Arrest, Flight & Death

Detained after German investigators found his address in the notebook of another resistance fighter, Bytnar was immediately taken to Pawiak prison. Searching the apartment, incriminating evidence was found, including stolen German flags and anti-German brochures. Interrogated, Bytnar was the transferred to the Gestapo HQ at Szucha 25 later the same day. Subjected to merciless beatings, by the second day he was unable to move due to the extent of his injuries. Moved to the hospital in Pawiak, little did Bytnar know that a plan to spring him had already been formed.

News of Rudy’s arrest had spread like wildfire, sowing panic and alarm among those linked to him. Often delivering chocolates to the Germans due to his work for the Wedel company, Zygmunt Kaczyński was a familiar visitor to Szucha and it was he who filed a report stating that Bytnar would be moved between the Gestapo HQ and Pawiak. From this information, an operation titled Mexico was born but was abandoned at the last moment after consents weren’t issued.

Rearranged for March 26th, Mexico II was devised with the plan envisaging the Renault truck transporting Rudy being ambushed with petrol bombs as it turned from Długa to Nalewki. Signaled by a whistle, three backup plans were also made with the idea being that the ambush units would then, by in large, retreat to the Old Town. Emergency first aid facilities were arranged in a safehouse on Ursynowska 46, with the wounded – and Rudy – being rushed there in an old car (previously, only a horse and carriage had been available for transport).

Picking their point carefully, the attack was planned for the s-bend outside the Arsenał building as it was known that the prison transport would have to slow at this point.

Likewise, the proximity to the Warsaw Ghetto added a relative shield of safety as it was thought that the Germans would be unlikely to pursue their prey should they cross beyond its walls.

In all, 28 people were to take part in the attack, and news that Rudy was on the move in a stretcher was again passed on by Zygmunt Kaczyński. Using a phone at the Gestapo HQ, he phoned his superiors and, in the presence of several Germans, said: “The goods are being sent – they absolutely must be picked up.” As the truck progressed through Warsaw, operatives utilized a chain of signals (such as exaggerated tips of their hat) to track its journey. However, thereafter little went to plan.

Rather than a clinical extraction, a fierce gun battle ensued after the burning truck rolled to a halt outside Arsenał. Fortunately, several Germans chose not to involve themselves, among them sentries by the Ghetto and a German cyclist who happened to be in the area. Twenty-one prisoners were freed, but the gunfight still raged. The casualties included Bytnar’s childhood friend, Dawidowski, who was fatally wounded. German reinforcements finally arrived 20-minutes after the dust had settled.

Taken to apartments on Kazimierzowska 15 and then Karłowicza 18, it became clear that Rudy’s injuries sustained during interrogation were life-threatening. Finally taken to the Wolski Hospital on Płocka 26, he succumbed to his wounds on March 30th – but not before he was able to furnish his colleagues with the names of his interrogators, both of whom would later be assassinated. Buried under an assumed name at Powązki Military Cemetery, he was posthumously promoted to scoutmaster and awarded the Cross of Valor.