Operation Tempest

General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski's order of 20 November 1943 replaced the earlier plan for a general uprising. AK units, re-forming the divisions and regiments of the 1939 Polish Army, were to attack the Germans just before the front arrived, while commanders and officials of the Government Delegation were to reveal themselves as representatives of the Polish Republic. The aim was to document Polish rights to the eastern lands and the state's independence despite the lack of relations with the USSR.

Tempest began in Volhynia in January 1944, spread to the Wilno region (Operation Ostra Brama), Lwów, the Lublin region and further districts, and its most important act was the Warsaw Uprising. Around 100,000 soldiers took part. It often succeeded militarily but ended in political defeat: the NKVD disarmed the units, arrested the commanders and deported soldiers deep into the USSR. General Okulicki ended the operation on 26 October 1944.