What is "cichociemni"

Cichociemni (; the "Silent Unseen") were elite special-operations paratroops of the Polish Army in exile, created in Great Britain during World War II to operate in occupied Poland (Cichociemni Spadochroniarze Armii Krajowej).

Altogether 2,613 Polish Army soldiers volunteered for training by Polish and British SOE operatives. Only 606 people completed the training, and eventually 316 of them were secretly parachuted into occupied Poland. The first operation ("air bridge", as it was called) took place on 15 February 1941. After 27 December 1944 further operations were discontinued, as by then most of Poland had been occupied by the Red Army.

Of 316 Cichociemni, 103 perished during the war: in combat with the Germans, murdered by the Gestapo, or in air crashes. A further nine were murdered after the war by the communist secret services. Altogether 91 operatives took part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.