Armia Ludowa (AL) – Polish People's Army aim was to wage a military struggle alongside the USSR against the German occupiers, in order to bring about a Poland which would be an ally of the USSR.

On January 1 of 1944, the "Krajowa Rada Narodowa " (KRN) – "National Council of the Country" replaced the "Gwardia Ludowa" (GL) – "People's Guard" with AL. The KRN intended AL to be an umbrella organisation under which all left-wing Polish anti-Nazi resistance organizations could be united and then integrated. Most of the 60,000 volunteers of AL came from left-wing resistance organizations of which the disbanded GL contributed 10,000, but a few volunteers joined AL directly without any previous left-wing affiliations. About 12,000 were full-time partisans living in the field the rest were part-timers living and operating from their homes.

Seven months after it came into existence, on July 21, 1944, AL was integrated with the Polish Military in the USSR and renamed the "Ludowe Wojsko Polskie" (LWP) – "Polish People's Military". After the Red Army and communist-backed 1st Polish Army captured Poland in 1944 and early 1945, most of the AL members joined the latter.

See also

• Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) which supported the Polish government-in-exile