Military description of the Warsaw Uprising
Encyclopedia
The Warsaw Uprising
began with simultaneous coordinated attacks at 17:00 hours on August 1, 1944. The uprising was intended to last a few days until Soviet
forces arrived; however, this never happened, and the Polish forces had to fight almost without any outside assistance. Initially the battle raged throughout most of Warsaw
, but after a short time it became confined to districts in the West of the town. The key factor in the battle was the massive imbalance of weapons between the two sides. The German
side was extremely well equipped whilst the Polish
side had, initially, barely enough ammunition for a few days. The policy of one bullet, one German allowed the Polish fighters to sustain the uprising for many weeks at the cost of their own lives. Some areas fought for a full 63 days before an agreed capitulation
took place. The losses on the Polish side amounted to 18,000 soldiers killed, 25,000 wounded and over 250,000 civilians killed; those on the German side amounted to over 17,000 soldiers killed and 9,000 wounded.
Although Stalingrad had already shown the level of danger which a city can pose to armies which fight within it and the importance of local support to armies, the Warsaw uprising was probably the first demonstration that in an urban terrain
, a vastly under-equipped force supported by the civilian population can hold its own against far better equipped professional soldier
s— though at the cost of vast sacrifices on the part of the city's residents.
The change of "W-hour" from 2400 (in earlier plans) to 1700 proved to be a costly strategic decision, reducing the chance of surprising the Germans, especially since many of the Polish partisans were not trained for prolonged day fighting. The order to start the uprising did not reach all of the units (around 23,000 personnel) due to the obvious technological and logistic limitations of the underground movement.
Fighting broke out before the "W-hour" (scheduled for 1700) in several places where German units encountered organising Polish forces: around 1400 on Żoliborz, 1500 on Czerniaków, 1600 around Plac Napoleona, Hale Mirowskie, Plac Kercelego marketplace, Okopowa street and Mokotów.
Until "W-hour" those separate incidents were not generally perceived as part of a bigger plan. However, around 1600 SS-Standartenfuhrer Paul Otto Geibel, chief of police and SS in the Warsaw District, received a warning about the uprising from an anonymous 'lieutenant of Luftwaffe', who had in turn been warned about it by a Polish woman. He alerted the units under his command, which thus were prepared for the assault at 1700. This drastically reduced the element of surprise of the insurgents. On the other hand, while the Germans had been considering the possibility of an uprising, they had no operational plans prepared for such an occasion.
The results of the first two days of fighting in different parts of the city were as follows:
Area I (Śródmieście, Stare Miasto): Units in that area captured most of their assigned territory, but failed to capture strong German pockets of resistance (the Warsaw University buildings, PAST
skyscraper, or the headquarters of the German garrison at Piłsudski square). They thus failed to create a central stronghold and secure communications links for other areas. The main failures were in establishing a secure land connection with the northern area of Żoliborz through the northern railway line and the Cytadela fortress as well as failure to capture the bridges over Vistula
. The forces mobilized in the city centre also failed to capture the German-only area near the Szucha avenue.
Area II (Żoliborz, Marymont, Bielany): Units here failed to secure the most important military targets in the area of Żoliborz. Many units retreated outside of the city, into the forests. Although the main body of the area was captured, the soldiers of colonel Żywiciel failed to capture the Cytadela fortress area and break through German defences at Warszawa Gdańska railway station.
Area III (Wola): Units here initially succeeded in securing most of the territory, but sustained heavy losses (up to 30%). Some units retreated into the forests, while others retreated to the eastern part of the area. In the northern part of Wola the soldiers of colonel Radosław
managed to capture the German barracks, the German supplies depot at Stawki Street, and the flanking position at the Jewish cemetery.
Area IV (Ochota): The units mobilized in this area did not capture either the territory or the military targets (the Warsaw concentration camp on Gęsia street, SS barracks and Sipo
barracks located in former Students House on Narutowicz
square, nicknamed Alcatraz). After suffering heavy casualties most of the forces of the Armia Krajowa
retreated to the forests west of Warsaw. Only two small units of approximately 200 to 300 men under lieut. Gustaw stayed in the area and managed to create strong pockets of resistance. They were later reinforced by units from the city centre. Units of Kedyw
managed to secure most of the northern part of the area and captured all of the military targets there. However, they were soon tied down by German resistance from the south and west.
Area V (Mokotów): The situation in this area was very serious from the beginning of hostilities. The partisans were to capture the heavily-defended and fortified so-called Police Area (Dzielnica policyjna) on Rakowiecka street. Also, they were to establish a connection with the city centre through open terrain at Pola Mokotowskie. None of this succeeded. Some units retreated into the forests, while others managed to capture parts of Dolny Mokotów, which was, however, severed from most communications routes to other areas.
Area VI (Praga): The Uprising was also started on the right bank of the Vistula
. The main task of the Area VI (Obwód VI) was to seize the bridges on the river and secure the bridgeheads until the arrival of the Red Army
. It was clear that, since the situation was far worse than in other areas, there was no chance for any help from the outside. After some minor initial success, the forces of lt.col. Antoni Władysław Żurowski were badly outnumbered by the German forces concentrated there. The fights were halted, and the Home Army forces located in the Praga
area went underground. After the Soviets
finally reached the right bank of the Vistula
on September 10, the officers proposed recreating the pre-war 36th 'Academic Legion' infantry regiment; however, they were all arrested by the NKVD
and sent to Russia for interrogation.
Area VII (Powiat
Warszawski): this area consisted of territories outside Warsaw city limits. Actions here mostly failed to capture their targets.
Zgrupowanie Kedyw
u Komendy Głównej: These units secured parts of Śródmieście and Wola; along with the units of Area I, they were the most successful during the first few hours.
Many primary targets were not achieved on the first and subsequent days. Those included the early plans to capture the PAST
building and failed attacks on Okęcie
, Pola Mokotowskie and Warszawa Gdańska train station. After the first several hours of fighting many units adopted a more defensive strategy, while the civilian population started erecting barricades throughout the city.
and Ochota
districts. However, they failed to secure the bridges over the Vistula
or bridgeheads on the other side of the river. Also, there were still several German pockets of resistance inside the Polish-controlled territory, most notably the PAST
skyscraper, the bridgeheads, and Headquarters of the police.
On that very same day SS general Erich von dem Bach
was appointed commander of all the forces fighting the uprising and began concentrating the newly arrived troops. These included Units of Dirlewanger
, Schmidt and Reinefarth
. The main aim of the German forces was to break through to the German bridgeheads and then cut off the Uprising from the river by attacking both southward and northward.
On August 5 the three German groups started their advance westward along Wolska and Górczewska streets toward the main East-West communication line of Aleje Jerozolimskie
Av. Their advance was halted, but the Reinefarth and Dirlewanger regiments started to carry out orders of Heinrich Himmler
: behind the lines special groups of SS, police and Wehrmacht went from house to house shooting all inhabitants and burning their bodies. The aim of this policy was to crush the will to fight and put the uprising to an end without having to commit to heavy city fighting. In mass executions approximately 40,000 civilians were slaughtered. At the same time the Zośka and Wacek battalions managed to capture the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto
and the Warsaw concentration camp
. The area became one of the main communication links between the insurgents fighting in Wola and those defending the Old Town.
On August 7 the German forces were joined by tanks, with civilians being used as human shield
s. After two days of heavy fights they managed to cut Wola in two and reach the Bankowy square.
Until mid September, the Germans were shooting all captured insurgents on the spot. The main perpetrators were Oskar Dirlewanger
and Bronislaw Kaminski
, who committed the most cruel atrocities. After von dem Bachs arrived in Warsaw (August 7), it became clear that atrocities only stiffened the resistance and that some political solution should be found, considering the small forces at the disposal of the German commander. The aim was to gain a significant victory to show the Home Army
the futility of further fighting and make them surrender. This did not succeed, but from the end of September on, some of the captured Polish soldiers were treated as POWs
.
Brigade started its onslaught on the Ochota
district. The forces defending the area consisted of only two ill-equipped battalions, while the Germans were aided by tanks, artillery and Goliath self-propelled mines. However, the morale of German and Russian troops fighting in the area was low, and the main aim of the soldiers fighting there was to loot and rape rather than to attack enemy positions. As a result, the two battalions of the Home Army managed to defend the area with heavy casualties until August 11, when they retreated toward Mokotów
.
The Old Town area (Polish
Starówka or Stare Miasto) was initially weak and almost undefended. However, it posed a great threat to the German-held bridgehead of the Kierbedź bridge. Also, the Polish positions were close enough to the northern railway line and the Cytadela stronghold to prevent the Germans from effectively using them. Knowing that, the Germans planned to cut off the Old Town both from the north (attack along the railway line toward Vistula) and from the south (attack from the Bankowy sq. Most Kierbedzia bridge). On August 9 the German units from the Mariensztat
area managed to capture the Royal Castle, but failed to drive further inland. The Home Army counter-attacked and on August 12 forced the Germans out of Bankowy sq. However, German aerial bombardment and extensive usage of tanks imposed high casualties on both the defenders of the Old Town and the civilians. One of the first buildings to be bombed was a field hospital marked with a huge symbol of the Red Cross on the roof.
A German attack from the north was also halted with heavy casualties on both sides. Heavy city fighting started in the area of Plac Bankowy, with the square and the nearby barricade at Tłomackie street changing hands several times. The Germans managed to establish a link with the German forces under siege in the building of the German Garrison (Mostowski Palace
) on August 15, but the huge building became a scene of heavy door-to-door and room-to-room fights. The fights lasted until August 18 when both sides withdrew from the ruins.
The no-mans-land and the covering positions of the Polish defence lines were composed of Warsaw Ghetto
ruins and big open areas of Kercelak sq., Żytnia street and Leszno street. The Home Army was not well enough equipped to withstand a German armoured attack in open field. However, the main positions in the Old Town were densely urbanised and covered with small, narrow streets. Because of that, after initial successes in taking the outer rim, the German advance was halted. However, Germans amassed large numbers of artillery for the constant bombardment of the area behind Polish lines. According to von dem Bach himself the number of guns used in the bombardment was as follows:
The usage of heavy artillery and constant air bombardment (the planes from Okęcie airport needed only 5 minutes to reach their targets) was to inflict heavy casualties on the civilians and destroy the city itself. This aim was expressed in direct orders of Adolf Hitler
, Heinrich Himmler
and Heinz Guderian
.
Despite German superiority, both technical and numerical, the Old Town was held until the end of August. However, the situation of both the Home Army and the civilians became critical: lack of food, water and munitions made further defence of the ruins impossible. Several plans to break through the German positions in Ogród Saski park to the downtown and through the northern railroad to Żoliborz
failed. On September 2 the defenders of the Old Town withdrew through the sewer
s. More than 5,300 men and women were evacuated using this way.
area Polish units under command of general Zygmunt Berling
(thus sometimes known as 'berlingowcy' - 'the Berling men'), the 1st Polish Army
(1 Armia Wojska Polskiego) were in position. On the night of 14/15 September three patrols landed on the shore of Czerniaków and Powiśle areas and made contact with Home Army forces. Under heavy German fire only small elements of the main units made it ashore (I and III battalions of 9th infantry regiment, 3rd Infantry Division). At the same time the commanders of the Red Army
declined to support the Polish troops with artillery, tanks or bombers.
The Germans intensified their attacks on the Home Army positions near the river to prevent any further landings, which could seriously compromise their line of defence, but weren't able to make any significant advances for several days, while Polish forces held those vital positions in preparation for new expected wave of Soviet landings. Polish units from the eastern shore attempted several more landings, and during the next few days sustained heavy losses (including destruction of all landing boats and most of other river crossing equipment). Other Soviet units limited their assistance to sporadic and insignificant artillery and air support.
Shortly after the Berling landings, the Soviets decide to postpone all plans for a river crossing in Warsaw "for at least 4 months", and soon afterwards General Berling was relieved of his command. On the night of September 19, after no further attempts from the other side of the river were made and the promised evacuation of wounded did not take place, Home Army soldiers and landed elements of Wojsko Polskie were forced to begin a retreat from the positions on the bank of the river.
Out of approximately 3,000 men who made it ashore only around 900 made it back to the eastern shores of Vistula
, approximately 600 of them seriously wounded.
s of munitions and other supplies. Initially the air supply operations were carried out mostly by Polish bomber units (Polish Special Duty Squadron 1586) stationed in Bari
and Brindisi
in Italy
. Later on at the insistence of the Polish government-in-exile they were joined by South Africa
n and British
units. The drops continued until September 21. The total weight of allied drops was 104 ton
s.
The Soviet Union did not give permission to the Allies for use of its airfields for those supply operations; thus the planes were forced to use distant bases in the United Kingdom
and Italy, which reduced their carrying weight and number of sorties. The Allies' specific request for the use of landing strips made on 20 August was denied by Stalin on 22 August (he referred to the insurgents as 'a handful of criminals').
United States planes did not join the operation. After Stalin's objections to support for the uprising, Churchill telegrammed Roosevelt on August 25, proposing to send planes in defiance of Stalin and 'see what happens'. Roosevelt replied on August 26: 'I do not consider it advantageous to the long-range general war prospect for me to join you in the proposed message to Uncle Joe'http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/shows/warsaw.rising/interactive/timeline.warsaw/frameset.exclude.html.
Although German air defence over the Warsaw area itself was almost non-existent, except for elements of KG52, the highest-scoring fighter geschwader in the Luftwaffe
, which claimed its 10,000th kill of the war on a Soviet plane over the Warsaw suburb of Praga, about 12% of the 296 planes taking part in the operations were lost. Most of the drops were made at night-time, and poor accuracy left many parachuted packages stranded in German-controlled territory.
From September 13 on the Soviets begun their own airdrop raids with supplies, and dropped about 55 tons in total. The drops continued until September 28. Since the Soviet airmen did not equip the containers with parachute
s, the majority of recovered packages were damaged.
Finally on 18 September the Soviets allowed one USAAF flight of 110 B-17s of the 3 division Eighth Air Force
to re-fuel at Soviet airfields used in Operation Frantic, but it was too little too late. A large air-drop from high altitude fell predominantly into German hands.
Of the total of 239 tons of supplies dropped during the 8 weeks by 306 planes of the western Allies, only 88 Tons (36.8%) actually reached the Home Army in Warsaw, the Kabacki woods and the Kampinos forest. The remainder fell into enemy hands.
signed the capitulation of remaining Polish forces (Warszawski Korpus Armii Krajowej or Home Army Warsaw Corps) at the German headquarters in the presence of general von dem Bach. According to the capitulation treaty the Home Army soldiers were to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, and the civilian population was to be treated humanely.
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...
began with simultaneous coordinated attacks at 17:00 hours on August 1, 1944. The uprising was intended to last a few days until 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....
forces arrived; however, this never happened, and the Polish forces had to fight almost without any outside assistance. Initially the battle raged throughout most of 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...
, but after a short time it became confined to districts in the West of the town. The key factor in the battle was the massive imbalance of weapons between the two sides. The German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
side was extremely well equipped whilst the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
side had, initially, barely enough ammunition for a few days. The policy of one bullet, one German allowed the Polish fighters to sustain the uprising for many weeks at the cost of their own lives. Some areas fought for a full 63 days before an agreed capitulation
Capitulation (surrender)
Capitulation , an agreement in time of war for the surrender to a hostile armed force of a particular body of troops, a town or a territory....
took place. The losses on the Polish side amounted to 18,000 soldiers killed, 25,000 wounded and over 250,000 civilians killed; those on the German side amounted to over 17,000 soldiers killed and 9,000 wounded.
Although Stalingrad had already shown the level of danger which a city can pose to armies which fight within it and the importance of local support to armies, the Warsaw uprising was probably the first demonstration that in an urban terrain
Urban Terrain
Urban Terrain is a military term for the representation of the urban environment within the context of urban warfare. Urban terrain includes buildings, roads, highways, ports, rails, airports, subways, and sewage lines....
, a vastly under-equipped force supported by the civilian population can hold its own against far better equipped professional soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s— though at the cost of vast sacrifices on the part of the city's residents.
W-hour
"W-hour" (from the Polish wybuch, "outbreak"http://www.warsawuprising.com/timeline.htm), the moment of the start of the uprising, had been rescheduled for 1 August at 1700 during a briefing on 31 July around 1730.The change of "W-hour" from 2400 (in earlier plans) to 1700 proved to be a costly strategic decision, reducing the chance of surprising the Germans, especially since many of the Polish partisans were not trained for prolonged day fighting. The order to start the uprising did not reach all of the units (around 23,000 personnel) due to the obvious technological and logistic limitations of the underground movement.
First moves
Until "W-hour" those separate incidents were not generally perceived as part of a bigger plan. However, around 1600 SS-Standartenfuhrer Paul Otto Geibel, chief of police and SS in the Warsaw District, received a warning about the uprising from an anonymous 'lieutenant of Luftwaffe', who had in turn been warned about it by a Polish woman. He alerted the units under his command, which thus were prepared for the assault at 1700. This drastically reduced the element of surprise of the insurgents. On the other hand, while the Germans had been considering the possibility of an uprising, they had no operational plans prepared for such an occasion.
The results of the first two days of fighting in different parts of the city were as follows:
Area I (Śródmieście, Stare Miasto): Units in that area captured most of their assigned territory, but failed to capture strong German pockets of resistance (the Warsaw University buildings, PAST
PAST
PAST was a Polish telephone operator in the period between World War I and World War II. It is notable for its main headquarters in Warsaw, which at the time of its construction was the first and tallest skyscraper in the Russian Empire and the tallest building of Warsaw...
skyscraper, or the headquarters of the German garrison at Piłsudski square). They thus failed to create a central stronghold and secure communications links for other areas. The main failures were in establishing a secure land connection with the northern area of Żoliborz through the northern railway line and the Cytadela fortress as well as failure to capture the bridges over 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 forces mobilized in the city centre also failed to capture the German-only area near the Szucha avenue.
Area II (Żoliborz, Marymont, Bielany): Units here failed to secure the most important military targets in the area of Żoliborz. Many units retreated outside of the city, into the forests. Although the main body of the area was captured, the soldiers of colonel Żywiciel failed to capture the Cytadela fortress area and break through German defences at Warszawa Gdańska railway station.
Area III (Wola): Units here initially succeeded in securing most of the territory, but sustained heavy losses (up to 30%). Some units retreated into the forests, while others retreated to the eastern part of the area. In the northern part of Wola the soldiers of colonel Radosław
Jan Mazurkiewicz
Jan Mazurkiewicz , codename Radosław, was a Polish soldier, a veteran of World War I, and a colonel in the Polish anti-Nazi resistance Armia Krajowa during World War II...
managed to capture the German barracks, the German supplies depot at Stawki Street, and the flanking position at the Jewish cemetery.
Area IV (Ochota): The units mobilized in this area did not capture either the territory or the military targets (the Warsaw concentration camp on Gęsia street, SS barracks and Sipo
SIPO
SIPO or Sipo can refer to* Sipo Bohale, an Equatoguinean footballer* Sicherheitspolizei, the Security Police of Nazi Germany* State Intellectual Property Office, the patent office of the People's Republic of China, 中华人民共和国国家知识产权局...
barracks located in former Students House on Narutowicz
Gabriel Narutowicz
Gabriel Narutowicz was a Lithuanian-born professor of hydroelectric engineering at Switzerland's Zurich Polytechnic, and Poland's Minister of Public Works , Minister of Foreign Affairs , and the first president of the Second Polish Republic....
square, nicknamed Alcatraz). After suffering heavy casualties most of the forces of 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...
retreated to the forests west of Warsaw. Only two small units of approximately 200 to 300 men under lieut. Gustaw stayed in the area and managed to create strong pockets of resistance. They were later reinforced by units from the city centre. Units of Kedyw
Kedyw
Kedyw , was an underground movement - Armia Krajowa organization during World War II, which specialized in active and passive sabotage, propaganda and armed action against Nazi German forces and collaborators.-Operations:...
managed to secure most of the northern part of the area and captured all of the military targets there. However, they were soon tied down by German resistance from the south and west.
Area V (Mokotów): The situation in this area was very serious from the beginning of hostilities. The partisans were to capture the heavily-defended and fortified so-called Police Area (Dzielnica policyjna) on Rakowiecka street. Also, they were to establish a connection with the city centre through open terrain at Pola Mokotowskie. None of this succeeded. Some units retreated into the forests, while others managed to capture parts of Dolny Mokotów, which was, however, severed from most communications routes to other areas.
Area VI (Praga): The Uprising was also started on the right bank of 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 main task of the Area VI (Obwód VI) was to seize the bridges on the river and secure the bridgeheads until the arrival of 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...
. It was clear that, since the situation was far worse than in other areas, there was no chance for any help from the outside. After some minor initial success, the forces of lt.col. Antoni Władysław Żurowski were badly outnumbered by the German forces concentrated there. The fights were halted, and the Home Army forces located in the Praga
Praga
Praga is a historical borough of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is located on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.- History :...
area went underground. After the Soviets
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....
finally reached the right bank of 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 September 10, the officers proposed recreating the pre-war 36th 'Academic Legion' infantry regiment; however, they were all arrested by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and sent to Russia for interrogation.
Area VII (Powiat
Powiat
A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries. The term powiat is most often translated into English as "county", although other terms are also sometimes used...
Warszawski): this area consisted of territories outside Warsaw city limits. Actions here mostly failed to capture their targets.
Zgrupowanie Kedyw
Kedyw
Kedyw , was an underground movement - Armia Krajowa organization during World War II, which specialized in active and passive sabotage, propaganda and armed action against Nazi German forces and collaborators.-Operations:...
u Komendy Głównej: These units secured parts of Śródmieście and Wola; along with the units of Area I, they were the most successful during the first few hours.
Many primary targets were not achieved on the first and subsequent days. Those included the early plans to capture the PAST
PAST
PAST was a Polish telephone operator in the period between World War I and World War II. It is notable for its main headquarters in Warsaw, which at the time of its construction was the first and tallest skyscraper in the Russian Empire and the tallest building of Warsaw...
building and failed attacks on Okęcie
Okecie
Okęcie is the largest neighbourhood of the Włochy district of Warsaw, Poland.It is the location of Warsaw Chopin Airport and the PZL Warszawa-Okęcie aircraft works, and home to the Okęcie Warszawa professional association football club....
, Pola Mokotowskie and Warszawa Gdańska train station. After the first several hours of fighting many units adopted a more defensive strategy, while the civilian population started erecting barricades throughout the city.
German reinforcements
The Uprising reached its apogee on August 4 when the Home Army soldiers managed to establish frontlines in the WolaWola
Wola is a district in western Warsaw, Poland, formerly the village of Wielka Wola, incorporated into Warsaw in 1916. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it is slowly changing into an office and residential district...
and Ochota
Ochota
Ochota is a district of Warsaw, Poland, located in the central part of the Polish capital city's urban agglomeration.The biggest housing estates of Ochota are:* Kolonia Lubeckiego* Kolonia Staszica* Filtry* Rakowiec* Szosa Krakowska* Szczęśliwice...
districts. However, they failed to secure the bridges over 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 ....
or bridgeheads on the other side of the river. Also, there were still several German pockets of resistance inside the Polish-controlled territory, most notably the PAST
PAST
PAST was a Polish telephone operator in the period between World War I and World War II. It is notable for its main headquarters in Warsaw, which at the time of its construction was the first and tallest skyscraper in the Russian Empire and the tallest building of Warsaw...
skyscraper, the bridgeheads, and Headquarters of the police.
On that very same day SS general Erich von dem Bach
Erich von dem Bach
Erich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski or Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski , was a Nazi official and a member of the SS, in which he reached the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer .- Slavic origin :...
was appointed commander of all the forces fighting the uprising and began concentrating the newly arrived troops. These included Units of Dirlewanger
Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Paul Dirlewanger was a World War II officer of the SS who commanded the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, a penal battalion composed of German criminals...
, Schmidt and Reinefarth
Heinz Reinefarth
Heinrich Reinefarth was a German military officer during and government official after World War II. During the Warsaw Uprising his troops committed numerous war atrocities. After the war Reinefarth became the mayor of the town of Westerland and member of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag...
. The main aim of the German forces was to break through to the German bridgeheads and then cut off the Uprising from the river by attacking both southward and northward.
Wola Massacre
Aleje Jerozolimskie
Aleje Jerozolimskie is one of the principal streets of the city of Warsaw in Poland. It runs through the City Centre along the East-West axis, linking the western borough of Wola with the bridge on the Vistula River and the borough of Praga on the other side of the river.The name of the street...
Av. Their advance was halted, but the Reinefarth and Dirlewanger regiments started to carry out orders of Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
: behind the lines special groups of SS, police and Wehrmacht went from house to house shooting all inhabitants and burning their bodies. The aim of this policy was to crush the will to fight and put the uprising to an end without having to commit to heavy city fighting. In mass executions approximately 40,000 civilians were slaughtered. At the same time the Zośka and Wacek battalions managed to capture the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
and the Warsaw concentration camp
Warsaw concentration camp
The Warsaw concentration camp was an associated group of the German Nazi concentration camps, possibly including an extermination camp, located in German-occupied Warsaw, capital city of Poland...
. The area became one of the main communication links between the insurgents fighting in Wola and those defending the Old Town.
On August 7 the German forces were joined by tanks, with civilians being used as human shield
Human shield
Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in...
s. After two days of heavy fights they managed to cut Wola in two and reach the Bankowy square.
Until mid September, the Germans were shooting all captured insurgents on the spot. The main perpetrators were Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Paul Dirlewanger was a World War II officer of the SS who commanded the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, a penal battalion composed of German criminals...
and Bronislaw Kaminski
Bronislaw Kaminski
Bronislav Vladislavovich Kaminski was the commander of the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A. , an anti-partisan formation made up of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany occupied areas of Russia, which was later...
, who committed the most cruel atrocities. After von dem Bachs arrived in Warsaw (August 7), it became clear that atrocities only stiffened the resistance and that some political solution should be found, considering the small forces at the disposal of the German commander. The aim was to gain a significant victory to show the Home Army
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...
the futility of further fighting and make them surrender. This did not succeed, but from the end of September on, some of the captured Polish soldiers were treated as POWs
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
.
Ochota Massacre
Simultaneously with the German attack on Wola, the KaminskiBronislaw Kaminski
Bronislav Vladislavovich Kaminski was the commander of the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A. , an anti-partisan formation made up of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany occupied areas of Russia, which was later...
Brigade started its onslaught on the Ochota
Ochota
Ochota is a district of Warsaw, Poland, located in the central part of the Polish capital city's urban agglomeration.The biggest housing estates of Ochota are:* Kolonia Lubeckiego* Kolonia Staszica* Filtry* Rakowiec* Szosa Krakowska* Szczęśliwice...
district. The forces defending the area consisted of only two ill-equipped battalions, while the Germans were aided by tanks, artillery and Goliath self-propelled mines. However, the morale of German and Russian troops fighting in the area was low, and the main aim of the soldiers fighting there was to loot and rape rather than to attack enemy positions. As a result, the two battalions of the Home Army managed to defend the area with heavy casualties until August 11, when they retreated toward Mokotów
Mokotów
Mokotów is a dzielnica of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Mokotów is densely populated. It is a seat to many foreign embassies and companies...
.
Old Town
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
Starówka or Stare Miasto) was initially weak and almost undefended. However, it posed a great threat to the German-held bridgehead of the Kierbedź bridge. Also, the Polish positions were close enough to the northern railway line and the Cytadela stronghold to prevent the Germans from effectively using them. Knowing that, the Germans planned to cut off the Old Town both from the north (attack along the railway line toward Vistula) and from the south (attack from the Bankowy sq. Most Kierbedzia bridge). On August 9 the German units from the Mariensztat
Mariensztat
Mariensztat is a neighbourhood in Warsaw's borough of Śródmieście . It is located between the Vistula river and the Old Town.The historical neighbourhood dates from the 18th century, when local nobleman Eustachy Potocki married Maria Kątska and received the parcel of land as part of Kątska's dowry...
area managed to capture the Royal Castle, but failed to drive further inland. The Home Army counter-attacked and on August 12 forced the Germans out of Bankowy sq. However, German aerial bombardment and extensive usage of tanks imposed high casualties on both the defenders of the Old Town and the civilians. One of the first buildings to be bombed was a field hospital marked with a huge symbol of the Red Cross on the roof.
A German attack from the north was also halted with heavy casualties on both sides. Heavy city fighting started in the area of Plac Bankowy, with the square and the nearby barricade at Tłomackie street changing hands several times. The Germans managed to establish a link with the German forces under siege in the building of the German Garrison (Mostowski Palace
Mostowski Palace
Mostowski Palace is an 18th-century palace in Warsaw, Poland, located at ul. Nowolipie 2 — prior to World War II, at ul...
) on August 15, but the huge building became a scene of heavy door-to-door and room-to-room fights. The fights lasted until August 18 when both sides withdrew from the ruins.
The no-mans-land and the covering positions of the Polish defence lines were composed of Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
ruins and big open areas of Kercelak sq., Żytnia street and Leszno street. The Home Army was not well enough equipped to withstand a German armoured attack in open field. However, the main positions in the Old Town were densely urbanised and covered with small, narrow streets. Because of that, after initial successes in taking the outer rim, the German advance was halted. However, Germans amassed large numbers of artillery for the constant bombardment of the area behind Polish lines. According to von dem Bach himself the number of guns used in the bombardment was as follows:
- 220 guns of various calibres
- 1 heavy mortar Thor 610mm
- 50 GoliathGoliath (disambiguation)Goliath was a giant famous for his battle with David as described in the Hebrew Bible.Goliath may also refer to:- Biology :* Atlantic goliath grouper, a species of fish found in the Atlantic Ocean...
self-propelled mines - one companyCompany (military unit)A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
of Nebelwerfer 42/43NebelwerferThe Nebelwerfer was a World War II German series of weapons originally designed to deliver chemical weapons. They were initially developed by and assigned to the Wehrmacht's so-called Chemical Troops ... - one batteryArtillery batteryIn military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
of Wurfgranate of various calibres (ranging from 150mm to 320mm) - 4 Junkers Ju 87Junkers Ju 87The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka was a two-man German ground-attack aircraft...
Stuka dive-bombers operating from the OkęcieOkecieOkęcie is the largest neighbourhood of the Włochy district of Warsaw, Poland.It is the location of Warsaw Chopin Airport and the PZL Warszawa-Okęcie aircraft works, and home to the Okęcie Warszawa professional association football club....
airport 1
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-
-
-
- 1One of the planes was shot down by Polish troops with hand guns on August 26.
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-
The usage of heavy artillery and constant air bombardment (the planes from Okęcie airport needed only 5 minutes to reach their targets) was to inflict heavy casualties on the civilians and destroy the city itself. This aim was expressed in direct orders 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...
, Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
and Heinz Guderian
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of armored warfare, and was the leading proponent of tanks and mechanization in the Wehrmacht . Germany's panzer forces were raised and organized under his direction as Chief of Mobile Forces...
.
Zoliborz
Żoliborz is one of the northern districts of the city of Warsaw. It is located directly to the north of the City Centre, on the left bank of the Vistula river. It has approximately 50,000 inhabitants and is one of the smallest boroughs of Warsaw....
failed. On September 2 the defenders of the Old Town withdrew through the sewer
Sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
s. More than 5,300 men and women were evacuated using this way.
Loss of Żoliborz and Old Town
The front lines stabilised for a short while, but during the upcoming days and weeks the German counter-offensive would recapture Żoliborz and the Old Town, splitting the area held by insurgents into three separate sectors, connected only by underground canals.Sewers and barricades
The city sewer system became an important communication network for the insurgents, who used the sewers to move under the areas occupied by Germans, thus allowing contact between surrounded positions (insurgents had almost no radios). Sewers were also used as a means of evacuation of areas that couldn't be defended any longer.Soviet "help": Berling's landings at Powiśle
In September the eastern part of Warsaw had been captured by the Soviets. In the PragaPraga
Praga is a historical borough of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is located on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.- History :...
area Polish units under command of general Zygmunt Berling
Zygmunt Berling
Zygmunt Henryk Berling was a Polish general and politician. He fought for the independence of Poland in the early 20th century. During Second World War he was sentenced to death in absentia for desertion from the Polish Army of General Władysław Anders...
(thus sometimes known as 'berlingowcy' - 'the Berling men'), the 1st Polish Army
First Polish Army (1944-1945)
The Polish First Army was a Polish Army unit formed in the Soviet Union in 1944, from the previously existing Polish I Corps as part of the People's Army of Poland . The First Army fought westward, subordinated to the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, during the offensive against Germany that led to...
(1 Armia Wojska Polskiego) were in position. On the night of 14/15 September three patrols landed on the shore of Czerniaków and Powiśle areas and made contact with Home Army forces. Under heavy German fire only small elements of the main units made it ashore (I and III battalions of 9th infantry regiment, 3rd Infantry Division). At the same time the commanders of 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...
declined to support the Polish troops with artillery, tanks or bombers.
The Germans intensified their attacks on the Home Army positions near the river to prevent any further landings, which could seriously compromise their line of defence, but weren't able to make any significant advances for several days, while Polish forces held those vital positions in preparation for new expected wave of Soviet landings. Polish units from the eastern shore attempted several more landings, and during the next few days sustained heavy losses (including destruction of all landing boats and most of other river crossing equipment). Other Soviet units limited their assistance to sporadic and insignificant artillery and air support.
Shortly after the Berling landings, the Soviets decide to postpone all plans for a river crossing in Warsaw "for at least 4 months", and soon afterwards General Berling was relieved of his command. On the night of September 19, after no further attempts from the other side of the river were made and the promised evacuation of wounded did not take place, Home Army soldiers and landed elements of Wojsko Polskie were forced to begin a retreat from the positions on the bank of the river.
Out of approximately 3,000 men who made it ashore only around 900 made it back to the eastern shores of 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 ....
, approximately 600 of them seriously wounded.
Airdrops
From August 4 the Western Allies begun supporting the Warsaw Uprising with airdropAirdrop
An airdrop is a type of airlift, developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, who themselves may have been airborne forces. In some cases, it is used to refer to the airborne assault itself. Early airdrops were conducted by dropping or pushing padded bundles from...
s of munitions and other supplies. Initially the air supply operations were carried out mostly by Polish bomber units (Polish Special Duty Squadron 1586) stationed in Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
and Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Later on at the insistence of the Polish government-in-exile they were joined by South Africa
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
n and British
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
units. The drops continued until September 21. The total weight of allied drops was 104 ton
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
s.
The Soviet Union did not give permission to the Allies for use of its airfields for those supply operations; thus the planes were forced to use distant bases in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Italy, which reduced their carrying weight and number of sorties. The Allies' specific request for the use of landing strips made on 20 August was denied by Stalin on 22 August (he referred to the insurgents as 'a handful of criminals').
United States planes did not join the operation. After Stalin's objections to support for the uprising, Churchill telegrammed Roosevelt on August 25, proposing to send planes in defiance of Stalin and 'see what happens'. Roosevelt replied on August 26: 'I do not consider it advantageous to the long-range general war prospect for me to join you in the proposed message to Uncle Joe'http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/shows/warsaw.rising/interactive/timeline.warsaw/frameset.exclude.html.
Although German air defence over the Warsaw area itself was almost non-existent, except for elements of KG52, the highest-scoring fighter geschwader in 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....
, which claimed its 10,000th kill of the war on a Soviet plane over the Warsaw suburb of Praga, about 12% of the 296 planes taking part in the operations were lost. Most of the drops were made at night-time, and poor accuracy left many parachuted packages stranded in German-controlled territory.
From September 13 on the Soviets begun their own airdrop raids with supplies, and dropped about 55 tons in total. The drops continued until September 28. Since the Soviet airmen did not equip the containers with parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
s, the majority of recovered packages were damaged.
Finally on 18 September the Soviets allowed one USAAF flight of 110 B-17s of the 3 division Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
to re-fuel at Soviet airfields used in Operation Frantic, but it was too little too late. A large air-drop from high altitude fell predominantly into German hands.
Of the total of 239 tons of supplies dropped during the 8 weeks by 306 planes of the western Allies, only 88 Tons (36.8%) actually reached the Home Army in Warsaw, the Kabacki woods and the Kampinos forest. The remainder fell into enemy hands.
Capitulation
On October 2 General Tadeusz Bór-KomorowskiTadeusz Bór-Komorowski
General Count Tadeusz Komorowski , better known by the name Bór-Komorowski was a Polish military leader....
signed the capitulation of remaining Polish forces (Warszawski Korpus Armii Krajowej or Home Army Warsaw Corps) at the German headquarters in the presence of general von dem Bach. According to the capitulation treaty the Home Army soldiers were to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, and the civilian population was to be treated humanely.