: With no official government plan in place, the operation was a "great improvisation" led by figures like Colonel Adam Koc , Major Henryk Floyar-Rajchman , and former minister Ignacy Matuszewski . The gold was loaded onto a fleet of civilian buses and trucks, moving primarily at night to avoid German air raids. The Route: A Global Odyssey Uratować złoto - Wrzesień 1939 Przystanek Historia

The evacuation of Polish gold in September 1939, often called the "Golden Odyssey," was a high-stakes rescue mission that prevented nearly 80 tonnes of national reserves from falling into Nazi or Soviet hands.

On September 1, 1939, as the German invasion began, the Bank of Poland (Bank Polski SA) held approximately , valued at 463.6 million zlotys. Most of it was stored in Warsaw, with significant portions in provincial branches like Lublin and Siedlce.

: On the night of September 4-5, officials decided to evacuate the Warsaw reserves as the Luftwaffe bombarded the capital.