- Antoni Heda
Infobox Military Person
name=Antoni Heda
nickname=Szary
caption=
rank=Generał brygady
date_of_birth=October 11 ,1916
placeofbirth=Małomierzyce , Poland
date_of_death=Death date and age|2008|02|15|1916|10|11
placeofdeath=
profession=
serviceyears=1937-1939
units=
battles=World War II
laterwork=
portrayedby=
awards=|Antoni Heda (
October 11 ,1916 -February 15 ,2008 ) was a Polish military commander and a notable veteran of thePolish resistance movement in World War II and later independence movement against Soviet occupation following the war. Among the best known of his partisan actions was the raid on Communist prison inKielce in August of 1945, in which roughly 300 political prisoners were freed. Hiscodename was "Szary" (Grey).Early life and activities at the beginning of the Second World War
Antoni Heda was born in 1916 in the village of
Małomierzyce nearIłża to a local peasant family. After graduating from a local primary school he moved toRadom , where he finished a Technical School and started a job inStarachowice Arms Works. Drafted into thePolish Army in 1937, he was dispatched to the Reserve Officer School (Szkoła Podchorążych Rezerwy). Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he was demobilized and started working for the State Arms Works atStarachowice .Mobilized prior to the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War of 1939, Heda fought in the ranks of the
Polish 12th Infantry Division in the area of his home town of Iłża and then in the area ofLublin . After his division was disbanded he was trying to find his way toHungary , but was arrested by the SovietNKVD and imprisoned in theBrześć Fortress . After the outbreak of a Nazi-Soviet war when the prison was taken over by the Germans, he managed to escape from the prison camp.Underground activities during the Second World War
Heda returned to his home area and joined the ranks of the Society of Armed Struggle (ZWZ), the first mass-scale resistance organization formed in Poland. Named the commander of the "Dolina" area (in the
Holy Cross Mountains ), he became a notable resistance leader after his raid on theGestapo prison inStarachowice . Out of 80 political prisoners liberated from there, 60 decided to join the resistance and thus Heda formed a permanent partisan unit stationed in the forests of the area. He then joined the partisan unit ofJan Piwnik "Ponury", one of the most successful partisan commanders of World War II. He took part in a variety of actions against the Germans in occupied Poland. Among the best known are:
* Raid on the German prison in Iłża onAugust 6 ,1943
* Disarming of a 45 men strong unit of theWehrmacht stationed in Pakosław near Iłża onSeptember 15 of that year
* Action against the village of Gozdawa nearSienno , which had been cleansed of their Polish inhabitants and then settled with Germans; the action took place onSeptember 23
* March 1944 assault on the Starachowice Arms Works, in which the partisans dressed in German uniforms secured the entire factory, seized its treasury and secured several hundred pieces of arms
* Battle ofJeleniec ofApril 1 ,1944 , in which the partisans managed to defeat a considerable German force that was trying to ambush them
* Raid onKońskie onJune 5 andJune 6 of 1944, in which the partisans secured the entire city and set free the prisoners of a local prison.During
Operation Tempest Heda's unit was attached to the 2nd battalion of thePolish 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment under Capt.Stanisław Poręba "Świątek" and took part in battles ofRadoszyce ,Trawniki and Szewce.Anti-Soviet resistance
After the Soviet-backed
Polish communist takeover of Poland, Heda - as a former prisoner of the NKVD - had to remain in hiding and joined theRuch Oporu Armii Krajowej , one of splinter organizations formed after theHome Army had been disbanded. Later on he joined NIE and then yet another resistance organizationFreedom and Independence (WiN). As a leader of a separate unit, Heda led yet another assault on a prison, this time on a MBP andSmersh prison inKielce overnight ofAugust 4 ,1945 . As a result, the partisans managed to liberate several hundred political prisoners, mostly former members of theHome Army .Heda was using a false identity (Antoni Wiśniewski) but the UB security forces managed to discover Heda's identity and arrested his family. Soon afterwards two of his brothers and his brother-in-law were tortured to death. Heda planned to organize a similar assault on the infamous
Rakowiecka prison inWarsaw , but he was arrested by the forces of the Internal Security Corps in 1948 inGdynia . Imprisoned atRakowiecka and later inRawicz andWronki , Heda was sentenced to death on 7 consecutive charges, but his sentence was later changed to life imprisonment.After the end of Stalinist period in 1956 he was pardoned and set free. He continued to collaborate with various groups opposed to the Communist regime in Poland and was also an active member of unofficial veterans associations. In 1980 he joined the
Solidarity and the following year he was chosen as the chairman of theIndependent Veteran Association of the Solidarity, the firstveteran association not controlled by the Communist authorities. However, soon afterwards he had been interned after the 1981 imposition ofmartial Law in Poland .After Poland managed to get back its independence from the
Eastern Bloc , in 1990 Heda returned to service as a leader of one of veteran associations uniting veterans of all fronts of theWorld War II . He also became the honorary commander of the Riflemen Union, a rightist paramilitary youth organization. OnMay 3 ,2006 he was promoted to the rank ofgenerał brygady (he received the nomination in 2004 and accepted it in 2006). For his service he also received the highest of Polish military awards,Virtuti Militari (4th and 5th class), as well asKrzyż Walecznych and other decorations.He described his life in two books: "Wspomnienia Szarego" (Szary's Memoires) and "Szary przeciw zdrajcom Polski" (Szary against traitors of Poland).
References
*
* [http://www.um.starachowice.pl/strona.php?st_id=93 Antoni Heda ps."Szary"] Short bio on Starachowice city page. Last accessed on 24 June 2006.
* [http://www.ilza.info/index.php?NR=94 Antoni Heda] Short bio on Iłża city page. Last accessed on 24 June 2006.Further reading
* Antoni Heda, "Wspomnienia Szarego" (Szary's Memoires), Warszawa 1991
* Antoni Heda, "Szary przeciw zdrajcom Polski" (Szary against traitors of Poland)External links
* [http://www.republika.pl/kanieforum/Heda.htm LEGENDA MIESZKA WŚRÓD NAS] (Legend lives among us)
* [http://polskiejutro.com/art/n.php?p=17095 Antoni Heda "Szary" otrzymał stopień generalski] (Antoni Heda promoted to general)
* [http://jozwa22.republika.pl/2/szary.htm PAN "SZARY" - ANTONI HEDA]
* [http://www.rodzinapolska.pl/prawdahistor/archiwum/xi2001/71_1.htm KOMENDANT "SZARY"] from newspaperNasz Dziennik , 13-14 October 2001
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