The Home Army commander whose decision led to both the uprising and its surrender
On 5 October 1944, he left Warsaw at the head of the surrendered Home Army units and entered captivity.
Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski was the Polish military commander who led the Home Army and later became a political leader of the government-in-exile in London. Seeking to secure Polish control of the capital before a Soviet-backed political settlement, he ordered the Warsaw Uprising on 1 August 1944, but the revolt became isolated as Western aid remained limited and Soviet forces did not intervene. He authorised negotiations that ended the uprising in October 1944, entered German captivity, and after the war served as prime minister of the émigré government, defending the continuity of a defeated Poland’s statehood.
Also known as: Bor-Komorowski
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1915–1918Cavalry officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War
- 1918–1939Polish Army cavalry officer and commander of the Cavalry Training Centre at Grudziądz
- 1939–1941Organiser of the Kraków underground and commander in western Poland
- 1941–1943Deputy commander of the Home Army
- 1943–1944Commander-in-chief of the Home Army; ordered the Warsaw Uprising
- 1944–1947Commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces, including German captivity
- 1947–1949Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London
- 1956–1966Member of the Council of Three in Polish émigré politics
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarAustro-Hungarian cavalry officerHe served as a cavalry officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1915 to 1918.
- 1939–1945Axis-occupied Europe: collaboration and resistanceCommander of the Home ArmyCommanded the Home Army from July 1943 and surrendered when the Warsaw Uprising was crushed.
- 1944.08–10Warsaw UprisingHome Army commander-in-chiefHe ordered the uprising to begin and later surrendered to the Germans.
The Warsaw Uprising and the Home Army leadership’s decision
In November 1943, Bór-Komorowski ordered Operation Tempest, a planned series of local uprisings against German forces intended to precede Poland’s liberation. The initiative had originated with the government-in-exile in London, but he extended the plan to include cooperation with Soviet forces. Warsaw was initially excluded. The situation changed in July 1944, as Soviet forces advanced and the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation asserted itself as a rival governing authority. After several days of discussion between the Home Army leadership and the government-in-exile, Bór-Komorowski announced the uprising on July 31. The Home Army expected to liberate the capital before Soviet forces entered it. The uprising began on August 1 and lasted 63 days. Home Army forces initially took parts of Warsaw, but German forces counterattacked and recaptured them; Soviet forces took Praga on the east bank of the Vistula but did not cross the river to intervene. The uprising ended on October 2, and Bór-Komorowski was captured. His decision was an armed act of Polish underground resistance to German occupation, and also a moment when the wartime contest over who would govern the capital became explicit. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s account also records the uprising’s military isolation and German mass killings and deportations of civilians.