| WARSAW UPRISING |
Since the end of the September Campaign of 1939, the Polish Underground was already planning for an uprising against the German occupiers. It was to begin only once the Allies were approaching Warsaw, and when Germany's defeat was imminent. Poland's freedom and independence relied entirely on Allied support and cooperation. The Polish government-in-exile had no doubt that the British government was true to its word. According to the Agreement between the two countries, signed on August 25, 1939, both pledged to provide one another with all their support in the event of hostilities from another Power. The Polish government made numerous attempts to confer with Britain on laying the groundwork for a future offensive. Churchill gave the Poles every assurance that Britain would defend Poland at the crucial time. But unbeknownst to the Polish Government, England had a hidden agenda. A British Chiefs of Staff report disapproved of any military action taken by Poland because, " it would be politically unacceptable [for Poland] to undertake any such measures without the approval and cooperation of Russia." Furthermore the report made a recommendation that this policy not be mentioned to Poland. The Home Army sent frequent messages to London requesting that Polish military units be deployed to Warsaw, including their own Parachute Brigade (which initially was an autonomous unit). Britain had control of almost all Polish military troops on land, sea, and air. The Polish request was denied. Churchill applied considerable pressure on the Polish government to give their consent to deploy the Parachute Brigade for battle in the D-Day operations. In exchange, Churchill promised that England would provide assistance in the uprising, and make " every effort to find aircraft to transport the brigade to Poland in the event of an uprising." By mid-1943, the Polish government had every indication that they would be liberated by the Red Army. Stalin even encouraged that the Poles launch an uprising. In November 20, 1943, General Bor Komorowski, Commander of the Home Army, submitted to the Polish Government his plans for a series of military operations that were code-named, Burza (Tempest). They were to take place on the eastern front and attack German troops as the Soviet army advanced westward -taking the opportunity to capture the territory before the Soviets could get to it. The operation was launched in 1944 in Wolyn (Volhynia), Wilno, Bialystok, Lublin, and Lwow. They did not achieve their aims, as the Soviets arrested all the leaders of the Polish Underground State. On July 26, 1944, the Polish government in exile authorized the Delegatura in Poland to make its decision on the date and time for the start of the Warsaw Uprising. They still believed that the Allies would provide supplies and military reinforcements. General Bor radioed the Polish government in London asking that the 1st Parachute Brigade and the Polish fighter squadron be dispatched to Warsaw. He ordered that German airfields near Warsaw be bombed, and airlifts of arms and ammunition begin to be made to Polish insurgents. The British government was unresponsive. Polish troops had already been deployed elsewhere - to the D-Day operations, and to Monte Cassino. There was also the underlying fear on the part of the British, that any attempts to help Poland would upset Stalin. On July 31, Colonel Monter informed General Bor that the Red Army was approaching Warsaw, and were lined up along the eastern banks of the Vistula River. General Bor gave the order for the uprising to begin the next day. At the same time, Great Britain backed out of its promise to send reinforcements, claiming that it did not have sufficient aircraft to carry out an emergency airlift. They were also reluctant to carry out the mission because the Germans controlled the entire area around Warsaw. The RAF would not relinquish any part of the Polish squadrons. On August 1, at 5:00 p.m. over 50,000 Polish underground fighters, under the command of Colonel Monter began conducting assaults on German positions, simultaneously all over Warsaw. Only 10% of the Home Army was sufficiently armed. They had the support and cooperation of numerous other underground regiments: the National Armed Forces (NSZ), the Polish People's Army (PAL), the People's Army (AL), and the Security Corps (KB), in addition to numerous partisan groups. Facing them was the German Wermacht comprising 70,000 soldiers backed by bombers and tanks. Before August 3, the Polish fighters successfully captured a series of complexes in Warsaw's most important boroughs: Srodmiescie, Powisle, part of Czerniakow, Zoliborz, Mokotow, the Old Town, Wola, Sadyba, and parts of Ochota and Praga. The Poles made significant advances but could not overtake all the German strongholds for lack of ammunition. On August 3, Stalin promised the Polish Prime Minister Wladyslaw Mikolajczyk that the Red Army would fight the Germans if the uprising would last for at least 6 days. The Uprising lasted for all of 63 days, but the Soviets did nothing to help the Polish fighters. Ammunition was quickly running out, and on August 4, the Underground Command ordered that the offensive be restricted to only a few areas. The Germans recaptured each district one by one, and gained control of the major streets. From August 4 to 11, the Germans reclaimed Wola and Ochota, and in the process slaughtered over 40,000 Polish inhabitants. By August 5, the Germans had reorganized its offensive strategy and began to systematically destroy all buildings and monuments, and annihilate all Polish military and civilian resistance. Of the 1,100 buildings, the Germans completely destroyed over 400, and burned down 300 more. The SS Brigade, composed of common criminals, went on a killing frenzy massacring thousands of Polish men, women and children. SS and police units went on a house to house rampage, herding Polish citizens into the streets and executing them by machine gun fire, shooting babies in their carriages, looting, murdering, and raping. By the end of the day, over 10,000 citizens were slaughtered. The mass killings went on for several days. The Nazis targeted hospitals with terrible ferocity - shooting patients in their beds. The butchery was appalling. The Germans shelled and bombed Warsaw 24 hours a day. The streets were covered with dead bodies, piled on and buried in the rubble. Much of the downtown areas was on fire. One RAF pilot who had flown over the city, later remarked that it looked as it it were Dante's Inferno. |
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