The country-wide TOW organization was active in the early days of the September 1939 Campaign and during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
[3] During the interwar period, Polish intelligence services in the Grupa Operacyjnej Dywersji (Operational Group for Diversion) developed contingency plans for creating an underground movement in case the country was occupied by either Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia.
The sub unit within this service codenamed Zygmunt was charged with preparing diversionary and sabotage actions to be carried out during the possible occupation.
The main, country-wide, TOW was organized by Major (later colonel) Jan Mazurkiewicz,[2] codename Radosław, in late 1939, in Stanisławów, after the Polish defeat in the September campaign.
Some of the other TOWs, such as the Pomeranian Griffin, continued to exist independently of the Home Army, or were only nominally subordinated to it.