Wikipedia
Wachlarz (, folding fan) was a Polish World War II resistance organization formed by the Armia Krajowa for sabotage duties behind the German Eastern Front, outside of the Polish borders. Its commanders were Lt.Col. Jan Włodarkiewicz (until 1942) and Lt.Col. Adam Remigiusz Grocholski
Originally formed in 1941, shortly after the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet war, the organization was subordinate to Związek Walki Zbrojnej and bore the cryptnonym 18, later changed to 27. The final name, Wachlarz, was a result of the subdivision of the organization onto several branches, each trying to spread its influence from certain portions of the Polish border deep into the Soviet territory. There were five different sectors of Wachlarz, each acting independently and formed along several main supply lines of the German war machine:
- Lwów- Tarnopol- Zhmerynka- Dnipropetrovsk
- Równe- Zhytomir- Kiev
- Brześć nad Bugiem- Pińsk- Homel
- Lida- Minsk- Borisov- Orsha
- Wilno- Daugavpils- Polotsk
The main aim of the organization was to prepare reconnaissance, intelligence, sabotage and diversion between the Eastern Front and the pre-war Polish borders, from the Baltic Sea to southern Ukraine. By cutting the supply lines and disruptung troop movement, the organization was to be prepared to cut the German lines during the planned all-national uprising. The aim was to separate the German army from its supply depots and allow for the Polish underground forces to liberate Poland while the Germans in the USSR are crushed both from the east and the west.