Warsaw Uprising

Warsaw Uprising

 

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Silent Unseen in the Warsaw Uprising
• The circumstances of the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising
• The course of the Uprising
• Weapons in the Warsaw Uprising
• The role of Warsaw canals
• Radio communication of the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief
• Help from the West in the first days of the Uprising
• American air drop on insurgent Warsaw on September 18, 1944
• Contacts with the USSR and PKWN
• The act of surrender
• The dispute over the Warsaw Uprising

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Warsaw Uprising (eng. Warsaw Uprising) was an armed action organized by the Home Army – Armia Krajowa against Germans who were occupying Warsaw. It lasted from August, 1 till October, 2 1944.

According to different sources it united the following military organizations: the Home Army - AK 50 000 soldiers, mainly the Home Army, as well as: the National Armed Forces (740 - 3.5 thousand), communist formations: the People's Army and the Union of Young Struggle (270 - 800), the Security Corps (600 - 700), the Polish People's Army (120 - 500).

A few hundred foreigners (from 17 countries) are reported to have taken part in the Rising. All military organizations operated under the Home Army’s command.

 

Silent Unseen in the Warsaw Uprising

Are known to have taken part in the Rising 95 Silent and Unseen soldiers Rising (they were soldiers of the HA for special duty assignments)

Among nine persons in the HQ of the Warsaw Rising there were two Silent and Unseen soldiers: gen. Leopold Okulicki “Kobra”, Deputy Chief of Staff of the HA HQ and Col. Kazimierz Iranek – Osmecki “Heller”, the Head of Department II (Intelligence) of the HA HQ.

There were 7 Silent and Unseen among the HA HQ (I rzut), 5 Silent and Unseen and 2 Silent and Unseen in the command of the Comm unit no. 39. The Silent and Unseen were commanders in the HA units, were Intelligence and Comm officers, served in all radiostations during the Warsaw Rising (Wanda 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 23, 23A).

See Silent and Unseen who took part in the Warsaw Rising (wraz z Ich przydziałem) a także wykaz zrzutów materiałowych z zaopatrzeniem dla Powstania.

 

Opowieść o mieście – film ze zbiorów Instytutu Polskiego i Muzeum im. gen. Sikorskiego (SIK 029)

 

The circumstances of the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising

The Warsaw Rising was not the outcome of a concept of a national uprising  but it was an element of a separate HA operation named Operation Tempest. It was the greatest battle of the HA and the greatest battle of the Silent and Unseen, who were the soldiers of the HA for special duty assignments. What is more, it was the greatest armed action in conspiracy against Germans in the occupied Europe.

Zbigniew S. Siemaszko – Okoliczności rozpoczęcia Powstania Warszawskiego
w: Zeszyty Historyczne, Instytut Literacki Paryż 1985, zeszyt 72, s. 159-176

 

Waldemar Grabowski – Pierwsza depesza powstańczej Warszawy
w: Biuletyn IPN nr   7-8 (164-165), lipiec – sierpień 2019

 

The course of the Uprising

The main goal of the Uprising was to liberate the capital city immediately before the entry of the Soviet Red Army, which was to stop or hinder the process of sovietization of Poland. This strategic goal was not achieved, the Home Army signed it after 63 days of fighting The act of surrender capital city .

Przed wybuchem Powstania, 29 i 30 lipca 1944 sowieckie radio „Moskwa” i radiostacja „Kościuszko” wzywały mieszkańców Warszawy do walki z Niemcami, do wspólnego wyzwolenia Warszawy.

Po wybuchu Powstania Warszawskiego,  sowiecka Armia Czerwona wstrzymała ofensywę, wojska sowieckie po drugiej stronie Wisły bezczynnie czekały aż Powstanie upadnie.

Soviet dictator Józef Stalin it was forbidden to provide any help to the Uprising. The limited support provided to the insurgents by the USA and Great Britain with a great delay, did not have much significance and did not significantly affect the military situation of the Uprising.

 

Tadeusz M. Płużański - Warsaw Uprising
– największy niepodległościowy zryw Armii Krajowej
i największa akcja zbrojna podziemia
w okupowanej przez hitlerowców Europie
w: Biuletyn Informacyjny AK lipiec – sierpień 2006, s. 9 – 13

 

The Uprising began at "W" (code name for the day and time), i.e. Aug, 1 1944 at. 17.oo. Insurgent units of the Warsaw Home Army District and the disposable units of the Home Army Headquarters attacked the Germans in all districts of the Polish capital. Errors in the mobilization of soldiers, as well as in the organization of the insurgent action (including lack of weapons), the dispersion of forces and the lack of a surprise effect (the Germans ordered an alarm for the garrison half an hour earlier) resulted in the insurgents being less successful.

A large part of left-bank Warsaw was captured, including almost all of Śródmieście and the Old Town. Attempts to take over the main communication arteries of Warsaw and the crossings on the Vistula failed.

The uprising was to last approx. 14 – lasted until 63 days. Using their advantage, the Germans gradually regained control over the city, committing brutal murdering of civilians in the capital in subsequent districts. From 4 to August 7 murdered over 30 thousand residents of Wola. Down  August 11 took over Ochota, murdering several thousand of its inhabitants. The clashes in the Old Town continued until the end of August, and the Germans took them September the 2ndstarting another slaughter of the inhabitants. Insurgent troops were forced to go through the sewers to Śródmieście and Żoliborz. September 6 The Germans captured Powiśle, on September 13 they blew up the bridges over the Vistula. After fierce fights they captured Czerniaków September 24 Four days earlier, the insurgents crossed the sewers to Mokotów. September 27 Insurgents from Mokotów capitulated, some of them went through the sewers to Śródmieście. September 30 Żoliborz capitulated, the last fights in Śródmieście continued. In the night October 2/3, 1944 representatives of the command of the Home Army signed the act of surrender. Approx. 15 thousand Home Army soldiers were taken prisoner. 

 

The most important cables and documents of the Warsaw Uprising

 

 

Weapons in the Warsaw Uprising

(oprac. KJW) Grzegorz Jasiński – Broń w Powstaniu Warszawskim
w: Biuletyn informacyjny AK nr 08 (340) sierpień 2018, s. 15 – 26

 

The role of Warsaw canals

Aleksander Dobraczyński – Kanały warszawskie. Ich rola podczas Powstania Warszawskiego 1944 r.
w: Koło Byłych Żołnierzy AK – Oddział Londyn, polishresistance-ak.org

 

Radio communication of the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief

Zbigniew S. Siemaszko – Łączność radiowa Sztabu N.W. w przededniu Powstania Warszawskiego
w: Instytut Literacki Paryż, 1964, Zeszyty Historyczne nr. 6, s. 64 – 116

 

Help from the West in the first days of the Uprising

Kajetan Bieniecki – Jak rzeczywiście wyglądała pomoc z Zachodu
dla Warszawy w pierwszych dniach Powstania
w: Zeszyty Historyczne, Instytut Literacki Paryż 1988, zeszyt 85, s. 47-67

 

American air drop on insurgent Warsaw on September 18, 1944

Andrzej Paweł Przemyski – Amerykański zrzut lotniczy na powstańczą Warszawę
18 września 1944: kontrowersje – fakty
w: Rocznik Lubelski 1985-1986, nr 27-28, s. 177-187

 

Contacts with the USSR and PKWN

Zbigniew S. Siemaszko – Powstanie Warszawskie – kontakty z ZSRR i PKWN
w: Zeszyty Historyczne, Instytut Literacki Paryż 1969, zeszyt 16, s. 5-66

 

Akt kapitulacji Powstania

The HA telegram with the text of the Capitulation Act
Source: The Polish Underground Movement Study Trust w Londynie

 

The dispute over the Warsaw Uprising

In the course of the Rising ca.16 000 soldiers were killed, 20 000 wounded and 15 000 taken prisoner. From the 95 Cichociemnych uczestniczących w Powstaniu Warszawskimthere were 20 wounded or seriously wounded (some several times), 18 were killed in fight or as a result of inflicted wounds.

During the Warsaw Uprising, as a result of air strikes, artillery fire, zbrodni niemieckich – masowych mordów ludności cywilnejas well as due to very difficult living conditions, about 150-200 thousand people died civilian residents of Warsaw.

 

According to historians apart from those who got killed in fight about 63 thousand Varsovians lost life because of German war crimes. 550 thousand inhabitants of Warsaw were expelled from their homes, and 100 thousand 000 inhabitants of the nearby localities. 150 thousand of them were sent to forced labour to the Third Reich. Straty Warszawy były ogromne.

The decision taken by the HA to start the Rising was of political character. Still today it is being discussed by historians as so many civilians got killed and planned demolition of Warsaw by the Germans. The command of the Home Army, however, had no real possibility of predicting such criminal behavior of the Germans ...

In the course of the Rising 25% of the architectural substance of the city was demolished on the left river bank of the Vistula river with almost 100% buildings of the Old Town. A substantial part of the „destruction plan” was a result of putting fire to the whole districts by Germans who acted upon the orders of their Command. Furthermore, Germans torn down to foundations ca.30% of the prewar buildings between October 1944 and January 1945.

In total, about 65 percent were destroyed. buildings of pre-war Warsaw, in 1945, 20 million cubic meters of rubble lay in the capital. The Home Army it failed to achieve its strategic goal of liberating the Polish capital before the Soviets entered. All these circumstances cause controversy and disputes about the purposefulness of the Uprising ...

 

Paweł Ukielski – Spór o Powstanie Warszawskie
w: biuletyn IPN, sierpień-wrzesień 2009, nr 8-9 (103-104), s. 116 – 125

 

więcej info – The dispute over the Warsaw Uprising

 

 

 

 

Find of more:

• Wikipedia – Warsaw Uprising
• Wikipedia – Warsaw Uprising (eng)
• Silent Unseen in the Warsaw Uprising
• Wikipedia – Silent Unseen in the Warsaw Uprising
• Powstanie Warszawskie – produkcja broni i amunicji
• Wikipedia – Zbrodnie niemieckie w Powstaniu Warszawskim
• Wikipedia – Zburzenie Warszawy
• Wikipedia – Siły polskie w Powstaniu Warszawskim
• Wikipedia –Siły niemieckie w Powstaniu Warszawskim
• Wikipedia – Powstanie powszechne
• Wikipedia – Operation Tempest
• Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Powstanie Warszawskie – bój o wolną Polskę
• Wojsko Polskie – Warsaw Uprising
• Warsaw Uprising Museum - Warsaw Uprising
• Stowarzyszenie Pamięci Powstania Warszawskiego – Krótka historia Powstania Warszawskiego 1944

 

 

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Text translated from Polish to English by Aleksandra Duda.
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