Go to: POSTOJNA
The Partisans attack first.
April 23rd 1944
The German army is storing fuel in the Postojna cave with which it is supplying motorized units in the wider region that are threatening your comrades. Lead the special sabotage group (composed of about 20 fighters, agents, saboteurs of the Vojkova Brigade and of the 31st Division and some local people) and destroy the storage.
On 3 May 1944, the Partisan daily reported the following about the action in Postojna Cave: “The greatest success in all the actions was achieved by the Vojkovci on the night of 22-23 April, when they and a group of 18 volunteer fighters, led by the deputy brigade commander Toma (a partisan of Polish nationality(!)), destroyed the petrol depot in Postojna Cave. There were 12 wagons of petrol stored there, as the main supply of propellants for the German military needs in this sector. Under extremely difficult circumstances, our troops stormed the warehouse, drilled the barrels, laid mines and set fire to the spilled petrol, so that immediately everything was in flames. A German guard standing outside the main entrance threw hand bombs and machine gun fire into the warehouse, but this did not disturb our fighters to complete their action and set fire to the warehouse. The powerful detonations and the huge flames guaranteed the joyful fighters the certain success of their action.
12 wagons of petrol were destroyed, representing millions of dollars of damage.”
(From the clip)
Sadowski Tadek – Tomo is Polish, 22 years old. He is extremely bright and cheeky and always waiting for somewhere to “get dirty”. When the Polish-German war broke out , he volunteered to fight against the Germans and when he saw that Poland was lost, he went to Russia .
After a year in Russia, he went to the Czech Republic as a factory worker. From there, he wanted to move on and went to work in Germany. When he saw what a true German ‘worker’s paradise’ was like, he sneaked into France, where he was imprisoned by the Germans as a spy.
But the brave Tomo, after four days, escaped to Carinthia and soon got in touch with the partisans, joining them on 15 March 1943.
Comrade Tomo has a very restless spirit and changes his place of residence several times.
He was a partisan in Carinthia, in Dolenjska and now here in Primorska. He is most “fond” of sabotage actions, which he carries out with the ambition and audacity of a fearless fighter for a better future for the working people.
Srečko
( Partisan Daily, 1 May 1944)
More pictures:
https://www.kamra.si/en/digital-collections/diverzantska-akcija-v-postojnski-jami/
