Set in German-occupied Poland 1939-1944 and in post-war Poland 1945-1946, the series tells a story of Union of Armed Struggle/Armia Krajowa/Armed Forces Delegation for Poland soldiers commonly referred to as cichociemni. The script was inspired by the stories of Polish soldiers who during World War II underwent training in the UK in order to return to German-occupied Poland and partake in the underground struggle for independence. The series also touches upon the challenges faced by the German military intelligence organisationAbwehr, the intelligence agency of the SS Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, the Nazi secret police commonly known as the Gestapo and the infiltration of the Union of Armed Struggle/Armia Krajowa by the Abwehr and the SD. The series also briefly covers the activities of the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate and the NKVD. Until 2013 six series of 13 episodes each were made. Series I, II and III take place in the spring, summer and autumn of 1941. Series IV covers the period from April to June 1944. The action takes place mainly in Warsaw, including the Warsaw Ghetto, however some parts of the series are set in other areas of the General Government, as well as England, Italy and the Third Reich. Series V tells the story of the final period of World War II and shortly after its end, from April to June 1945, and is set in the newly instated People's Republic of Poland, Czechoslovakia and the American zone of the Allied-occupied West Germany. The action of series I to VI unfolds in the chronological order. Series VII, however, takes it back to 1944 and shows the events of the Warsaw Uprising, the 70th anniversary of which were celebrated in 2014.
Series 1 Episode 1 Spring 1941. A small division of Polish soldiers are completing their training in England and are about to be parachuted back to occupied Poland in order to carry out sabotage actions against the Germans. The members of the division are: Czesław Konarski, major of the Polish Armed Forces; his two sons - Władek, sportsman and lieutenant of the Polish Armed Forces, and Michał, medical student; Jan Markiewicz, an architecture graduate from Praga in Warsaw, and Bronek Woyciechowski - before the war the only heir to the fortune of a Warsaw businessman. In the meantime the Gestapo are setting a trap...
Production
Reception
The series broadcast by Telewizja Polska enjoyed huge popularity in Poland and the licence to screen it has been purchased by broadcasters in Italy, China, Montenegro and Scotland.
