his clandestine work for the NKVD (as revealed first by Józef Światło). He unsuccessfully applied for return to the army. In the fall of 1939, he obtained false documents in the name of Zwoliński which he used it during the German occupation of Poland. According to the official biography of Żymierski, published anonymously in 1986, in February 1940 an underground civil court composed of anti-Piłsudski activists considered the 1927 arrest and sentencing of Żymierski as unjust and rehabilitated him. The civil court was probably unaware that Żymierski was then an agent of the NKVD, and the court's decision had no legal significance and force in the light of the applicable criminal law of the Second Polish Republic, as the only judicial authorities that could acquit Żymierski under the conditions of the occupation was the judicial system operating from May 1940. Under the pseudonym "Rola", he engaged in the Soviet dealings with Nazi German Gestapo secret police. In 1943, by Soviet executive order, he was named the deputy commander of the Communist and Soviet-backed Gwardia Ludowa, and from 1944, the commander of Armia Ludowa. He was promoted by the Communist-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation back to the rank of General and became the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army fighting alongside the Soviet Union (the Polish Armed Forces in the East). He was Minister of Defence in the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland (Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, January–June 1945). On 3 May 1945, by order of Stalin, he was promoted to the rank of Marshal of Poland. Post-war On June 15, 1945, when the controversy over establishing the border with Czechoslovakia intensified, Żymierski, replacing the absent prime minister, issued an ultimatum to the Czechoslovak side. After its rejection, Polish troops entered Cieszyn Silesia. Żymierski announced the further advance of Polish troops beyond Olza, Silesian Voivodeship. The order was quickly suspended by a decision of the Polish political authorities. From 1946, Żymierski served as head of the Commission of State Security. He was responsible for repressions against the former resistance fighters, members of the Polish 2nd Corps and non-communist politicians, as well as for the deployment of the Polish Army against Poland's Freedom and Independence fighters; and the roundup of Ukrainian families in Operation Vistula against the OUN-UPA. Until 1949, he also held the post of Minister of National Defence. In this year, he was replaced by the Polish-born Soviet