Operation Arsenal

{{Short description|1943 escape of Jan Bytnar from Nazi German imprisonment}}

{{Expand Polish|Akcja pod Arsenałem

| date = December 2021

| fa = yes

}}

{{Infobox military conflict

|conflict=Operation Arsenal

|image=Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-001-0285-Ulica Długa.jpg

|image_size=270px

|caption=Długa Street where the Operation Arsenal took place

|partof=World War II

|date=March 26, 1943

|place=Warsaw, General Government (German-occupied Poland)

|result= Successful operation

• release of 21 prisoners, including Jan Bytnar{{Cite book|title=Akcja pod Arsenałem|last=Broniewski|first=Stanisław|date=1993|publisher=Kris|isbn=8390093111|location=Wrocław|oclc=749955695}}

|combatant1=25px Gray Ranks

|combatant2={{flag|Nazi Germany|name=Germany}}

|commander1=25px Stanisław Broniewski
25px Tadeusz Zawadzki

|commander2=Unknown, probably none

|strength1=28 men

|strength2=~15-20 men

|casualties1=2 dead
1 captured (subsequently executed)
140 Polish and Jewish hostages killed in reprisal

|casualties2=4 killed
9 wounded

}}

{{Polish Underground State sidebar}}

The Operation Arsenal ({{langx|pl|Akcja pod Arsenałem}}), code name: "Meksyk II" (Mexico 2), was the first major operation by the Gray Ranks, Polish Underground formation during the Nazi German occupation of Poland.{{cite news|url=https://www.wprost.pl/historia/10309679/najbardziej-spektakularna-operacja-szarych-szeregow-w-czasie-okupacji-rocznica-akcji-pod-arsenalem.html |website=wprost.pl |language=pl |title=Najbardziej spektakularna operacja Szarych Szeregów w czasie okupacji. Rocznica Akcji pod Arsenałem |date=26 March 2023 |access-date=20 April 2020}} It took place on March 26, 1943 in Warsaw. Its name was coined after the Royal Arsenal, in front of which the action took place. The plan was to free the troop leader Jan Bytnar "Rudy", who was arrested together with his father by the Gestapo. The operation was executed by 28 scouts led by Warsaw Standard Commander Stanisław Broniewski "Orsza". The initiator and the commander of the "Attack Group" was Tadeusz Zawadzki "Zośka".{{cite news|url=https://dzieje.pl/aktualnosci/akcja-pod-arsenalem |website=dzieje.pl |language=pl |title=Akcja pod arsenałem |date=29 March 2017 |access-date=20 April 2020}}

The successfully conducted operation led to the release of Jan Bytnar and 24 other prisoners, including another Storm Group troop leader, Henryk Ostrowski "Henryk", and 6 women, in an attack on the prison van that was taking the inmates from Pawiak Prison to Gestapo Headquarters at Szucha Avenue. Bytnar himself died four days later on account of injuries sustained due to German torture. Both of his interrogators, identified as Hubert Schulz and Ewald Lange, were assassinated by Szare Szeregi within two months.{{cite news|url=https://www.polskieradio.pl/39/156/Artykul/809761,Akcja-pod-Arsenalem-odbic-Rudego-z-rak-Gestapo |title=Akcja pod Arsenałem: odbić "Rudego" z rąk Gestapo |access-date=20 April 2020}}

The Operation was presented in a 1978 Polish film Akcja pod Arsenałem{{cite news|url=https://www.filmweb.pl/film/Akcja+pod+Arsena%C5%82em-1977-3737 |title=Akcja pod Arsenałem |access-date=20 April 2020}} and in a 2014 Polish film Stones for the Rampart based on Aleksander Kamiński's novel of the same name.{{cite news|url=https://www.filmweb.pl/film/Kamienie+na+szaniec-2014-682011 |title=Kamienie na szaniec |access-date=20 April 2020}}