Operation Azalea: The Night Poland Lost Its Telex Lines

Tanks on the streets of Zbąszyń during Martial law in Poland. — *Tanks on the streets of Zbąszyń during Martial law in Poland*

When martial law was declared in Poland on 13 December 1981, beyond just deploying tanks, the regime crippled the nation’s telephone and telex lines with a targeted strike. This was Operation Azalea (Akcja Azalia), a sophisticated blackout designed to isolate the Solidarity movement by silencing every telephone and telex machine in the nation.

The Midnight Silence

Poland lost its telex lines and telex service

At precisely midnight, most telephone subscribers across Poland lost service. For the average citizen, lifting the receiver resulted in total silence. There was no dial tone, and for several weeks, it was impossible to contact even emergency services. If a house were on fire or a medical emergency occurred, citizens had to physically find a military patrol or travel to a militia station for help.

The blackout was achieved through the coordinated takeover of roughly 450 telephone exchanges and roughly 50 telex centres. Units from the ZOMO (motorised police) and military technicians entered these buildings, known as PPTiT (Polska Poczta, Telegraf i Telefon), and physically disabled the connections. This was often done by removing “jumper wires” from the Main Distribution Frames (MDF) or simply cutting power to the switching racks.

The Last Telex Sent From The Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk

Sent by an unidentified journalist

On Saturday, the last reports mentioned military vehicles moving in the Gdańsk area, but activists could not find out more. The final telex was sent on Sunday at 1:45 am, by which time martial law was already in place, and the Polish military had taken control. The journalist, whose identity remains unknown, noted that telex connections were down, but the message still [somehow] got through. It delivered urgent news about the start of the round-up of Solidarity activists. The dispatch ended with the following:

When Poland Lost its Telex Lines

The last international telex message that got through

IT IS POSSIBLE, THAT EVERYTHING ENDS WELL, BUT I AM AFRAID. MAYBE TODAY I WILL NOT SLEEP, IT IS HORRIBLE, FOR WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE, WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH THOSE PEOPLE? I AM WORKING ON THIS FOR LONGTIME, BUT EVEN I CANNOT COMPREHEND HOW HUMANS CAN BE CAPABLE FOR SUCH EVIL ACTS, AND UNFORTUNATELY THE WORST IS YET TO COME. LET’S HOPE NOTHING HAPPENS WITH THOSE GOOD PEOPLE. GREETINGS.

Source: Blinken OSA Archivum

Destruction of Telex and Printing Presses

There is testimony of at least one incident of deliberate destruction of equipment:

At that time, Zdzisław Małecki was the head of the “Solidarity” printing house of the Southern Wielkopolska Regional Board. In his presence, the militia entered the printing house and destroyed the printing presses and the telex machine. Source: Latarnik Kaliski.

My guess is that this was just malicious destruction of the telex machine, since lines had already been cut at the exchange level.

Telex in Poland

A Dedicated Network

Although Polish telex and telephone (PSTN) services often shared the same physical cables, they were not the same network. Telex utilised a fully dedicated public switched network, complete with its own separate, distinct switching equipment.

Inland vs International: International telex traffic was routed through a primary gateway exchange in Warsaw.
The Disconnection: Because the telex network was distinct, the military had to send specific units to telex-only exchanges to prevent Solidarity leaders from coordinating via printed messages.
Direct Dialling: While international voice calls usually required an operator in 1981, international telex was more advanced. London-based users could often dial Polish telex numbers directly*, making the telex network a high-priority target for the military to prevent news from leaking to the West. *Source: Personal experience of the author.

Trusted Bodies Remained Connected

Separation of Networks: Most “trusted” communication did not actually run on the public telex or telephone lines. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MSW) and the military used dedicated, separate networks that remained fully operational. These were distinct from the civil telex and telephone lines used by Solidarity or private businesses.

The Telegram Loophole

Journalist and citizens used post offices for sending telegrams

Curiously, the telegram service remained operational for only a very short time after the phones and telex lines went dead. This was the primary route international journalists used to get word of the crackdown to their agencies.

The reason for this “loophole” was control. Unlike a telex, which was a direct machine-to-machine transmission, a telegram required a human clerk at a post office to read and transcribe the message. This created a natural bottleneck, allowing state censors to manually vet every word. Eventually, as the volume of “coded” messages became too difficult to manage, even this service was heavily restricted.

The associated image is of a telegram marked Ocenzurowano (censored).

*When Poland lost its telex lines journalists and citizens had to send telegrams*

Image: Stiopa, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org licenses/by-sa/3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

“Rozmowa Kontrolowana”

The call is controlled

The telephone service was restored on a rolling basis. By January 1982, for those private subscribers who had been reconnected, it came with a chilling psychological caveat. Every call was preceded by a recorded announcement: “Rozmowa kontrolowana, rozmowa kontrolowana” (The call is controlled). It was a blunt reminder that the state was listening to every word spoken on the line.

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