Festung Warschau
Encyclopedia
Festung Warschau was the name applied in German language
to Warsaw
when the city was defended, which happened under various constellations in the course of history, with and without involvement of German-speaking troops.
In the 20th century, the term Festung Warschau was used three times, all due to German participation. It was used when the Germans threw back the Russian advance in 1914, and by October, the city of Warsaw came within distance of the fighting. The term resurfaced during World War II
, beginning with September 1939's German invasion of Poland. Later in the war, three years after the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, Festung Warschau again entered German vocabularly, as between September 1944 and January 1945, the retreating Germans tried to establish a defense in the city.
in 1939 the German troops reached the outskirts of Warsaw on September 9. The Oberkommando des Heeres
(OKH) assumed that the unfortified city damaged by countless terror bombing raids would be taken by German motorized units without any resistance and issued a press and radio release stating that the capital of Poland was taken. However, the German motorized assault was defeated and the advancing troops were forced to retreat with heavy casualties. From September 8 the city started to be referred to as Fortress of Warsaw in German broadcasts, which was to justify the aerial bombardment of civilian targets.
The forces of the defenders, composed initially of only several battalion
s and various units of second-line troops, were soon strengthened by the soldiers of the Armies Poznań
and Pomorze
that reached the city in the aftermath of the Battle of Bzura. The Germans laid a siege
to the city and started shelling it with heavy artillery located in the outskirts. However, the defending troops managed to defeat all assaults and until the end of September the Germans could not manage to break into the city.
After three weeks of constant aerial and artillery bombardment and assaults, the situation of the civilian inhabitants of Warsaw became dire. Food, water and medicine shortages as well as the Luftwaffe
strafing
inhabitants and refugee
s grouped within the city caused Warsaw's civilian authorities to request a cease-fire. Warsaw President Stefan Starzyński
and Gen. Walerian Czuma
, commander of the Warsaw garrison, decided that further resistance, although possible, would only expose the civilians to unnecessary hardship and signed the capitulation on September 28, 1939. The German text of the capitulation treaty as well as German propaganda
used the term Festung Warschau to suggest that the failures of the Wehrmacht
were due to heavily fortified terrain they had to cross.
Warsaw, as a former Russian fortress, had several older fortifications, e.g. a ring of forts round the city and a citadel, built between 1835 and 1905. But those fortifications failed to prevent the city from being overrun in World War I, as Warsaw was occupied by German and Austro-Hungarian troops in 1915.
who took over personally many duties in the OKW and OKH ordered the no step back policy in an attempt to halt the Soviet
offensives which could not be contained by open field battle
anymore. Following this policy, several cities were declared Festungen (Fortresses) and were to be held by the German army at all cost, even if surrounded and with no hope to break the siege. Examples of this policy were the Festung Stalingrad
and Festung Kiev
.
Later in the war, the "Festung" concept that was to be illustrated by the propaganda film
Kolberg
which reminds of that city's defense against Napoleon in 1807, was also applied to German cities like Königsberg
, Breslau
, Frankfurt (Oder)
and Berlin
. Often even the civil population was supposed to support the rather suicidal attempts of defense, as the cities were largely destroyed in the course of the fights.
On July 27, 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered the Festung Warschau to be created and defended at all cost. The same day the governor of the General Government
, Hans Frank
, called for 100,000 Polish men between the ages of 17–65 to arrive at several gathering places in Warsaw the following day. They were to be employed at construction of fortifications for the Wehrmacht
in and around the city. This move was viewed by the Armia Krajowa
as an attempt to neutralize the underground forces, and the underground urged Warsaw inhabitants to ignore it. Fearing that the city would be turned into ruins and share the fate of Stalingrad and Kiev
, General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski
ordered Operation Tempest
to be started in Warsaw, which resulted in the Warsaw Uprising
that lasted from August through September.
After the Uprising, during which the Soviets troops had arrived near the Vistula
, the Germans razed the city to the ground and continued the construction of concrete bunkers that were to defend Festung Warschau against the Red Army
for four months. However, when the Soviets finally crossed the Vistula
on January 17, 1945, the city was captured in several hours with little resistance from the remaining German garrison. The Chief of the Operational Branch of the German Army General Staff (Generalstab des Heeres), Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin
gave permission to the retreat of German Heeresgruppe A from Warsaw
on January 16, 1945 throughout the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive
and was imprisoned on January 19, 1945 by the Gestapo
at Flossenbürg concentration camp
and Dachau concentration camp as he rejected a direct command of Adolf Hitler
by this action.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
when the city was defended, which happened under various constellations in the course of history, with and without involvement of German-speaking troops.
In the 20th century, the term Festung Warschau was used three times, all due to German participation. It was used when the Germans threw back the Russian advance in 1914, and by October, the city of Warsaw came within distance of the fighting. The term resurfaced during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, beginning with September 1939's German invasion of Poland. Later in the war, three years after the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, Festung Warschau again entered German vocabularly, as between September 1944 and January 1945, the retreating Germans tried to establish a defense in the city.
1939
During the Invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
in 1939 the German troops reached the outskirts of Warsaw on September 9. The Oberkommando des Heeres
Oberkommando des Heeres
The Oberkommando des Heeres was Nazi Germany's High Command of the Army from 1936 to 1945. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht commanded OKH only in theory...
(OKH) assumed that the unfortified city damaged by countless terror bombing raids would be taken by German motorized units without any resistance and issued a press and radio release stating that the capital of Poland was taken. However, the German motorized assault was defeated and the advancing troops were forced to retreat with heavy casualties. From September 8 the city started to be referred to as Fortress of Warsaw in German broadcasts, which was to justify the aerial bombardment of civilian targets.
The forces of the defenders, composed initially of only several battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s and various units of second-line troops, were soon strengthened by the soldiers of the Armies Poznań
Poznan Army
Army Poznań led by mj. gen. Tadeusz Kutrzeba was one of the Polish Armies during the Polish Defensive War in 1939.-Tasks:Flanked by Armia Pomorze to the north and Armia Łódź to the south, the Army was to provide flanking operations in Grand Poland region, defend it and withdraw towards lines of...
and Pomorze
Pomorze Army
The Pomeranian Army was one of the Polish armies to take part in the Polish Defensive War of 1939. It was officially created on March 23, 1939. Led by Gen.dyw...
that reached the city in the aftermath of the Battle of Bzura. The Germans laid a siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
to the city and started shelling it with heavy artillery located in the outskirts. However, the defending troops managed to defeat all assaults and until the end of September the Germans could not manage to break into the city.
After three weeks of constant aerial and artillery bombardment and assaults, the situation of the civilian inhabitants of Warsaw became dire. Food, water and medicine shortages as well as the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
strafing
Strafing
Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...
inhabitants and refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s grouped within the city caused Warsaw's civilian authorities to request a cease-fire. Warsaw President Stefan Starzyński
Stefan Starzynski
Stefan Starzyński was a Polish politician, economist, writer and statesman, President of Warsaw before and during the Siege of Warsaw in 1939.-Soldier:Starzyński was born on August 19, 1893 in Warsaw...
and Gen. Walerian Czuma
Walerian Czuma
Walerian Czuma was a Polish general and military commander. He is notable for his command over a Polish unit in Siberia during the Russian Civil War and the commander of the defence of Warsaw during the siege of that city in 1939.-Biography:...
, commander of the Warsaw garrison, decided that further resistance, although possible, would only expose the civilians to unnecessary hardship and signed the capitulation on September 28, 1939. The German text of the capitulation treaty as well as German propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
used the term Festung Warschau to suggest that the failures of the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
were due to heavily fortified terrain they had to cross.
Warsaw, as a former Russian fortress, had several older fortifications, e.g. a ring of forts round the city and a citadel, built between 1835 and 1905. But those fortifications failed to prevent the city from being overrun in World War I, as Warsaw was occupied by German and Austro-Hungarian troops in 1915.
1944
By 1944 the German Eastern Front's situation became hopeless. Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
who took over personally many duties in the OKW and OKH ordered the no step back policy in an attempt to halt the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
offensives which could not be contained by open field battle
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...
anymore. Following this policy, several cities were declared Festungen (Fortresses) and were to be held by the German army at all cost, even if surrounded and with no hope to break the siege. Examples of this policy were the Festung Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
and Festung Kiev
Battle of Kiev (1943)
The 1943 Battle of Kiev describes three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army, and one operational counterattack by the Wehrmacht which took place in the wake of the failed German offensive at Kursk during World War II...
.
Later in the war, the "Festung" concept that was to be illustrated by the propaganda film
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
Kolberg
Kolberg (film)
Kolberg is a 1945 German propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan and Wolfgang Liebeneiner. It opened on January 30, 1945 simultaneously in Berlin and to the crew of the naval base at La Rochelle. It was also screened in the Reich chancellery after the broadcast of Hitler's last radio address on...
which reminds of that city's defense against Napoleon in 1807, was also applied to German cities like Königsberg
Battle of Königsberg
The Battle of Königsberg , was one of the last operations of the East Prussian Offensive during World War II. In four days of violent urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belorussian Front captured the city of Königsberg...
, Breslau
Battle of Breslau (1945)
The Battle of Breslau, also known as the Siege of Breslau, was a three month long siege of the city of Breslau in Lower Silesia, Germany , lasting to the end of World War II in Europe. From 13 February-6 May 1945, German troops in Breslau were besieged by the Soviet forces which encircled the city...
, Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Often even the civil population was supposed to support the rather suicidal attempts of defense, as the cities were largely destroyed in the course of the fights.
On July 27, 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered the Festung Warschau to be created and defended at all cost. The same day the governor of the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, Hans Frank
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany...
, called for 100,000 Polish men between the ages of 17–65 to arrive at several gathering places in Warsaw the following day. They were to be employed at construction of fortifications for the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
in and around the city. This move was viewed by the Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
as an attempt to neutralize the underground forces, and the underground urged Warsaw inhabitants to ignore it. Fearing that the city would be turned into ruins and share the fate of Stalingrad and Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski
Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski
General Count Tadeusz Komorowski , better known by the name Bór-Komorowski was a Polish military leader....
ordered Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II by the Polish Home Army , the dominant force in the Polish resistance....
to be started in Warsaw, which resulted in the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
that lasted from August through September.
After the Uprising, during which the Soviets troops had arrived near the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
, the Germans razed the city to the ground and continued the construction of concrete bunkers that were to defend Festung Warschau against the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
for four months. However, when the Soviets finally crossed the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
on January 17, 1945, the city was captured in several hours with little resistance from the remaining German garrison. The Chief of the Operational Branch of the German Army General Staff (Generalstab des Heeres), Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin
Bogislaw von Bonin
Bogislaw von Bonin was a German Wehrmacht officer and journalist.- Early life :Bonin was born in Potsdam, Province of Brandenburg and joined the 4. Reiterregiment of the German Reichswehr in 1926...
gave permission to the retreat of German Heeresgruppe A from Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
on January 16, 1945 throughout the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive
Vistula-Oder Offensive
The Vistula–Oder Offensive was a successful Red Army operation on the Eastern Front in the European Theatre of World War II; it took place between 12 January and 2 February 1945...
and was imprisoned on January 19, 1945 by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
at Flossenbürg concentration camp
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
and Dachau concentration camp as he rejected a direct command of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
by this action.