Archaeologists have unearthed the remains after a year of intense search efforts and 75 years after the soldiers were killed. According to Poland’s Insтιтute of National Remembrance (IPN), the soldiers were likely part of a partisan group known as Warta. The soldiers were found in a mᴀss burial pit hidden on the grounds of St Martin’s parish cemetery in Odolanów, southwest Poland.

The soldiers were killed in a Soviet roundup on October 22, 1945.

IPN said: “On that day, the ‘Błysk’ unit seized Odolanów.

“In the town, the Citizen’s Militia post was disarmed, the town hall was occupied and the municipal funds were distributed among locals at a rally organised on the town’s square.

“During the retreat, near Odolanów, an hour-and-a-half-long skirmish took place between the unit and the NKVD/Internal Security Corps/Security service group following them, which had twice the numeral advantage.”

The partisan group was broken up and, according to some accounts, up to 24 soldiers were killed.

The group’s wounded commander Lieutenant Jan Kempiński, whose alias was Błysk or Flash, escaped wounded but alive.

Some of the killed partisans’ bodies were collected by relatives and buried in family graves.

However, according to many witnesses, the remaining corpses were secretly buried at the Odolanów cemetery by the communist security service.

Archaeologists began their hunt for the remains in 2019, focusing on an area along the cemetery’s fence.

According to some testimonies from local residents, that is where the soldiers were buried.

IPN said: “At that time, however, the remains were not found.

“This year’s work was carried out within the symbolic Grave of Greater Poland Insurgents and Pro-Independence Underground Soldiers.

“During the work, the remains of eight people were revealed.

Source: onlinenewsplus.com