Operation Most III

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Related topics Cultural activities Education History of Poland during 1939–1945

Home Army intelligence report with V1 and V2 schematic drawings.

Memorial at the Motyl landing site

Operation Most III (Polish for Bridge III) or Operation Wildhorn III (in British documents) was a World War II operation in which Poland's Armia Krajowa provided the Allies with crucial intelligence on the German V-2 rocket.

Background

From November 1943 onwards, the Intelligence Division of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) obtained parts of the V-2 rocket, which was being tested near Blizna, central Poland. The availability of parts increased from April 1944, when numerous test rockets fell near Sarnaki village, in the vicinity of the Bug River, south of Siemiatycze. Parts of the rocket were secured by the Armia Krajowa, and analyzed at its secret laboratories in Warsaw. The analysis was performed by Professor Janusz Groszkowski (radio and guidance), Marceli Struszyński (fuel), Antoni Kocjan, and others.

Operation

The Most III operation was carried out on the night 25/26 July 1944. A Dakota of No. 267 Squadron RAF flew from Brindisi, and landed at an Armia Krajowa outpost codenamed Motyl (butterfly), which was in a village near Jadowniki Mokre. The plane was piloted by a New Zealander, Flight Lieutenant Stanley G. Culliford, and co-pilot by a Polish native, Flight Lieutenant Kazimierz Szrajer. The landing of the plane was postponed a number of times due to the weather conditions in Poland. The are was experiencing rain and soggy landing grounds.

The operation was undertaken cautiously as the German presence in nearby villages was substantial. The parts of the V-2 rocket as well as important mail and other cargo had been transported from Warsaw, Poland, to Przybysławice ahead of time. One piece of very important and confidential mail that was included was a trivial novel titled "The Mandradora Root" written in conventional code. The book is not widely known to many outside of the family members of the individuals that took part in Operation III Most. The school located only a few kilometers from where the operation took place decided to name itself after the operation and created a mission of patriotism. This was due to the patriotism that was displaed by the fathers and granfathers of the students that attended the village school during Operation Most III. The school is very proud to be able to share this information on their school website which was gathered from firsthand experiences of said fathers and grandfathers. The school's principle or headmaster claimed that the mission of the school or the reason that the school's name was devoted to Operation III Most was "in order to protect people and their deeds from oblivion". This does include certain pieces of information that are not listed elsewhere but where passed down by word of mouth by the people who experienced these events to their children and grandchildren.

The village of Przybysławice and Pasieka Otfinowska had experienced many hardships throughout the time of World War I and World War II. People, like Jakub Klimek and Stanisław Nowak, died. Four young people were taken to forced labour in Germany and all traces of them were erased. These were Stanisław Woźniak, Józef Woźniak, Franciszek Fela, and Stanisław Mączko. Stanisław Boduch was shot by a well known Nazi thug, Guzdek. Properties and belongings were destroyed and other buildings were set on fire by the Nazis. The Gestapo was known to raid these villages as well as other villages close by. They then would arrest people as well as send them to forced labour camps like Auschwitz. This included individuals like Władysław Kusior, who after American liberation of the camps moved to the United States of America.

People from these villages began joining underground resistance groups and secret organizations to battle the Nazi enemies. Almost the entire town of Przybysławice belonged to the Home Army as well as the Peasant Battalions. This was a guerilla organization to combat the Nazis. These organizations had secret press which was manned by individuals such as Jan Szpara and Mieczysław Woźniak. Some of the most distinguished members of the Polish secret organizations from Przybysławice included Stanisław Gucwa (a former Marshal of the Polish Sejm), Roman and Jan Kuma, Władysław Myśliński, Wawrzyniec Kusior, Józef and Mieczysław Wasiowe, Jan Lechowicz, Kazimierz Król, Jan Szpara, Tomasz Biś, and Paweł Łata. Jan Szpara was known to have been a school headmaster in Przybysławice. Jan Lechowicz was married to the first cousin of Wawrzyniec Kusior who died in Auschwitz for his country in 1943. He and several others were memoralized with their names being listed on a memorial in the town of Przybysławice.

Jan Lechowicz, on the otherhand, was around 36 years old in 1944 when he was tasked with the transport of the V-2 rocket from the barns in Przybysławice to the meadow in which the Dakota plane was going to land. The rocket parts, the novel mentioned before, and other pieces of cargo were hidden in barns after they were transported from Warsaw to Przybysławice. This was done as it was decided that the easiest way to get these items to England was through air travel. All the captured parts and materials realted to the V-2 rocket were initially transported in oxygen cylinders per the 2018 recollections of Col. Zdzisław Baszak, the last remaining living participant of the operation as of 2018. They had intially been transported via a special car. The meadow that was chosen to land the Dakota plane was near the town of Przybysławice. While the items that needed transporting to England were hidden, Jan Lechowicz was also tasked with protecting or guarding the barns. Some of the stuff was also buried in the dirt to avoid it being located while awaiting for the Dakota planes to land. Once receiving orders from the people who had organized the entire landing of the Dakota plane and prepared the landing site, Jan unburied everything and transferred the cargo and the rocket parts to his horse pulled wagon. The wagon was thought to be the best way to transport the rocket and everything else without raising any suspicion among the Nazis in the area. To help hide everything, hay wa placed on top of the items. He was known to have decided his own travel paths while traveling from the barns to the meadow with the rocket due to knowing where some of the Nazis would be in higher numbers. Jan's daughter, Maria Kostrewa, also recalled several memories shared with her by her father of his experiences of running into Nazi's while transporting the rocket. He risked his life doing transporting the rocket as well as the lives of his children, Adam and Maria, and his wife, Maria. (Maria, the daughter, remained with her family in Przybysławice, Poland while Adam moved to Chicago, Illinois with his children. Maria then had a interview regarding her father in 2017). The lives of the villagers were also at risk. He was, however, successful in transporting the rocket to the meadow and was able to witness the Dakota plane actually taking off with the rocket and other cargo inside.

Jan Lechowicz seated on his wagon with the pieces of the V-2 Rocket hidden inside of it.

Jan recalled his experiences in a lengthy article written by Wincenty Kołodziej. The over 300 page article written in the Polish language featured a quote from Jan where he described the transport of the rocket. Translating the quote into the English language, he said: "On the day of the plane's arrival, I went to landing site in a cart, almost immediately in the evening. At the same time, the cover teams were also going there. They brought me a full cart of weapons to transport to a place in the village as they were not allowed to officially show them. On the way, I drove up to Franciszek Kuc's house, on Wielka Droga. From there they brought 5 sacks, not full, with various junk onto to the cart. It was mail and parts of the rocket, sorted and pre-packed into sacks. With all this cargo, I drove to where I needed to go. Reaching Budzbów, the rifles were removed, and I reached the plane landing site with the sacks."

The aircraft intiially had problems taking off as its landing gear sank in the marshy meadows. The crew could have abandoned and destroyed the airplane, but with the help of the partisans, the aircraft managed to take off at the third attemerpt and returned to Brindisi with the parts. This was done as the villagers and other presents started to dig at the mud with their hands and the one shovel they had present at the sight. The Dakota plane was supposed to have remained on the ground for only 5 minutes. Due to the weather oversight, however, the plane stayed on the ground for around an hour. It was during this hour that Jan Lechowicz was most concerned regarding his safety and the safety of his family per his daughter. The plan if the plane was not able to take off was just to burn the plane and wait for another plane to arrive to pick up the cargo. Jan, however, was not sure how he was going to be able to hide everything resulting in thoughts that he and his family were going to need to run to avoid the Nazis. Thankfully, the plane did manage to take off in the end. After a stop in Brindisi, the parts of the V-2 rocket and everything else present on the Dakota plane were finally delivered to London, England. The operation allowed for "one of the greatest military secrets of Hitler and the Third Reich to fall into the hands of the Allies, which then allowed for the effective combat of V-2 Rockets."

In May 1992, a Polish Archbishop reached out to Lech Walesa, the President of Poland at the time. This was done to request the efforts of the village and its inhabitants in Operation Most III be recognized by Poland. The request was granted and the village was awarded a Gold Medal for the Merit of National Defence thanks to many. One individual, Jan Nowak Jeziorański, stated that "never earlier or later had he encountered such as a great national collusion like the Fighting Poland and such a great power of patriotism of Polish people was shown during Operation III Most for which one should be proud of one's fathers and grandfathers." The village through present day continues to education the population on it's history. This is done through the celebrations of the anniversary of the operation in which people discuss all these historical facts. There is also a museum type display dedicated to this World War II operation in Poland featuring a variety of photos and historical information.

Participants

On the outgoing flight from Brindisi the aircraft had 4 passengers: Kazimierz Bilski, Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Leszek Starzyński and Bogusław Wolniak. On the return flight, Jerzy Chmielewski, Józef Retinger Tomasz Arciszewski, Tadeusz Chciuk, and Czeslaw Micinski were ferried from occupied Poland to Brindisi, Italy. It was intended that Antoni Kocjan (who had personally studied parts of V-2 missiles) would take part, but he was arrested by the Gestapo and therefore was replaced by Jerzy Chmielewski. The aircraft's crew included: F/Lt S.C. Culliford (Captain), F/O K. Szrajer (Co-pilot and translator)(Polish), F/O J.P. Williams (Navigator), F/Sgt J. Appleby (Radio-operator). Security for the operation was provided by Armia Krajowa group “Urban”, which included Adam Gondek 'Kruk'. The security commander of the Motyl landing site was Captain Wladyslaw Kabat ps.'Brzechwa'. Other participants were : Kpr. Franciszek Nowak 'Pomidor', Dr Jan Deszcz 'Wacek', Kpr. pchor. Władysław Bysiek 'Morena', Plut. Józef Lupa 'Czarny Sęp', Ppor. Franciszek Kuczek 'Deska', Por. Mieczysław Czech 'Jurand', Por. Paweł Chwała 'Skory', Ppor. Jan Gomoła 'Jawor', Władysław Kabat, and Col. Zdzisław Baszak. Jan Lechowicz was the primary person transporting the V-2 rocket and the cargo using his wagon pulled by horses.

In Publications

The photo of Jan Lechowicz, seated in a horse-pulled wagon with the Dakota plane cargo and the V-2 Rocket hidden inside, can be found with captions in the Polish language displayed in a small-scale museum in Poland. The size of the museum is due to a specific focus on Operation III Most. The caption provided by the museum translated to English is "Jan Lechowicz from Przybysławice, who in 1944, trasnported the German V-2 rocket to a makeshift airport. Thanks to this, the rocket found itself in England." Other pieces of historical information are also found in this Polish museum. This wagon photo as well as several other historical photos are shared throughout historical presentations given to mark the anniversary by third parties such as Ryszard Żądło, the President of the World Association of the Home Army in 2018, as cited in the Polish language. His Polish captioned photo is also in brochures created and published by the Puskarz family that were given out to at anniversery celebrations held to commemorate the event that "saved England". These brochures were physical copies but can also be seen in a TV reporting created by Dominik Tragarz.

Further information regarding Jan's heroic actions as well as the actions of the entire village of Przybysławice are described in the Polish news through interviews with his daughter, Maria, who herself was a witness to the events of the 1944 WWII Operation. Once the V-2 Rocket had been transported to Przybysławice, Jan Lechowicz hid them in the barn, burying smaller pieces of cargo. Władysław Baszak, a Polish speaking participant of the operation verified that cargo was also transported by Jan through the form of an interview manuscript. Paulina Kuczera, a polish-speaking reporter with Tarnowska TV, claimed Jan endangered his life, the lives of his family, as well as the lives of the entire village in order to ensure the rocket got to England. Thanks to Jan's participation in the transport of the rocket, the entire village of Przybysławice was awarded a Gold Medal for Merit of National Defense in Poland. This is is a Polish award recognizing meritorious service contributing to the development and strengthening of the country's defense capabilities. The specific medal awarded can also be viewed toward the end of a Polish TV interview on Tarnowska TV cited below. The Tarnowska TV interview caption lists him as "heroic inhabitant of the village" per a news article that refers to the family members of those that took place as "family members of heroic inhabitants".

Those regarded as the most distinguished members of the Nazi resistance/guerilla warfare organizations where listed in Polish language memoirs drafted in Chicago, Illinois in the United States of America under the title "Pamiętnik Złotego Jubileuszu Klubu Przybysławice". The Chicago published memoirs are read about globally as can be seen through their mention on the offical website of a school named after Operation Most III, located kilometers from where the Dakota plane had landed. This school educates the children and grandchildren of the participants of the Operation Most III who are able to provide unique input on the subject due to being related to those who participated in it themselves. Participants of operations also provided direct quotes while assisting with the compilation of "Mieczysław Adamczyk - Partyzant z Odfinowa", a scholarly work written in the Polish language. This work will have several firsthand direct quotes regarding the entire operation.

See also

• Battle of the V-1
• Home Army and V1 and V2
• Polish contribution to World War II

References

Bibliography

• Ordway, Frederick I., III. The Rocket Team. Apogee Books Space Series 36 (pp. 158, 173)
• (Polish) Michał Wojewódzki, Akcja V-1, V-2, Warsaw 1984, ISBN 83-211-0521-1
• McGovern, James. Crossbow and Overcast. W. Morrow: New York, 1964. (p. 71)
• (in Polish) “74. Rocznica Akcji III Most.” Aktualności, Radłów Gmina, 1 Aug. 2018, www.gminaradlow.pl/74-rocznica-akcji-iii-most,news-1388.
• (in Polish) Kostrzewa, Maria. “Maria Kostrewa Dowiad.” Ransport Części Niemieckiej Rakiety V-2 Do Przybysławic, Radłów Gmina via Youtube, 26 July 2017, www.gminaradlow.pl/aktualnosci/informacje/transport-czesci-niemieckiej-rakiety-v-2-do-przybyslawic,news-942.
• “Adam Lechowicz.” Family and Ancestry Records - Tarnów Poland, Ancestry Family Tree, www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60133/records/1768955?tid=&pid=&queryId=d1b101aa-3a61-4b16-a115-cbd37f6ef693&_phsrc=Yte6&_phstart=successSource. Accessed 4 July 2025.
• Lechowicz/Kukulka Family Members. “Kukulka/Lechowicz Family Tree Web Site - Guest View Enabled or Fuller View with MyHeritage Subscription.” MyHeritage Family Tree, 10 Feb. 2020, www.myheritage.com/FP/site-access-settings.php?s=OYYV6PE25KAGGTNAWIQQ53EYFRZWAQA&siteId=OYYV6PE25KAGGTNAWIQQ53EYFRZWAQA
• (in Polish) Malec-Suwara, Beata. “By Pamięć Przetrwała.” Instytut Gość Media, Gosc Niedzielny Tarnowski, 29 July 2024, tarnow.gosc.pl/doc/8907023.By-pamiec-przetrwala.
• (in Polish) „Pamiętnik złotego jubileuszu Klubu Przybysławice”. “Research from „Pamiętnik Złotego Jubileuszu Klubu Przybysławice” (as Cited in Polish) at a School Named after Operation III Most.” Niepubliczna Szkoła Podstawowa w Przybysławicach, Niepubliczna Szkoła podstawowa w Przybyslawicach, www.przybyslawice.net.pl/regionalia/przybyslawice-w-latach-i-i-ii-wojny-swiatowej/. Accessed 2 July 2025.
• (in Polish)“Operacja III Most.” Portal Historyczny Parafii Wietrzychowice, sites.google.com/site/cmeto2009/strona-g%C5%82%C3%B3wna/wojna-1939-45/operacja-iii-most. Accessed 3 July 2025.
• (in Polish) Przybysławice Resident. “Przybysławice Historical Presentation.” Przybysławice Moja Mała Ojczyzna, Author of the Presentation with citation to contact for further history information including Museum photos, 2010, www.slideshare.net/slideshow/przybysawice/16911626.
• (in Polish) Woźny, Franciszek, et al. Pamiętnik Złotego Jubileuszu Klubu Przybysławice. Memory Book - Biblioteka Marcinkowice, 1977.
• (in Polish)Władysław, Kabat. “Operacja III Most.” Portal Historyczny Parafii Wietrzychowice, ŚWIATOWY ZWIĄZEK ŻOŁNIERZY ARMII KRAJOWEJ - OKRĘG TARNÓW, sites.google.com/site/cmeto2009/strona-g%C5%82%C3%B3wna/wojna-1939-45/operacja-iii-most. Accessed 2 July 2025.
• (in Polish) Malec-Suwara, Beata. “Przybysławice W 80. Rocznicę Akcji ‘Most III.’” Instytut Gość Media, 28 July 2024, tarnow.gosc.pl/gal/pokaz/8907035.Przybyslawice-w-80-rocznice-Akcji-Most-III/56#gt.