The Zamosc Uprising Lasted Two Years
In 1942, the Zamosc region was the next area of Poland that the Germans wanted to subject to Generalplan Ost. The region had fertile black soil and therefore was seen as an ideal place for German colonization. The plan was to clear out the current inhabitants of the area and make room for 60,000 Germans by the end of 1943. 110,000 Polish citizens were removed from 300 villages. Some were resettled, but most were sent to forced labor camps and concentration camps. Some villages were simply destroyed and the inhabitants killed. 5,000 children were kidnapped from their families because of their potential for Germanization. After the war, only 800 of the children were found.
The people of the Zamosc region would not go quietly for the Germans. They fled into the woods and formed a massive resistance movement. The movement bribed Germans for the return of children, helped those who had been expelled, set up self-defense, and fought the Germans. The resistance was made up of mostly the AK and the Bataliony Chlopskie, but there were also Soviet partisans and pro-Soviet resistance groups that helped evacuate citizens and assault German colonists.
Attacks from several thousand Resistance fighters slowed the Germans down in late 1942 to early 1943, but the Germans fought back in the summer of 1943 by terrorizing the civilian population. The Resistance fought back even harder with numerous battles that stopped the German advances. By the middle of 1943 only 9,000 colonists were the area and only 4,000 more were moved by the end of 1943. The resistance even began to regain control of the region in the spring of 1943.
Both sides continued fighting in 1944 with the resistance continuing to take ground and culminated with the battle of Osuchy, where the resistance was defeated. In July, Operation Tempest managed to liberate large areas of the Zamosc region, and the Germans abandoned the region due to the efforts of the resistance and the advancing Red Army.