Łukasz Ciepliński [] (26 November 1913 – 1 March 1951) was a Polish soldier who fought in the Polish anti-Nazi and ŁukaszCieplińanti-communist resistance movements. He used various aliases: Pług, Ostrowski, Ludwik, Grzmot, and Bogdan. Ciepliński was executed at Mokotów Prison in Warsaw, with a shot to the back of the head by the Polish secret police, Urząd Bezpieczeństwa.
For almost fifty years, his name was expunged from all books by the Communist government of the PRL.
Early years
Ciepliński was born in the village of Kwilcz, Kreis Birnbaum (Polish: Powiat międzychodzki), in then German Empire's Province of Posen, now back again Poland. Although Poland was partitioned at the time, he grew up in a patriotic family.
As his native village was located on the then-western outskirts of Polish ethnic territory, his parents – Franciszek Ciepliński and Maria (née Kaczmarek) – taught him Polish history and traditions as a child. His great-grandfather fought in the Greater Poland uprising (1848), while his older brothers fought in the Greater Poland Uprising (1918-1919). His parents owned a bakery store, and Cieplinski was one of their eight children.
Young Ciepliński began his education at elementary school in Kwilcz but completed it in Międzychód in 1929. After graduating from high school, Ciepliński enlisted with the Third Cadet Corps in Rawicz, and in 1934 enrolled in the Military College in Ostrów Mazowiecka.
In 1936, the young officer joined the 62nd Infantry Regiment in Bydgoszcz, where a year later he became leader of an antitank unit.
World War II
Ciepliński was twenty-six years old when World War II began. He participated in the Battle of the Bzura and in the Kampinos wilderness, trying to get through Wehrmacht lines to besieged Warsaw. His distinguished service during the Polish September Campaign was recognized by General Tadeusz Kutrzeba, who personally awarded him Poland's highest military decoration for valor, the Cross of the Virtuti Militari for destroying six German tanks.
Ciepliński, who was the commanding officer of the antitank unit of the 62nd Infantry Regiment, destroyed the tanks on 17 September 1939, near Witkowice. In a twist of fate, it was also on that same date that the Soviet Union invaded Poland.
Resistance movement
In mid-September 1939, Ciepliński managed to reach Warsaw and took part in the defense of the city. When the Polish capital surrendered, he decided to continue the struggle. In late fall 1939, he moved to the environs of Rzeszów and from there crossed the Carpathian Mountains to Budapest where he came into contact with the Polish military. In early 1940, after further military training, Ciepliński returned to occupied Poland.
He was apprehended by the Ukrainians in Baligród, who handed him over to the Germans. Imprisoned in Sanok, he escaped in April 1940 and, dressed as a Lemko peasant, eventually reached nearby Rzeszów.
Successes of Ciepliński and his men
After his return, Ciepliński began to participate in the Polish resistance movement. Promoted to the rank of commandant of the Rzeszów District of the Związek Walki Zbrojnej, later called the Home Army, he distinguished himself in several operations. Ciepliński took part in numerous operations against German outposts in the area of Rzeszów, Dębica, and Kolbuszowa. A skilled and gifted activist, he organized a successful intelligence network.
His men liquidated some 300 Gestapo agents and collaborators. In the spring of 1944, his unit captured V-1 and V-2 rocket parts. Furthermore, Ciepliński's operatives located Anlage Süd, a secret headquarters of Adolf Hitler, which was located in a rail tunnel near the town of Strzyżów.
In the spring of 1944, Ciepliński, now promoted to the rank of major, carried out the so-called "Kosba Action", aimed at the liquidation of the Nazis in the area of Rzeszów. Soon afterwards, when Operation Tempest began, his unit, reorganized as the 39th Infantry Regiment, participated in the operations that lead to the liberation of Rzeszów from the Nazis on 2 August 1944.
After World War II
In the summer of 1944, Rzeszów and its adjacent area were captured by the Soviet Red Army. The Soviet Union ordered all Home Army members to give up their arms and to join the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie. Mindful of the tragic fate that befell thousands of Home Army soldiers who enthusiastically cooperated with the Red Army only to be later imprisoned and executed by the Soviet NKVD and SMERSH units, Ciepliński strongly opposed and resisted this idea.