944, a team from the Basaj battalion, returning from Tyszowce in Tomaszów County, to which they were escorting evacuated Polish people, set up an ambush near the Marysin colony; a detachment of German gendarmerie was ambushed and, after a short battle, smashed. On 27 March, units of the SS Battle Group Beyersdorf and the Wehrmacht of the 154th Infantry Division (a total of about 2,000 men) attacked a BCh outpost in Smoligów; the BCh units of the "Ryś" battalion and part of the "Hardy" platoon (a total of approx. A bloody battle lasting many hours ensued, which ended in the defeat of the encircled units; 33 partisans were killed in the fight, and many were wounded. "Rys" activity worried the German command. As a consequence, a decision was made to carry out a large-scale counter-partisan operation in the southern part of the Hrubieszów district. The punitive expedition, commanded by Lt. Col. Werner Froemert, consisted of the Ukrainian Self-Defence Legion, sub-units of the 5th Galician SS Volunteer Regiment, a detachment of the German 154th Infantry Division, Ordnungspolizei officers and a battery of armoured guns. The operation began in the early morning of 27 March. The Germans and their Ukrainian collaborators surrounded the "Ryś" battalion, as well as an AK outpost commanded by Mieczysław Olszak, alias "Hardy". After a fierce battle, "Ryś" and part of his unit managed to break out of the encirclement, but the Polish partisans suffered heavy losses, Majewski writes that the Poles lost between 33 and 75 partisans killed, while the memoirs of the Peasant Battalion state that 27 Poles were killed.

In April 1944, the "Ryś" battalion regenerated its strength and prepared for new tasks; on 3 May the Basaj battalion, numbering 670 men, fought a battle with an armoured train near Krasnobród during its march to Puszcza Solska; after breaking the railway track, the train departed; the battalion suffered no losses. On 11 May, the 5th "Ryś" battalion, together with the Home Army unit of J. Turowski "Norbert" unit derailed a train with ammunition near the station of Krasnobród colony; part of the escort was liquidated, part fled towards the station; several Germans were killed; weapons and ammunition were captured, the track was blocked for 3 days; 28 May - 9 June, on the Tanew River in Biłgoraj district, a battle was fought between Polish and Soviet partisan units and a Kalmyk cavalry brigade; the "Ryś" battalion took part in the battle; during the two-week fighting, the front stabilised on the line of the Tanew and Wirawa rivers and on the edge of the Solska Forest; the Kalmyk units were changed by Wehrmacht units; the German actions were a preparation for the counter-partisan action code-named "Sturmwind" ("Wicher"); the Polish partisans had 10. killed and 20. wounded; enemy losses were 120. Kalmyks and several Germans killed.

Sturmwind II
On 18-28 June 1944, one of the largest military operations against partisans under the code name "Sturmwind II" ("Whirlwind II") took place in the Solska Forest in the Biłgoraj Region. Partisan groups of the AK, BCh, AL and Soviet troops got into a huge cauldron; out of a total number of 3800 partisans, BCh units fielded 570, including the 1st Battalion "Ryś" - 300; the Germans against partisan units used ca. 30,000 soldiers; the BCh units, which were part of an AK grouping under the command of Major Edward Markiewicz "Kalina", fought heavy battles and attempted to break out of the encirclement, but suffering heavy losses, were repulsed; about 50 soldiers from the 1st Battalion were killed, many were wounded; some managed to escape from the encirclement. Basaj did not take part in the battle, as he left with two platoons in the Solska Forest for the Krasnostawski District. The commander of Rysia's unit in the fights in Puszcza Solska was platoon leader Antoni Warchał "Szczerba" from Kryłów, who was killed in the fight in the Maziarnia marshes. It was the last, unfortunately lost, big battle of the 1st BCh battalion of the Hrubieszów district; a few more smaller actions were performed and the fight was practically finished on 18 July 1944 with a skirmish with a detachment of Germans and Vlasov soldiers robbing the village of Stasin; the attackers withdrew, losing several dead. Further armed actions were no longer possible due to the heavy saturation of the area with German troops due to the approaching eastern front.

On 22 July 1944, the BCh "Ryś" unit was disbanded. With the advent of liberation, the threat from Ukrainian bands did not diminish. Stanisław Basaj, by order of the District Government Delegate for Poland - Lucjan Świdziński, was appointed to the position of Deputy District Commander of the State Security Corps. "Ryś" proceeded to create posts and self-defence points, manning them with former partisans.

Death
"Ryś" was hated by the Ukrainians, with whom he fought in the ranks of the MO formations after the Red Army drove the Germans away. On 25 March 1945 in the town of Kryłów Ukrainians organised an ambush into which "Ryś" fell, captured him and in a bestial way murdered him (crushing his body with a wheel), and then buried him in a place unknown to this day. For harbouring an "enemy of Ukraine", the Uprising organised the so-called Bloody Sunday in Krylov, at which time 17 officers of the Civic Militia and 28 civilians were murdered. According to another version, Basaj lost his life on 27 March 1945, two days after being abducted from Krylov. He was interrogated in Liski Waręskie in the presence of the highest-ranking members of the Ukrainian underground in the Chełm region, including probably the OUN-B Security Service referent Łeonid Łapinśki 'Zenon'. This is also where all trace of Basaj disappears. Presumably he was executed in this area

As one of the women who was carried along with "Rys" on the wagon testified, that she last saw him alive in the Malkov forest, near the St Anthony's chapel. There the women were placed on one wagon. After entering the Dołhobyczów forest, the carts were separated. During the journey through the forest, one of the cartmen (Karol Bardyga), managed to escape. The women were locked in a cellar in Żniatyń. They were freed after a few days by Polish Army soldiers. The others, including Stanisław Basaj "Rys", were murdered. Their burial place was never found. Three people managed to survive the massacre at the post.

Commemorate
The latest source research, witness testimonies and an accurate assessment of the political situation at the time after 22 July 1944 indicate that the murder was committed by an armed band of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army with the full approval or even assistance of the Hrubieszów UB or NKVD.

During the communist years many difficulties were created in commemorating this tragic event. It was not until the mid 1980s that permission was obtained to erect a monument next to the then militia post. In 1990, a cross was erected and consecrated at the monument.

In the Sandomierz cemetery, in the shadow of a juniper tree, there is a tomb where Genowefa Basaj - Stanisław Basaj's wife - was buried on 21 July 2008. In addition to the name of the deceased, the monument bears the inscription Stanisław Basaj "Ryś". During a brief conversation, Mrs Kamila Bogowska said: "I had my father's name put on the monument so that in this way we would have his symbolic grave. This is how I would like to live to see his remains found and buried with dignity".

Perhaps in the future it will be possible to clarify the whole truth about the tragic events of Sunday, 25 March 1945, to find out where "Rys" and the others were murdered and buried so that they can be given a dignified soldier's funeral. With their heroic attitude they fully deserved it.

Medals
having been decorated with the - Order of Virtuti Militari

Assessment
Basaj played a significant role in the Polish underground. Throughout the occupation, he led fight against the enemy, he created a large partisan unit, which in 1944 reached a strength of about 800 soldiers, and operated in the extremely difficult, forestless terrain where the Germans had begun the implementation of the General Plan East, with all its consequences, and soon later, German-backed Ukrainian nationalists attempted to create a 'Bander republic' and 'cleanse the Banderovska republic" and "purge" these lands of Poles. The combat actions carried out by the 1 The BCh battalions of the Hrubieszów district were well organised and effective. They saved a dozen Polish villages from extermination, created combat protection for the hiding population in hiding and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Only in two cases did the "Ryś" battalion suffer a defeat, but this was due to the overwhelming superiority of the enemy. The following deserve special recognition also deserves the exemplary cooperation of "Ryś" with other groupings of the Fighting Poland, and especially with the Home Army.