A crime committed on the Ukrainian population of the village of Wierzchowiny in the Lublin region on June 6, 1945, attributed to a branch of the National Armed Forces, which this organization officially admitted to it. Several dozen to 196 inhabitants of the village fell victim to it.
The destruction of the village of Wierzchowiny on June 6, 1945 was described in different ways by historians. the authors agree that in the first days of June 1945 the commander of the PaS NSZ group, Mieczysław Pazderski, pseud. „Szary” [„Gray”] decided to intervene in the village by armed forces because of the support of its inhabitants for communism. According to Grzegorz Motyka, a strong cell of the Polish Communist Party was active in Wierzchowiny before World War II, and the inhabitants supported the PPR during the war. According to Tadeusz Swat, the local Ukrainians also, using the support of the Germans, openly fought Polish forestry units, and after the Soviet army entered the Lublin region, a significant part of the inhabitants of Wierzchowiny joined the ranks of MO and UB, created a network of agents, many of them received permission from the authorities to possess weapons short and machine. The commander of the National Armed Forces PaS, without consulting the KO, decided to kill the most dangerous Ukrainians. He had a list of people with the intention of liquidating them, which, according to Swat, included about 30 names, and according to Motyka – 19. In the „Gray” unit, about 1/3 were former soldiers of the 27th Volhynian Division of the Home Army, whose relatives fell victim to the Volhynian massacre and who took part in Polish retaliatory actions in Volhynia.
On June 6, 1945, in the morning, the unit of „Gray” (the group was composed of the following units: „Jacek”, „Sokoł”, „Zemsta” and „Satan”) entered Wierzchowiny in the uniforms of the Polish Army and was favorably received by the inhabitants, who have not figured out who the soldiers really are. The soldiers of „Gray” left the village, then returned and committed a mass murder of the Ukrainian civilian population, 196 people. According to Grünberg and Sprengel, there were 194 victims. Most of the victims were Orthodox, but some of them also included Jehovah's Witnesses, about thirty people.
Tadeusz Swat maintains that bystanders (from outside the list drawn up on May 21) died during the fight that broke out in the village and during the liquidation of bunkers hidden in the village. Based on the testimonies of witnesses, he claims that the number of victims did not exceed 50 killed. According to the same author, after the end of the action and the withdrawal of the „Gray” group, around 18, an unidentified unit claiming to be partisans committed a massacre in Wierzchowiny. According to Swat, there are many indications that it was a provocation of the security authorities, aimed at discrediting the NSZ. According to Wnuk and Motka, the version of the provocation is unbelievable. According to the mentioned authors, „Gray” changed the original plan and destroyed the entire village (instead of the planned liquidation of only specific people), because he hoped to gain the support of the local Polish population, who perfectly remembered the crimes of the Ukrainian partisans on Poles. Perhaps he also wanted to torpedo talks and local agreements between WiN and the UPA. After the village was burnt down, the NSZ soldiers retreated towards the village of Sielec.
On June 23, 1945, the NSZ magazine „Szczerbiec” admitted that the crime in Wierzchowiny was committed by a branch of NSZ. The newspaper stated that it was an act of fighting the „haidamak parasite” and, if necessary, further such actions were announced.
The commission investigating the events in Wierzchowinach did not order the exhumation of the mass grave of the victims, but only the opening of one of the smaller graves, in which only two bodies were found, including one decapitated. The course of events was established solely on the basis of the inspection of the scene and the collected testimonies of witnesses who spoke about the murder of all Ukrainian villagers (including women and children), rapes accompanying the crime, and killing not only with firearms, but also with axes, hoes and shovels.
Upon the news of the events in Wierzchowiny, a 60–person pursuit group consisting of several officers of the Ministry of Public Security, a dozen militiamen and 40 cadets of the Polish People's Army's artillery school was sent from Chełm. The troops of „Gray” set an ambush on the pursuit group, as a result of which the UB officers and militiamen were killed, and the cadets were incorporated into their ranks. After the failure of this action, a 160–strong operational group of the Soviet 98th regiment of the NKVD border troops, consisting of experienced frontline troops, set off on trucks (some sources say that it was an armored unit of the Red Army and units of the Internal Security Corps, totaling approx. 2,000 soldiers), the group was equipped with armored cars and aviation. As a result, several days of fights ended with the complete disintegration of the NSZ grouping. The main forces of „Gray” (approx. 300 men) taken by surprise on June 10 (11) in the village of Huta in the district of Chełmskie, were liquidated. 166 soldiers died, including Major Pazderski and most of the commanders, 30 soldiers of the National Armed Forces were wounded, 11 people were taken prisoner, the rest scattered. 164 buildings at the site of the clash also burned down. The losses of the NKVD operational group amounted to: 1 killed and 6 wounded, of which 4 died. In addition, 2 UBP officers and 2 Polish People's Army soldiers were killed. After the battle, the obituary of Mieczysław Pazderski was published on the front page of „Szczerbiec” – the local NSZ body, no. 23 of 23 June 1945. On June 15, 1953, a court of the People's Republic of Poland ruled that a branch of the National Armed Forces under the command of Mieczysław Pazderski „Gray” was responsible for the murder of Ukrainians in Wierzchowiny. This judgment was confirmed by a court opinion of May 8, 1998. A different opinion was issued on this issue on February 4, 1999. It stated that the judgment of the communist court of June 15, 1953 was uncritically accepted and no relevant historical evidence and findings were taken into account. Some historians cite non–originals documents made as copies by communist security service officials, incl. MBP. The credibility of these documents cannot be unequivocally confirmed, as many times such materials were prepared in order to be used by the communist authorities against independence activists in show trials after the war, but they are often quoted by researchers of that period. One of the non–original copies, signed with an annotation „for compliance” by a Soviet MUBP officer, Lieutenant Wojciusz – „«Gray»'s situation report” to the commander of the NSZ of the Lublin District of June 9, 1945, states: „I report that after the concentration, under my command, they moved to Zamosc, as ordered. On the way, it was decided to liquidate a few Ukrainian villages. The first and the closest was to be the village of Wierzkowiny i Kisłan  […] . Wierzchowiny was surrounded on all sides and 194 people of Ukrainian nationality were cut out. A dozen or so managed to escape ”. The murdered inhabitants of Wierzchowiny are commemorated by a monument–grave located in the center of the village. It has the form of an analogion with an open book and an inscription in Polish and Ukrainian. Communist propaganda used the crime in Wierzchowiny on a large scale, presented the massacre as an example of „the savagery of fascist survivors” and made it one of the most important arguments for the need to fight the anti–communist underground. According to Swat, at the same time, a large–scale disinformation campaign was undertaken. It was reported that 396 people died in Wierzchowiny, then this number was reduced to 280, to finally remain at 194. These numbers were to be reported by commanders of the NSZ units participating in the operation – „Roman” and „Janusz”, as well as by Capt. Zygmunt Wolanin „Zenon”. Only copies of reports, certified with the seal and signature of UB officers, have been preserved in the court case files. Thus, the reports could have been prepared by the UB. This number is uncertain because only one grave with two bodies was exhumed during the investigation of the crime scene.
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source: „The crime in Wierzchowiny”; in: portal: WikipediA — web page: pl.wikipedia.org [accessible: 2021.02.04]

Excerpts from the commission's protocol to investigate the murder of 196 Ukrainians committed on April 6, 1945 by NZW units under the command of Mieczysław Pazderski 'Szary':
„While inspecting individual flats, the Commission found terrible signs of destruction. Tables, broken beds, broken windows, blood clots on the floor and household appliances, even walls and ceilings are splattered with blood, the smell is terrible. Also in the courtyards, blood clotted in such quantities was noticed that there had undoubtedly been whole pools of blood previously there. A dozen or so people were killed in individual apartments and in some courtyards. So, for example, in the apartment of a wealthy landlord, Teofil Kondratiuk, 12 people were murdered. The room and kitchen of this apartment present a view that is difficult to describe. The floor is full of blood, the ceilings and walls are thickly splashed with blood, there is blood on the broken furniture, the remains of clothing in the blood. The yard of Anna Swięcicka is full of traces of blood pools, 18 people were killed here: 5 men and 13 women. Such traces of destruction and murder can be found to a greater or lesser extent in almost every flat. The bodies of the dead are buried in the middle of the village in one large mass grave and in a few smaller ones next to them.
In order to find out what the bodies of the killed people look like, one of the graves was exhumed and the bodies were inspected. The bodies of 2 people were buried in this grave. One of them is missing a head, it has apparently been chopped off. In addition, traces of gunshots were found  […]
Based on the testimonies of the interviewed witnesses, the incident had the following course: on 6 June this year at 11 a.m. a gang entered the village — as it was later found out, led by Stanisław Sekuła known‑as 'Sokół' — about six hundred people, dressed in Polish uniforms, decorated with flowers, and armed with regular rifles, machine guns and grenades. Some of these people rode on carts, some on horseback, and the rest on foot.
The entry of this unit was treated by the people of the village as the return of the army from the front. Soon, however, the participants scattered around the village and began murdering the inhabitants. The slaughter lasted about 4 hours. They were murdered in various ways, most of them shot in the head. There were cases of sophisticated abuse, so targeted victims were ordered to open their mouths, then a shot was fired towards the mouth. The extent to which the attackers became feral is evidenced by the fact that was brought to light only during the exhumation of the bodies. A headless torso was found in an open grave, but visual inspection revealed that the head had been chopped off. There were also cases of burning with hot iron and gouging out the eyes. The testimonies of the people who were eyewitnesses to the incidents show that the attackers, apart from firearms, used for the murders: axes, shovels and hoes. Women were also raped. It was found, on the basis of eyewitness testimonies, that the perpetrators had raped women in individual cases before the murder. the rest were women and children over 11.
The property of the inhabitants was also plundered. The attackers loaded clothes, underwear, footwear, and more valuable equipment onto the carts and took them away. A significant number of cows, pigs and horses were also taken from the village. From the total number of 140 horses owned by the population before June 6, 1945, there are now only 5 pairs”.

source: „Protocol of the Commission to investigate the crimes in the village of Wierzchowiny”; in: Institute of National Remembrance IPN Lublin, in: Acta OAIPN Lu 042/4, sh. 57—58

source: Huk Bogdan with a group of friends, „Murders of the Ukrainian population 1944-1947”; in: portal: Ruthenian apocrypha — web page: www.apokryfruski.org [accessible: 2021.09.30]

Fragment of a report by Roman Jaroszyński 'Roman' about the murder of 196 Ukrainians by NZW units under the command of Mieczysław Pazderski 'Gray' ('Szary'):
„I report that on 6 June 1945 the units of the National Armed Forces under the command of Captain 'Gray' — i.e. Captain 'Gray', second lieutenant 'Jacek', second lieutenant 'Roman', senior sergeant 'Zemsta' and sergeant 'Sokol' units — went to the action in the Ukrainian village of Wierzchowiny  […]
Command of the National Armed Forces in order to put an end to this and prevent further murder and prosecution of Poles and their families, issued an order to murder every one of the inhabitants of Wierzchowiny, and on June 6, 1945, the above units under the command of Captain 'Gray' arrived at the village of Wierzchowiny at 12:15 pm to carry out an action on the criminals. The action lasted till 15:10. During the action, first of all, all inhabitants of Ukrainian origin were shot and the young were tortured to extract weapons”.

source: „Report”, 16 VI 1945; in: Institute of National Remembrance IPN Lublin, in: Acta OAIPN Lu 17/1249, vol. 2, sh. 117

source: Huk Bogdan with a group of friends, „Murders of the Ukrainian population 1944-1947”; in: portal: Ruthenian apocrypha — web page: www.apokryfruski.org [accessible: 2021.09.30]

Fragment of the report of the interrogation of Marian Lipczak 'Doniec', a member of the unit under the command of Eugeniusz Walewski 'Zemsta', about his participation in the murder of 196 Ukrainians in Wierzchowiny by NZW units:
„We went to the Kulik colony, Wiszniewice commune, and stayed until June 4, 1945. On that afternoon, we left for Wola Żulińska with the entire unit, 55 people, for concentration. There we met the PAS troops of captain 'Gray', 'Jacek' second lieutenant, 'Roman', second lieutenant 'Sokol', there was also captain 'Zenon' and a briefing for the commanders of the troops took place. Captain 'Gray' was appointed the commander of all units, lieutenant 'Jacek' his deputy.
On June 6, 1945, the commanders of the units in the village of Ostrówek behind Krup were once again briefed in Krasnystaw County and Captain 'Gray' explained the plan, how to an action on the village of Wierzchowiny, Krasnystaw poviat, should be carried out. After the meeting, all units were announced about the upcoming action and the people were divided into sections 1‑8, and each had a task and each unit had its own section of the village. The 'Gray' unit had a section at the beginning of the village from the side of Krasnystaw. After 'Gray' there was secion of 'Jacek', then 'Roman' and 'Sokół', and our unit had the other end of the village, on the eastern side.
About 280 people took part in the action. We drove into the village, the carts stopped, those who were supposed to surround the village stood in their designated places. After the village was surrounded, the liquidation of the Ukrainian population began in the village. People from the smallest children to the elderly were shot, in most cases without distinction: such was the order of 'Gray'. Me and 'Zemsta' were at the camp. The moment a middle–aged man was running away into the rye, I shot him with a rifle and killed him. Later nobody else.
Up to 80 people were killed in our section. The 'Gray' unit liquidated most people. Horses, carts, pigs, shoes and clothes were taken. In our unit the most active were 'Kostek' and 'Spaniard' — they shot the most people. After the liquidation, we headed towards the village of Kasiłan”.

source: „Protocol from the interrogation of the suspect M. Lipczak”, 23 IX 1946; in: Institute of National Remembrance IPN Lublin, in: Acta OAIPN Lu 17/1249/J, sh. 22

source: Huk Bogdan with a group of friends, „Murders of the Ukrainian population 1944-1947”; in: portal: Ruthenian apocrypha — web page: www.apokryfruski.org [accessible: 2021.09.30]