Stone of Operation Arsenal (Akcja pod Arsenałem) (Długa Street, the corner of Bohaterów Getta Street)
On March 26th 1943, in Warsaw, in the area of Arsenal, on the Długa and Bielańska streets, scouts from the Gray Ranks Storm Group during the successfully conducted operation led to the release of Jan Bytnar, pseudonym ‘’Rudy” and 21 other prisoners in an attack on the prison van that was taking the inmates from Gestapo Headquters to Pawiak prison. The whole action was commanded by Stanisław Broniewski, pseudonym “Orsza”, and directly Tadeusz Zawadzki pseudonym “Zośka”. 28 members of the Gray Ranks participated in it. During the action two scouts: “Alek” (Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski) and “Buzdygan” (Tadeusz Krzyżewicz) were severely wounded, and Hubert Lenka ‘’Hubert” was stopped at the gate of the tenement house at Długa Street. Two days after the action, “Hubert” died on account of injuries sustained due to Gestapo torture. On March 30th, two friends “Alek” and “Rudy” died for the same reason and on April 2nd at the hospital died “Buzdygan”.
The place where the action was carried out is commemorated by the table and the stone with the logo of Polish Fighting which were unveiled on the 60th anniversary of the ‘’Operation Arsenal”. As the inscription says:
” Tribute to the memory of those who gave up living for their friends
Sold veterans of the Home Army from the battalions” Zośka ” and “Parasol” (Umbrella)”.
On the basis of the report “Zośka”, Aleksander Zawadzki wrote “Kamienie na szaniec”: a book about the fates of the Gray Ranks soldiers in Warsaw. Book heroes become a model to follow for the next generation of young Poles. A book describing the war fate of Warsaw high school graduates and scout friends: “Alek”, “Zośka” and “Rudy” had two film adaptations: in 1977 a film “Akcja pod Arsenałem” directed by Jan Łomnicki was made and in 2010 ‘’Kamienie na szaniec” directed by Robert Gliński.