Wojciech Jaruzelski this Soviet-controlled First Polish Army during the war. He participated in the 1945 Soviet military takeover of Warsaw and the Battle of Berlin. By the time the war ended that year, he had gained the rank of lieutenant. He "further credited himself in Soviet eyes" by engaging in combat against the non-Communist Polish Home Army, from 1945 to 1947. After the end of the war, Jaruzelski graduated from the Polish Higher Infantry School, followed by graduation from the General Staff Academy. He joined Poland's Communist party, the Polish United Workers' Party, in 1948 and became an informant for the Soviet
Wojciech Jaruzelski Polish troops were withdrawn and replaced by the Soviet Army. In 1970, he was involved in the successful plot against Władysław Gomułka, which led to the appointment of Edward Gierek as General Secretary of the Polish United Workers Party. There is some question whether he took part in organizing the brutal suppression of striking workers; or whether his orders to the Communist military led to massacres in the coastal cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia, Elbląg and Szczecin. As Minister of Defense general Jaruzelski was ultimately responsible for 27,000 troops used against unarmed civilians. He claims that he was circumvented, which is