The drop zone code-named “Koliber 2” (Ref. No. 5021/43 and 5133/43) was located 11 km north of Bochnia. In the records of Section VI of the Commander-in-Chief’s Staff, it was listed under number 306 as a bastion capable of receiving drops from two aircraft. The drop zone was on alert for the first time from January 21 to 24, 1944. The next alert was scheduled for January 27–28, 1944. The site was on alert again between May 16 and 19, 1944.
On the night of May 19, two Handley Page Halifax aircraft with Polish crews took off from Italy (JP-229 “C” piloted by Warrant Officer Pilot (W/O) Henryk Jastrzębski and JP-177 “P” piloted by Senior Sergeant Pilot (F/S) Zygmunt Wieczorek). The first, loaded with material in a 0-9-12 configuration, departed for base after circling over the drop zone for an hour, as the crew did not see the site’s lights, and navigator Second Lieutenant Observer (F/O) Stanisław Kleybor reported significant traffic on the road leading to Niepołomice and illuminated barges on the Vistula. Warrant Officer Pilot (W/O) Henryk Jastrzębski noted that the site was not on alert. This prompted the dispatch of a cable to the homeland asking whether the site was standing by.
The second crew, as part of Operation “Weller 28” (later “Jacek 1”), was to drop for the second time the parachutist team of Major Jacek Bętkowski, code name “Topór 2.” Like the first, this crew also did not see the site’s lights and returned to base. Kajetan Bieniecki states that the homeland confirmed the arrival of the aircraft, but “(…) the aircraft directed to Koliber circled at a distance of 10 km from the bastion, which had its lights fully on, with reliable ground crew. (…)” The drop zone file does not confirm this information — there is no entry.
On the drop zone maps, the “Koliber 2” bastion appears again during the alert period of May 24–26, 1944. On the night of May 24, among other aircraft, two Handley Page Halifax machines with Polish crews took off from bases in Italy (JP-180 “V” piloted by Lieutenant Pilot (F/L) Kazimierz Szrajer and JP-229 “C” piloted by Warrant Officer Pilot (W/O) Henryk Jastrzębski). Lieutenant Pilot (F/O) Kazimierz Szrajer took off with the mission of dropping the parachutist team of Captain Michał Nowakowski, code name “Harpun,” along with 12 containers and 4 packages. He accomplished this in three passes. Navigator Major Observer (F/L) Stanisław Daniel reported that the site extinguished its lights after the second pass but turned them back on for the third, when the aircraft again transmitted the agreed letter. Warrant Officer Pilot (W/O) Henryk Jastrzębski did not complete the mission. Probably due to a navigational error, the crew did not find the drop zone and was fired upon by German anti-aircraft artillery.
There was one more probable drop site in the Niepołomice Forest during World War II. This is connected with an episode involving a Soviet paratrooper. At the edge of a forest clearing crossing the road to Gawłówek, there is an unmarked grave of a Soviet paratrooper-intelligence agent. This grave cannot be found on maps or in tourist guides, but the village residents and forestry workers know about it, and the grave is always well-maintained.
The fate of the soldier buried there is known thanks to the accounts of two eyewitnesses from Okulice. According to these accounts, from the summer of 1944, the Germans, preparing to repel the Soviet offensive, were building field fortifications including along the Raba River line (Stellung a2). Residents of nearby villages were forced to build these fortifications. These accounts were recorded by Janusz Czerwiński.
Citing the account of Julia Rataj published by Janusz Czerwiński, we can learn that “it was probably September, because mists were drifting over the meadows in the morning. The Germans drove us to pour concrete for bunkers in Majkowice. While working, I suddenly noticed (it seems) 5 parachutes above the forest. The German guarding us, when he noticed the workers’ interest in the event, forbade looking in that direction and sharply urged us back to work. After a moment, from the direction of Dziewin came the rumble of vehicles heading toward the forest. Supposedly they were Russian paratroopers and one got caught on a pine tree.” Supplementing this information is an account in which Franciszek Jagiełka noted: “I was 13 years old when the Germans took me to dig trenches. We dug trenches in the Mikluszowice-Dziewin area. One day in late August or September, I noticed 3 parachutes above the forest (I am certain there were three). Then I heard German vehicles driving from Dziewin into the forest.”
As Janusz Czerwiński established — the next morning, a group of lumberjacks guarded by watchmen from the sawmill combine in Kłaj (Sägewerk Klaj) arrived to work in the forest near Gawłówek. One of the guards sat down on a stump at the intersection of the road and the clearing, took the rifle off his shoulder and placed it on his knees… Suddenly he heard the crack of a stepped-on branch, turned around and saw a man running from Gawłówek toward the clearing, shouted “Halt!” and fired. The shot proved fatal; the running man fell two steps from the clearing. After a search, it was established that he was a Soviet paratrooper-intelligence agent; he was buried at the spot where he fell.
