The Hubal pacifications is a term used to describe a repressive action carried out by the German occupiers in Poland from March 30 to April 11, 1940. It targeted villages located near areas where the unit of Major Henryk Dobrzański, codenamed Hubal, was operating.
The pacification operation involved Schutzstaffel units, Ordnungspolizei, Selbstschutz, and the National Socialist Motor Corps. A total of 31 villages in the counties of Końskie, Kielce, and Opoczno were subjected to various forms of repression. Four villages were completely burned down, while most of the buildings in a fifth village were destroyed. In total, 712 Polish civilians were murdered, including two women and six children.
The Hubal pacifications were the first repressive action of this kind carried out by the Germans in occupied Poland and Europe.
Origins
In the last days of the September Campaign, Major Henryk Dobrzański of the gathered around him a group of officers and soldiers determined to continue fighting the Germans. Initially, Dobrzański planned to come to the aid of besieged Warsaw, and when he received news of its capitulation, he decided to break through to Hungary and from there reach the rebuilding Polish Army in France. Several dozen of his subordinates had similar intentions. In the first days of October 1939, the unit made its way to the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, where an enthusiastic reception from the local population convinced the major that the September defeat had not broken the will of the Polish society to resist. The idea of marching to Hungary was then abandoned in favor of continuing armed resistance in the occupied country. Shortly thereafter, Major Dobrzański adopted the codename Hubal. Beginning in February 1940, his unit was known as the Detached Unit of the Polish Army.
The area of operation for Hubal’s unit became the Kielce Land. The major aimed to await the anticipated Franco-British offensive in the spring of 1940 and then support the actions of the Allies with intense military actions behind German lines. To this end, he attempted to create a clandestine military organization (the so-called Kielce Combat District) that would serve as support for his unit and help organize society in preparation for future armed uprising. In the first decade of March 1940, the unit already had 320 soldiers. Major Hubal gained great popularity and authority among the local population, and his activities contributed to breaking the prevailing apathy and discouragement in Polish society.
Meanwhile, in mid-March 1940, the leadership of the Union of Armed Struggle, whose concepts of fighting the occupier were drastically different from Hubal’s plans, attempted to disband the unit. On the order of the commander of the Łódź District of the Home Army, Colonel Leopold Okulicki, codenamed Miller, a significant number of officers and soldiers left the ranks (on March 13). 70 soldiers remained with Hubal, who was determined to continue open combat. The reduced unit left its previous quarters in the village of Gałki and moved to the village of Hucisko, where it stayed for over two weeks. Due to an influx of volunteers, its number soon increased to over 100 soldiers.
Hubal tried to avoid serious clashes with the Germans. Nevertheless, the very existence of a Polish unit was a cause for concern for the occupiers, especially in light of the expected outbreak of fighting on the Western Front. In March 1940, the Germans began preparations to deal with Hubal, but jurisdictional disputes between the Wehrmacht and the police authorities of the General Government temporarily delayed the start of the hunt.
First pacifications On 30 March 1940, German SS and Ordnungspolizei units, concentrated in the vicinity of Skarżysko-Kamienna, Szydłowiec, Chlewiska, and Przysucha, launched a hunt for the Polish unit. The attack on the headquarters of Hubal's soldiers in Hucisko resulted in a severe defeat for the Germans. The Polish soldiers not only repelled the enemy's attack but also forced them to retreat, inflicting heavy losses of around 100 killed and wounded. The Polish losses were limited to 13 killed and missing, 10 wounded, and one deserter.
On the same day that the battle at Hucisko took place, the advancing second wave of the Ordnungspolizei unit detained all the men present in the village of Stefanków, totaling 77 individuals. The detainees were first taken to the forestry office in Chlewiska and then to the Szydłowiec Town Hall. During transportation and their stay at staging points, the prisoners were beaten and tormented. Ultimately, all the men from Stefanków were taken to the prison in Radom, where they were subjected to intense interrogations and brutal treatment. Since some of the detainees were miners from the Skalna Górka mine, director Absolon from Kielce intervened on their behalf. As a result, after a few days, eleven prisoners were released from prison, but ultimately only seven returned to their homes. Four others were reportedly re-arrested shortly after leaving the prison walls.
On March 30, the German police also conducted searches and arrests in several other villages. In Gałki – where the Germans knew there had previously been Hubal's headquarters, and which was the second target of the assault after Hucisko – 40 men aged 15 to 60 were detained. Another 23 men were arrested in nearby Mechlin. The detainees from both villages were marched on foot to Gielniów, from where they were transported by trucks to the estate in Korytków, where the Germans arrested two more individuals (the local landowner and his son). Ultimately, all the detainees were imprisoned in Radom. That day, a total of 157 people arrested during the hunt for Hubal's unit found themselves in the cells of the Radom prison.
Meanwhile, Hubal's soldiers managed to break away from the enemy and, after a 25-kilometer march, reached the village of Szałas. On March 31, the unguarded Hucisko was occupied by SS and Selbstschutz units. The Germans arrested 33 men,After the battle at Hucisko, the villagers asked Hubal for advice on what to do next. He replied, "The men and women could leave" (). Ultimately, only some of the villagers heeded this suggestion (; ). beat them, and then locked them in an empty house on the outskirts of the village. It is likely that they initially intended to burn the prisoners alive; however, they ultimately escorted them to Boków, where another five men were arrested. Then, all 38 detainees were marched on foot to Wołów. During the march, a resident of Hucisko who could not keep up with the column was shot. In Wołów, the Germans released three underage boys from Hucisko, while the remaining 34 detainees were taken to the prison in Radom.
On April 1, the Germans made another attempt to dismantle Hubal's unit. During the fighting in the area of Szałas, the Polish soldiers managed to repel the attack and break away from the enemy. On the same day, in one of the settlements of Szałas, called Komorniki, the Germans arrested all encountered men, totaling 28 individuals (on April 1). The raiding parties also executed two men in Suchedniów.
Meanwhile, Hubal directed his unit east, intending to break through to the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. However, the attempt to cross the road from Skarżysko-Kamienna to Kielce ended in failure. In this situation, the major turned back west, simultaneously dividing his unit into two parts. On the night of April 1/2, a cavalry subunit led by Hubal broke through the positions of the 8th SS-Totenkopfverbände Regiment deployed along the road between Odrowąż and Samsonów. The cavalrymen then hid all day in a dense thicket and, after nightfall, set off toward Podchyby, where they stealthily crossed the outer ring of the German blockade. However, the infantry subunit was unable to breach the German cordon. Its commander, Second Lieutenant , codenamed Sęp, was forced to allow the soldiers to leave the encirclement on their own. Hubal waited in vain for the infantry for two days in the village of Kamienna Wola before resuming his retreat to the southwest. Shortly thereafter, reduced to 23 soldiers, the unit took quarters in the village of Mały Węgrzyn. The Germans, having lost combat contact with Hubal's soldiers, announced on April 2 the end of the operation and the dismantling of the Polish unit.
The fate of those arrested in the first days of the hunt was tragically severe in most cases. On 4 April 1940, at the execution site in Firlej near Radom, the Germans shot 145 men, including 70 residents of Stefanków,Some sources state that on 4 April 1940, 72 men arrested in Stefanków were executed at Firlej (; ). However, it is likely that two individuals were mistakenly added to the list of victims, as they were murdered by the Germans in September 1944, during the second pacification of the village (). 40 residents of Gałki, 23 residents of Mechlin, and two residents of Korytków. Around the same time, 24 residents of Szałas-Komorniki were executed in Kielce. The remaining four prisoners from this village were transferred to detention in Skarżysko-Kamienna. They were likely executed on 29 June 1940 during a large execution in the Brzask forest.
A different fate befell the detainees from Hucisko and Boków. Two men were released from the prison in Radom after some time, although one of them died shortly afterward. Meanwhile, 32 men were taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 17 July 1940. Of this group, only eight survived their time in the camp (seven from Hucisko, one from Boków).
German crimes from April 4–8