Abstract

In 2013, employees and students of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw, supervised by the authors of the present paper, in cooperation with members of the Stowarzyszenie Poszukiwań Miejsc Walk i Martyrologii oraz Mogił Wojennych ‘Leśni’ (Association for Searching Sites of combat and Martyrdom and War Graves ‘Leśni’), and the Warszawski Klub Płetwonurków (Warsaw Divers’ club) took part in an underwater exploration of the brożane Lake. The objective of the prospection was to find traces of an engagement during which a guerrilla troop led by Władysław Stefanowski (nickname ‘Grom’) was surrounded and routed by the Soviet forces supported by the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (Polish People’s Army) during the so-called ‘Augustów Roundup’ in July 1945. Theseevents still remain an unacknowledged pagein Polish history. Resting places ofalmost 600 out of the total of 7000 personsarrested at thetimearestill to be determined. Similarly, it is unknown where are the mortal remains of the majority of the 160-men-strong guerrilla troop of ‘Grom’. Post-war accounts provided by local fishermen about netting guerrilla weaponsand human bones from the brożane Lake inspired members of the Association ‘Leśni’ and the IA UW to investigate the lakefront in hopes of finding the site of the partisans’ last stand. In the course of the work, the north-western part of the waterbody was explored. Several items were found, such as a pocket knife or iron fragments of an artillery shell, however they could not have been convincingly connected to the discussed events.