35116 WWII POLISH HOME ARMY VOL.1 WARSAW UPRISING

The Warsaw Uprising was the largest uprising carried out in an urbanized area during World War II. It lasted from August 1 to October 2, 1944, for a total of 63 days. On one side of the barricade stood German troops, which from 5-6 August were commanded by SS general Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski. . On the second - units of the Home Army (abbreviated as: AK), commanded in the field by General Antoni Chruściel, pseud. Fitter, and the high command - General Tadeusz Komorowski pseud. Boron. The uprising was aimed at taking over the capital by the Home Army and adopting the Soviet troops approaching from the east as the "hosts" of Warsaw. For this reason, it is very often correct to say that the uprising was aimed militarily against the Germans, but politically against the Soviets. The Warsaw Uprising was carried out as part of the Storm operation, but the plans for its implementation were probably drawn up very late - probably in the second half of July 1944. Despite the huge shortages in weapons and the uprising plan containing numerous errors and shortcomings, the insurgents managed to some extent to surprise German troops and take control of a large part of left-bank Warsaw, what is more - for the first few days of August, the initiative was on the Polish side. However, the Germans regained it relatively quickly and began to systematically suppress the uprising, starting with the recapture of the Warsaw districts of Wola and Ochota, where they murdered civilians. Later, they managed to isolate Śródmieście from the Vistula River with difficulty and finally force the Home Army units to surrender. The fierce fighting in Warsaw was compared by some German soldiers to the intensity of fights in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943. It is also worth adding that the Allied side (especially Great Britain) tried to help the insurgents by air drops of supplies, which, however, had a limited effect. The USSR, on the other hand, completely ignored the requests for help and remained completely passive. During the Uprising, the German side lost up to approx. 10,000 killed, while the Home Army units - approx. 16 thousand. killed. However, it should be remembered that the Germans murdered in the course of the uprising from about 150 to about 200,000 Polish civilians. After October 2, the Germans also deported the surviving population of Warsaw and razed the capital to the ground. Disputes and polemics about the legitimacy of the Warsaw Uprising have already been going on in the years 1944-1945 and will probably continue for many more decades.