Zośka Battalion

Battalion Zośka (pronounced /'zɔɕ.ka/; 'Sophie' in Polish) was a paramilitary scouts battalion that specialized in field intelligence gathering, irregular warfare and scouting of the Polish resistance movement organisation - Home Army (Armia Krajowa or "AK") during World War II. It mainly consisted of members of the Szare Szeregi paramilitary Boy Scouts. It was formed in late August 1943. A part of the Radosław Group, the battalion played a major role in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

Zośka was named after Tadeusz Zawadzki, who used the name as his pseudonym during the AK's early days. He was killed during a partisan action.

History
The battalion was formed in late August 1943 as part of the Radosław Group, fighting in Wola and the Starówka, from where they allowed the "Rudy" company to do a breakthrough to the centre of the city through the Saxon Garden which eventually failed. After capturing two Panther tanks in 2 August, an armoured platoon was formed under the command of Wacław Micuta. The battalion gained the War Order of Virtuti Militari.

Liberation of the concentration camp "Gęsiówka"
Zośka fighters liberated prisoners of the concentration camp Gęsiówka in August 1944. The 383 able-bodied prisoners (including 348 Jews), both men and women who were left in Gęsiówka to assist with the destruction of the evidence of mass murder, were rescued from certain death. Most of these survivors joined the Zośka unit and fought in the Warsaw uprising.

Other famous Home Army battalions were: Miotła, Czata, Pięść, and Batalion Parasol. Between 1944 and 1956, all surviving former members of Batalion Zośka were incarcerated in the Soviet NKVD prisons.

Notable Battalion fighters

 * Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński
 * Roger Barlet
 * Ryszard Białous
 * Andrzej Cielecki
 * Lidia Daniszewska
 * Aleksy Dawidowski
 * Juliusz Bogdan Deczkowski
 * Jerzy Gawin
 * Jerzy Jagiełło (porucznik)
 * Jacek Karpiński
 * Tadeusz Kosudarski
 * Jan Kopałka
 * Andrzej Łukoski
 * Henryk Kozłowski
 * Zygmunt Kujawski
 * Wacław Micuta
 * Tadeusz Maślonkowski
 * Wiktor Matulewicz
 * Krystyna Niżyńska
 * Konrad Okolski
 * Jerzy Ossowski
 * Jerzy Pepłowski
 * Jan Rodowicz
 * Eugeniusz Romański
 * Andrzej Romocki
 * Jan Romocki
 * Jan Rossman
 * Eugeniusz Stasiecki
 * Tadeusz Sumiński
 * Anna Wajcowicz
 * Kazimierz Wasiłowski
 * Jerzy Weil
 * Jan Wuttke
 * Anna Zakrzewska
 * Jan J. Więckowski