The 4th German Reserve Airborne Unit was stationed at Ławica airport outside Poznań when the Wielkopolska Uprising broke out at the end of 1918. There were also large aviation equipment depots there.
Ławica remained in German hands for several days after the uprising broke out. The Poles delivered the aeronautical station an ultimatum, the response to which was a threat to bomb the “Bazar” building in the city centre or, in the case of a direct attack on the airfield, to blow up the nearby Fort VII where aerial bombs were stored. Faced with this situation, the insurgent commanders created a kind of assault formation, made up of an infantry battalion, two canons, a cavalry platoon, and loose volunteer detachments and sanitary divisions. This grouping, under the command of Lt. Andrzej Kopa, attacked Ławica airfield on the morning of 6 January 1919. When the Germans refused to surrender, the canons bombarded the barracks and a successful assault was launched.
It was then that the development of Polish aviation began in Wielkopolska. Three training companies, several garages and an air force ammunition magazine were stationed in Ławica as early as September 1919. The equipment, captured en masse, met the current needs of the Wielkpolska aviation industry and served to equip other parts of the country.
