Władysław Kochański

Władysław Kochański (noms de guerre "Bomba" and "Wujek"; 7 November 1918 – 12 December 1980) was an infantry captain in the Polish Army during World War II.

During the German Invasion of Poland in 1939 Kochański served in the 48 Kresowe Infantry Rifle Regiment as commander of air defenses at Stryj.

At the end of June 1940 he evacuated to Great Britain on the Royal Navy destroyer Viscount and was assigned to the 2nd Grenadier Battalion "Kratkowane Lwiątka" (Rampant Lion) of the 1st Rifle Brigade, where he commanded a machine gun platoon.

After a period of acclimatization in Warsaw, he was assigned under the name "Bomba" to the second sector of the Wachlarz network in Volhynia, where he commanded the Kowel-Sarny diversion centre moving towards Kiev.

On 8 July 1943 the AK inspector of Równe, Captain Klimowski "Ostaja" entrusted Kochański with rebuilding the underground network in Kostopolski County, which had broken up following arrests by the Germans.

More than 600 civilians died in attacks on nearby villages or during the evacuation of Huta Stepańska, when panic led some to break away before the group effort.

During the second half of July 1943, Kochański organized a unit of almost 500 men to operate in the Stara Huta district in the Kostopol region, where the Polish self-defense base was located.

[8] Kochański's biggest victory took place 19 November 1943 at Moczulanka, where with the cooperation of Soviet units assembled around Szytow and commanded by Captain Kotlarow, he was able to break up and partly disperse a group of 1200 UPA troops carrying out an assault on the self-defense center at Huta Stara.

During a rest stop the soldiers of the escort were shot and Captain Kochański, Lieutenant Strzemia and Father Oboznik were taken to Kiev and later to Moscow.