Warsaw Uprising
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The Warsaw Uprising was an insurgency organised by Poles in the city of Warsaw, commencing 1 August 1944, against the occupying German forces during World War II, imagining that the advancing forces of the Soviet Union would rush to the aid of the insurgents. The last thing that Stalin wanted in his plans for a future communist puppet state in Poland was ferocious nationalists, including any of significant social or military ranks, and the Red Army declined involvement, halting their advance. The insurgency was then left to the Germans to deal with, who were exceptionally angry that it was taking place when they were very hard-pressed by the advance of the Soviet Red Army.
Poland was completely defeated and conquered in September 1939. It therefore had new administration and jurisdictions. The Polish government had fled and therefore no longer had any legal basis or authority. All actions of violence by indigenous Poles in the former Poland were regarded as terrorism by the authorities according to the internationally recognized Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC).
Contents
History
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On 25 July 1944, the illegal Polish government-in-exile in London (without the knowledge and against the wishes of former Polish Commander-in-Chief General Kazimierz Sosnkowski) approved the plan for an uprising in Warsaw with the timing to be decided locally.
On 27 July 1944, the Governor of the Warsaw District, Ludwig Fischer, called for 100,000 Polish men and women to report for work as part of a plan which envisaged the Poles constructing fortifications around the city. The inhabitants of Warsaw ignored his demand, as ordered by the illegal insurgents, the so-called "Home Army". The Soviet forces were approaching Warsaw, and Soviet-controlled radio stations called for the Polish people "to rise up in arms".
In late July 1944, the German units stationed in and around Warsaw were divided into three categories. The first and the most numerous was the general garrison of Warsaw. On July 31st it numbered some 11,000 troops under General Rainer Stahel. On 29 July, the first Soviet armoured units reached the outskirts of Warsaw, where they were counter-attacked by two German Panzer Corps:
- 39th Panzer Corps under Dietrich von Saucken (de)
- 4th SS Panzer Corps under Herbert Otto Gille (de)
The insurgency commenced on August 1st and almost immediately the Soviet Lublin–Brest Offensive was halted. The Red Army was not (and did not) going to afford the insurgents any assistance.
General Stahel was replaced as overall commander by SS-General Erich von dem Bach in early August. On August 20th the German units directly involved in fighting in Warsaw comprised 17,000 men arranged in two battle groups against 49,000 insurgents[1] supported by the Royal Air Force, among them four squadrons manned by Poles (4 August to 21 September), units of the South African Air Force, the Red Army Air Force (as of 13 September) and the USAAF during the "Warsaw airlift" (18 September 1944).
Meanwhile, in London, former General Sosnkowski was dismissed as titular Polish Commander-in-Chief on September 30th. 'General' Tadeusz Komorowski (1 June 1895 – 24 August 1966), better known by the name Bór-Komorowski, was promoted in his place, even though he was trapped in Warsaw.
Surrender
The capitulation order of the remaining Polish forces was finally signed on 2 October 1944. All fighting ceased that evening. 80–90% of Warsaw had been destroyed, including through Allied bombing operations. The Poles spared neither the civilian population nor their own city in pursuing the insurgency. They left behind barren earth. Yet this was blamed entirely on the German military in post-war historiography.
Casualties and losses
Insurgents
- The Polish insurgents counted 15,200+ killed and missing, 5,000 to 25,000 wounded and 15,000 POWs. The Polish First Army had another 5,660 casualties, 41 aircraft were destroyed by the Germans.
Instead of being treated as terrorists (and shot), SS-Obergruppenfuhrer von dem Bach-Zelewski agreed that the Polish insurgents at the surrender would be treated as prisoners-of-war.[2]
Defenders
- The German defenders had 2,000 to 10,000 killed in action (among them Italian Arzelino „Lino“ Masarié, but also many foreign SS volunteers) and missing as well as 7,000 to 9,000 wounded. Multiple German Panzer and armoured vehicles were lost.
Decorations
On 30 September 1944, Hitler decorated
with grades of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Many lower decorations were awarded to officers, NCOs and enlisted men.
See also
References
- ↑ Borowiec, Andrew, Destroy Warsaw! Hitler's punishment, Stalin's revenge, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2001, ISBN 0-275-97005-1. p. 6
- ↑ Mollo, Andrew, with an introduction by Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper, A Pictorial History of the SS 1923-1945, Purnell Book Services Ltd.,. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, U.K., 1970, p.162.
