Okulicki was born in November 1898 in Bratucice, Bochnia County in the Austrian section of partitioned Poland ("Galicia").

[1][2][3] In 1910 he enrolled at a local gymnasium (secondary school), and after 1913 was a member of the Związek Strzelecki (Riflemen's Association).

At the outbreak of World War II and the defense of Poland against Nazi Germany in 1939, Okulicki was in Warsaw.

[4] General Stefan Rowecki, the commander-in-chief of the ZWZ, appointed Okulicki as the commander of the Soviet occupation in Area No.

Released after the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement of 1941, he joined the Polish Army recreated in the USSR, where he assumed the post of chief of staff.

General Bór-Komorowski, anticipating his own arrest by the Soviets after the Warsaw Uprising, named him his deputy and successor.

After the capitulation of the Uprising, he managed to evade capture by the Germans and moved to Kraków, from where he started to reorganize the Home Army.

Bill Hudson wrote on 3 January 1945: "we met the Commander of the Home Army and our friend, Colonel Rudkowski [...].

He knew many personalities from the London SOE office and stated that he commanded the 7th Infantry Division in the army of General Anders.

"[8][9] In order to protect Polish soldiers against the NKVD and more general Stalinist repression, Okulicki, in consultation with the government delegate and on the basis of the government instruction from London of November 14, 1944, providing for the dissolution of the Home Army in the areas occupied by the USSR, issued an order on 19 January 1945 dissolving the Home Army and releasing soldiers from their oath.