Warsaw Uprising – Rare Polish Underground Eagle – Pruszków

One of the rarest underground eagles of the Home Army, this is the first version of the Pruszków eagle, produced in limited quantities due to the rejection of this variant before mass production began. The eagle was made in Pruszków near Warsaw, produced at the turn of 1943/44. Eagles of this type in both variants were worn during the Warsaw Uprising by Warsaw insurgents. The Polish cap eagle, made of zinc, is depicted with wings spread upwards, crowned, and sitting on an Amazonian shield. On the Amazonian shield, there is an inner shield with the symbol of an anchor with an additional element—a horizontal line cutting the sign in half. The reverse of the eagle is stamped with a countermark, lacking any mounting. The eagle is slightly bent to fit a cap. This version of the eagle is mentioned in Tomasz Zawistowski’s book “Polish Cap Eagles 1939-45” on page 192, illustration 368. The eagle was produced at the home of Henryk and Janina Raczyński from Pruszków. The eagle is extensively covered by Tomasz Zawistowski in the book “Polish Cap Eagles in the years 1939-1945,” pages 192-193, and in his article “Eagles with the sign of Fighting Poland”:

[http://www.polska1918-89.pl/pdf/orly-ze-znakiem-polski-walczacej,1580.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3tEBVjG Sk1Xl6K3Tq3mF67MegLFfosFVh6XYSO4JKtEYzDzHfzc1RNark]

The following information comes from his article:

“Pruszków Eagles. Operating since 1920 in Pruszków, the Industrial Plants of the Association of Polish Mechanics from America engaged in the production for the Polish defense industry in the 1930s, manufacturing, among other things, the famous anti-tank guns under Bofors license. During the (German) occupation, the plants were taken over by the company Warschauer Vereinigte Maschinenfabrik (WaVerMa), which initiated the production of self-propelled guns Sd. Kfz. 124 Wespe. The underground organization ZWZ/AK (Home Army) used the plant for its own purposes, secretly producing, among other things, firing pins for grenade fuses, rifle bolt pins, and barrel reamers. At the turn of 1942 and 1943, one of the conspirators, Henryk Raczyński “Mur,” received a proposal from his colleague, engineer Zbigniew Kredoszyński, to start the production of eagles for Home Army soldiers. The matrix dies, stamps, and punches, made after several months of work and with the help of engraver Henryk Lirsch, were smuggled to WaVerMa and hardened there. The production of the eagles was undertaken by the Raczyński couple in their home in Pruszków. Mr. Henryk stamped the eagles on a press set up in the bathroom window and cut them out with a punch, while Mrs. Janina soldered the mounting wires to the reverses. The risk of a slip-up was high—they narrowly avoided it when smuggling the hardened tools out of the plant. Another time, a German officer who was lodging with the Raczyńskis came close to discovering the truth. The production history of the eagles is known thanks to two sources. The first is an interview with the Raczyńskis, published in 1972 in the weekly “For Freedom and People” issued by ZBOWiD, and the second is a 1996 article by Zdzisław Zaborski “Błyskawica,” son of the director of the famous “St. Majewski” pencil factory, and in 1944 a soldier of the VII AK District “Obroża.” The emblem design was fairly simple. On the Amazonian shield, there was an inner shield with the anchor symbol with an additional element—a horizontal line cutting the sign in half. It is difficult to determine what it was meant to symbolize. Perhaps it was an attempt to incorporate the Latin cross into the monogram linked with the letters P and W? It is known that the first version of the eagle was not accepted by the commissioners. It can be assumed that due to this decision, the entire process of preparing the matrix, stamp, and punch, along with the most risky hardening under the enemy’s eyes, had to be repeated. The second version, differing slightly in design, with a characteristic narrow Amazonian shield, was accepted—the organization allocated funds for the purchase of metal sheets and serial production began…”