Stowbtsy-Naliboki Group

The Stowbtsy-Naliboki Group was a partisan unit of the Home Army organized in the Stowbtsy District in the Eastern Borderlands, fighting from 1943 to 1945 in the Nowogródek Voivodeship, during the Warsaw Uprising, and in the Piotrków and Kielce regions.

The Stowbtsy-Naliboki Group originated from the Polish Partisan Unit organized in June 1943 at the Nowogródek District of the Home Army [pl]. In its initial months, the unit engaged in intensive combat against the Germans, cooperating with Soviet partisans. However, in December 1943, the Soviets deceitfully abducted the battalion command and disarmed most of its subunits. Second Lieutenant Adolf Pilch, codenamed Góra/Dolina, took command of the remnants and, with his superiors' consent, temporarily truced with the Germans. This decision allowed the regrouping and rebuilding of the unit, continuing the fight against the Soviets until the end of June 1944.

In the summer of 1944, the group withdrew from the Naliboki forest and, maneuvering between the shattered German units on the Eastern Front, reached the vicinity of Warsaw. As part of the Kampinos Group, the Naliboki soldiers participated in the Warsaw Uprising, defending Żoliborz and the "Independent Republic of Kampinos." After the defeat at Jaktorów, Dolina and some surviving soldiers crossed the Pilica river and continued fighting the occupier until January 1945.

The Stowbtsy-Naliboki Group was one of the longest-lasting Polish partisan units and the only one to undertake such an extensive combat trail.^[1] During its existence, it fought over 230 battles and skirmishes against the Germans, Soviet partisans, and German-collaborating formations.^[2][3] The unit was thrice decimated but managed to regroup each time and continue the fight. Over 19 months, more than 1,950 soldiers passed through the ranks of the group, with around 800 falling in battle or being murdered.^[2]