to seize most of the city centre. Heavy street fighting in the outskirts lasted until July 14. In Wilno's eastern suburbs, the Home Army units cooperated with reconnaissance groups of the Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front. Soviets enter General Krzyżanowski wanted to group all of the partisan units into a re-created Polish 19th Infantry Division. However, the advancing Red Army entered the city on July 15, and the NKVD started to intern all Polish soldiers. In August the commander of all Home Army units in the Wilno area, Gen. Aleksander Krzyżanowski "Wilk" ordered all six brigades under his command to prepare for the Operation Tempest – a plan for an all-national uprising against the German forces occupying Poland. In what became known as the Operation Ostra Brama, the V Brigade was to attack the Wilno suburb of Zwierzyniec in cooperation with the advancing units of the 3rd Belorussian Front. However, for fear of being arrested with his units by the NKVD and killed on the spot, Zygmunt Szendzielarz – Łupaszko – decided to disobey the orders and instead moved his unit to central Poland. The Operation Ostra Brama was a success and the city was liberated by Polish soldiers, but the Polish commander was then arrested by the Soviets and the majority of his soldiers were sent to Gulags and sites of detention in the Soviet Union. It is uncertain why Szendzielarz was not court-martialled for desertion. It is highly probable that in fact his unit was moved out of the battlefield by Gen. "Wilk" himself, due to the fact that Łupaszka's unit has been long involved in fights with the Soviet partisans and he did not want to provoke the Red Army. Regardless, after crossing into Podlaskie and Białystok area in October, the brigade continued the struggle against withdrawing Germans in the ranks of the "Białystok Home Army Area". After the region was overrun by the Soviets, Łupaszka's unit remained in the forests and Łupaszka decided to wait for the outcome of Russo-Polish talks held by the Polish Government in Exile. At the same time the unit was reorganized and captured enough equipment to fully arm 600 men with machine guns and machine pistols. After the governments of the United Kingdom and United States broke the pacts with Poland and accepted the Polish Committee of National Liberation as the provisional government of Poland, Łupaszka restarted the hostilities – this time