It was created in 1942 by members of the Wawer minor sabotage unit within the AK, as an easily usable emblem for the struggle to regain the country's independence.

[3] The kotwica was first painted on walls in Warsaw on 20 March 1942 by Polish boy scouts, as a psychological warfare tactic against the occupying Germans.

On 18 February 1943, General Stefan Rowecki, commander of the AK, issued an order specifying that all sabotage, partisan and terrorist actions be signed with the kotwica.

On 25 February, Biuletyn Informacyjny, the official press outlet of the AK, called the kotwica "the sign of the underground Polish Army".

[citation needed] Prohibition on the emblem's use was relaxed in the later years of communist rule, and in 1976 it became one of the symbols of Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela (ROPCiO), an anti-communist organisation defending human rights in Poland.