Editing Wojciech Jaruzelski (section)

== Military career ==

Jaruzelski was selected by the Soviet authorities for enrolment into the Soviet Officer Training School.<sup>[1]</sup> During his time in the Kazakh Republic, Jaruzelski wanted to join the non-Soviet controlled Polish exile army led by Władysław Anders, but in 1943, by which time the Soviet Union was fighting in Europe against Germany in the Eastern Front, he joined the Polish army units being formed under Soviet command.<sup>[2]</sup> He served in this Soviet-controlled First Polish Army during the war.<sup>[1]</sup> 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.<sup>]</sup> 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 and then from the General Staff Academy. He joined Poland's Communist party, the Polish United Workers' Party, in 1948<sup>[7]</sup> and became an informant for the Soviet supervised Main Directorate of Information of the Polish Army using the cover name Wolski. 

In the initial post-war years, he was among those who fought the Polish anti-Communists ("cursed soldiers") in the Świętokrzyskie region. A BBC News profile of Jaruzelski states that his career "took off after the departure [from Poland] in 1956 of the Soviet Marshal, Konstantin Rokossovsky",<sup>[2]</sup> who had been Poland's Commander in Chief and Minister of Defence.<sup>[2]</sup> Jaruzelski became the chief political officer of the Polish armed forces in 1960, its chief of staff in 1964; and Polish Minister of Defense in 1968,<sup>[2]</sup> four years after he was elected to be a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party.<sup>]</sup> Even the minister of defence, Marshal Marian Spychalski was persecuted.<sup>[10]</sup> Jaruzelski obtained his post.

In August 1968, Jaruzelski, as the defence minister, ordered the 2nd Army under General Florian Siwicki (of the "LWP") to invade Czechoslovakia,
<nowiki> </nowiki>resulting in military occupation of northern Czechoslovakia until 11 
November 1968 when under his orders and agreements with the Soviet Union
<nowiki> </nowiki>his Polish troops were withdrawn and replaced by the Soviet Army.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
<nowiki> </nowiki>as General Secretary of the Polish United Workers Party. There is some 
question whether he took part in organising the brutal suppression of 
striking workers; or whether his orders to the Communist military led to
<nowiki> </nowiki>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.<sup>[11]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>He claims that he was circumvented, which is why he never apologised 
for his involvement, but he could have resigned, especially after the 
resignation of foreign minister Adam Rapacki, but did not<sup>[11]</sup> Jaruzelski became a candidate member for the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party, the chief executive body of the party, obtaining full membership the following year.