Antoni Olechnowicz

During the 1939 Invasion of Poland he served as a quartermaster of the 33rd Infantry Division. Taken prisoner by the Soviets in early October, he managed to escape and returned to his native Vilnius,^[1] where he soon joined the Polish underground: the Service for Poland's Victory, the Union of Armed Struggle and finally the Home Army. He took part in the Operation Ostra Brama as commanding officer of the East group attacking the city of Vilnius from the direction of Naujoji Vilnia and Belmontas.^[1]

After the operation ended and most of the commanders of the Polish forces were arrested by the Soviet NKVD, Olechnowicz was one of the few officers to evade capture and assumed the role of the new commanding officer of the Wilno Home Army Area.^[1] Following the arrest by the NKVD of Home Army's commander for the Vilnius region, Col. Wileńczyk, Olechnowicz became his successor on 27 March 1945.^[1][2] In contact with the Armed Forces Delegation for Poland, he decided to limit the losses among his men, disband the remaining partisan groups and transfer most of them across the Curzon Line to the areas controlled directly by the new communist authorities of Poland.^[2] However, by May, the new Polish-Soviet border, which separated Vilnius from Poland, became more heavily guarded by the NKVD and further evacuation became impossible.^[2]

Also, in early June the local Government Delegate was arrested and it became clear that even remaining in Vilnius was dangerous.^[2] In mid-June Olechnowicz fled to Pomerania.^[2] By that time it is estimated that there were still around 400 armed partisans in the Soviet-occupied Vilnius region, mostly in small self-defence units, with additional 1,000.^[2] The resistance in that region continued until the end of the decade, but on an ever smaller scale.^[2]

While in "Lublin Poland", Olechnowicz continued his resistance activities.^[2] Together with some of the former partisans evacuated^{[by whom?]} from Vilnius region he formed the "Mobilisation Centre of the Wilno Home Army Area", a communications network intended to keep former soldiers of the Vilnian resistance in contact, should the situation in Europe change.^[2] However, due to the Yalta Conference it never did. In December 1945 the partisan units of Maj. Zygmunt Szendzielarz joined Olechnowicz's organisation.^[1]

In February 1947 Olechnowicz went to Paris, where he met with the Polish commander-in-chief, by then no longer recognised by Poland's former Allies.^[1] Ordered to return to Poland, he continued his resistance activities.^[1] However, in 1948 the Ministry of Public Security forces managed to arrest all members of the Mobilisation Centre.^[2] Olechnowicz himself was arrested on 26 June 1948 in Wrocław. The others arrested included Lucjan Minkiewicz [pl] and his wife Wanda Czarnecka-Minkiewicz [pl], Captain Henryk Borowski, Zygmunt Szendzielarz and Lidia Lwow-Eberle.^[3]

After a show trial, Olechnowicz was sentenced to death on 2 November 1949. He was executed on 8 February 1951 at Mokotów Prison.^[1] His body was interred in an unmarked grave at the outskirts of the Powązki Military Cemetery.^[1]

On 28 February 2014 the Institute of National Remembrance announced, that Olechnowicz's body had been identified following archaeological excavations and a successful identification.^[1]

• Tomasz Krzywicki (2005). Litwa: przewodnik [Lithuania: a guidebook] (in Polish). Rewasz. p. 621. ISBN 9788389188403.
• PAP (corporate author) (2014). "Zidentyfikowano kolejne ofiary reżimu komunistycznego po ekshumacjach na Powązkach" [Several new victims of the communist regime identified after exhumations at Powązki]. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish) (February 28, 2014). ISSN 0860-908X. Archived from the original on 2014-03-04. Retrieved March 1, 2014. {{cite journal}}: |author= has generic name (help)