The Warsaw Uprising 1944

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Thursday August 21, 1944


Since the Germans and their mercenaries stopped their attacks at nightfall, the old town has been loving nonstop under the fire of artillery, tank cannons, volley guns and grenade launchers ...:





The shelling wreaked havoc, but claimed comparatively few victims among the Polish defenders and the many - still persevering - civilians. The completely confusing sea of ​​rubble that the Germans create in this way will also be an advantage for the defenders in further fighting, who are mostly lightly armed and in small groups - and have local knowledge.







To the boundless astonishment of the German besiegers, 700 fighters of the "Armia Kraowa", led by Major Alfons Kotowski (with peaked cap and coat, a captured German flag in hand) start ...



... a well-organized counterattack ...:







Improvised "armored vehicles" are also used on the Polish side ...:





The Polish want at least one place - now complete, apart from the sewer system and some secret routes! - Break through the siege ring of the Germans to open a corridor for the food supply, especially for civilians!



Kotowski's people make it to the "Bank of Poland" - some even break into the building, where Polish fighters are also sitting in the basements and the upper floors ...:



Then their attack collapses with heavy losses.

Some of the Polish fighters turn away before they are shot down by the Germans in front of the bank ruins and advance to the Gdańsk train station, where bitter hand-to-hand fighting with Ukrainian mercenaries and SS troops takes place.

Both sides have suffered bloody losses - the Poles cannot go any further, but claw their way into the ground where they stand and hide themselves.

Since the attention of the German leadership is now directed to the two points "Bank of Poland" and "Danziger Bahnhof", the leadership of "Armija Kraiowa" immediately ordered further attacks - even if only in small groups and with limited goals.



They just don't have enough fighters for bigger attacks!

One of those groups led by Lieutenant Eugeniusz Konopacki ...



... manages to rebuild the ruins of the arsenal, which had to be given up two days earlier.

But here, too, the Germans' ring of siege cannot be broken.

**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Another group, led by Captain Władysław Jachowicz ...



... as a defense ...:



At the end of the day the Poles added three important strategic points to the area they held in the old town, but did not achieve their goal of breaking open the ring around the old town.

In addition, the loss of fighters weighs heavily ...

In the evening, the Polish tour receives a report of success from the Mokotów district, where the fighting is still going on:

There the Poles succeeded in a German tank attack ...







... repel and destroy several tanks ...:



Armored vehicles that can be captured are used immediately on the side of the Polish ...:

 

[Nap]

Little by little the defenders are clawing the city back ...despite heavy losses but with successes

Thanks Martin

Nap

 

[arj]

One of your photos shows the one-off AK home-made armoured car; the Kubuś.
It is described here:- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubuś
Mirage Hobby have a model of it :- https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mirage-hobby-355026-kubus--309589

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Thanks Andrew
There exists also a model of the polish used "Panther" tank...

-----------------------------------------------------

Warsaw, Friday, August 22, 1944


The fighters of the "Armnia Kraiowa" make a second desperate attempt at dawn to open a corridor for food supplies from the enclosed old town.

This time the first attack comes from outside the siege ring - from the Wachnowski district south of the old town ...:



Three AK groups under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Mieczysław Niedzielski attack ...:





At the same time, AK fighters from Major Wacław Janszek ...



... from the old town to attack them.

But the location of the attack is badly chosen, because the old citadel "Fort Traugutt" is located exactly between the attack tips of the Poles, who are moving towards each other through the rubble desert ...:










And there are soldiers of the SS-Wiking with artillery ...:



The attacks by the Polish are bloody shot down, two thirds of the fighters perish. Nobody gets anywhere near the old fort.

Some fighters in the group can push past "Fort Traugutt" to the side and try to reach the Gdansk train station ("Dworzec Gdanski") and the neighboring railway depot (which have been in the hands of "Armia Kraiowa" since yesterday), but also this one Advance is shot down by flanking German fire from the citadel and rocket artitillery ...:



No Polish fighter can reach the railway line that runs right through Warsaw, let alone cross it!

At dusk, the Germans also begin to occupy the rail line that runs on an elevated embankment ...



... so that the Polish fighters have to go back to the railway depot area in order not to be cut off ...:







Also the Gdańsk train station, which yesterday with countless deaths paid for ...





... the Poles have to evacuate again - the Germans pursue them, and the Poles also lose the arsenal, which is basically just a ruin that has been destroyed to the ground ...:



**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

With a counterattack on their own initiative, a small group of AK fighters under Captain Franciszek Malik tried ...



... to bring the Germans to a standstill, but this group also falls almost to the last man!

This August 22nd is the day with the bloodiest Polish losses of the "Armia Kraiowa" since the uprising in Warsaw started three weeks ago!



The group around Captain Malik ultimately died in vain, because after dusk the German infantrymen stop on their own - they need daylight to orient themselves in the rubble desert.

In place of the fallen Hauptmann, Lieutenant Colonel Józef Wacław Rokicki ...



... the command in the southern (V) defense district of the old town.

In the isolated district of Mokotów, the Poles can consolidate their positions after successfully defending against yesterday's tank attack - the Germans apparently lick their wounds and are not particularly active there today ...:



Here, too, a new commander takes over the command of Captain Karol Ziemski:



In view of the situation in the Polish capital, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt once again send a joint demarche to Moscow and once again urgently ask Stalin to remove at least part of the Red Army - or at least that in "Polish People's Army" fighting their ranks - to send aid to the oppressed Poles in Warsaw.

But the "Father of Nations" sticks to his "Njet!"



He answers verbatim:

"Sooner or later the truth about this handful of criminals who initiated the Warsaw adventure to seize power will become known to everyone. These people took advantage of the Warsaw's trust and threw many almost defenseless people against German cannons and tanks. Now a situation has arisen in that every further day it is not the Poles who are used for the liberation of Warsaw, but the Nazis inhumanly murder the population of Warsaw. "

Means: The Poles are to blame for being killed ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Saturday 23 August 1944


Since it was bright enough, the fierce fighting for Warsaw's old town has continued.

When - as usual - German "Heinkel" bombers appear over the city and plow the Polish-occupied part of the shattered old town again with bomb carpets, an AK fighter succeeds in an almost unbelievable (but often guaranteed!)



With an ancient machine gun from the First World War he manages to shoot down a "Heinkel!






Around the ruins of the Jan Boży hospital in Bonifraterska ...



... the "Fiat" factory ...



... and the former state printing company ...



... bitter hand-to-hand combat rages ...:



Captain Jan Andrzejewski ...



... Lieutenant Colonel Jan Szypowski ...



... and Major Mieczysław Chyżyński ...



... manage with their people to withstand and repel all attacks.

The angry Germans then used phosphorus grenades again and shot the buildings around the important covered connection "Simons-Passage" ...



... on fire, which makes it difficult to move the outnumbered Polish fighters back and forth quickly and safely.

The AK fighters were able to hold their own for this day, but the German pressure is growing incessantly ...

In the isolated Śródmieście district, on the other hand, things are going much better for the AK fighters:

They can enlarge the terrain they hold by counter-attacks and, among other things, take the so-called "small PAST building" ...:





The German occupators ...



... at the the building either falls in battle (21 dead) or is captured by the Poles - 76 of them ...:





No German can escape to his own lines!

In the late afternoon (when the Germans are no longer expecting it) an AK unit starts under Major Bernard Romanowski (front center) ...



... yet another attack that hit the destroyed church "St. Krzyża" ...



... targets the police headquarters and the interior ministry building.

All objectives are achieved, but no German prisoners are made here ...

An attack by the unit of Captain Cyprian Odorkiewicz (front right in a jacket, with a captured SS-Wiking cuff) ...



... that in the last light of day the remains of the University "Krakowskie Przedmieście" ...



... wants to occupy, however, is amused by the vigilance of the Germans - Odorkiewicz falls together with almost all of his people in the German defensive fire ...

**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

In the night of August 24th, a patrol of the German "Secret Field Police" stopped a car on the road from Warsaw to "Litzmannstadt" (as the Polish city of Łódź is called these days).

Inside sit a driver and a man in SS officer's uniform, but without any badges of rank, who has two suitcases with him that are bulging with gold watches and jewels.
When the "secret men" take a closer look at the "officer", whom they initially consider to be an ordinary looter, they discover that it is no one other than the SS Brigade Leader and Major General of the Waffen SS Bronislav Vladimirovich Kaminsky. ..



... acts, the leader of the murderous killers of the so-called "Waffen-SS Sturm-Brigade RONA" ("Russkaja Oswoboditelnaja Narodnaja Armija" - "Russian People's Liberation Army")



... acts who have drawn a broad blush through Warsaw!



In the past three weeks, the Wehrmacht and even SS commanders had complained about Kaminski's Soldateska to superior departments and the Secret State Police ("Gestapo") were already investigating him.

RONA "soldiers" under Kaminski's command allegedly killed two Wehrmacht soldiers (from the security unit deployed by the 9th Army) who tried to prevent them from shooting unarmed women and children who had fallen into their hands in the Warsaw district of Wola.

Furthermore, the "RONA" killers are charged with the rape and murder of two German helpers in Warsaw who (sources differ) either from the NS youth organization "BDM" or the organization "KdF" (= "Strength through Joy." ") should have heard.

SS commanders in Warsaw also complained less loudly (but no less emphatically) about the shooting of the RONA people, whose spoil they actually regard as belonging to themselves and their people.

And now the RONA boss is being caught outside of his area of ​​command with looted goods worth millions!

Kaminski was handed over to the Gestapo, sent to Litzmannstadt / Łódź and initially detained in the Gestapo control center there.

We will hear from him again ...

 

[Ferris]

Thanks for another interesting thread Martin.

Just curious, what happened to the german prisoners in AK hands? Anything known about that?

Adrian

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Sunday, August 24, 1944


Hardly anything new in the old town (1, see map below!), One could say.

Since dawn the center has been under heavy artillery fire from the Germans ...







... and the Luftwaffe is also involved again ...:



However, the Germans do not manage to occupy a single Polish position, namely the positions around the Fiat factory and the "Simon Passage" ...



... all withstand!

And not every German grenade explodes! Here is a dud from the 60 cm mortar ...:



The bulk of the contained explosives is of course immediately recycled by the Polish fighters for the construction of their own explosive devices, such as hand grenades and anti-tank bombs ...

The only exception is that after several hours of fighting, the attackers manage to take the ruins of the hospital in Bonifraterska ...



... to massacre the wounded lying there ...





... and everything that is not nailed down in the building to loot! (The color image is a film photo!)



In the Śródmieście district (see map No. 3) ...



... the Germans attack rather slowly, although the intense artillery fire continues.

Only one position changes hands - but in favor of the Poles: The group "Lełta can occupy several ruins of houses between the streets Marszałkowska and Poznańska, in which the Germans previously sat.

The photo also suggests the reason for the rather hesitant attacks by the Germans in this part of the city: During their tank attack three days ago, they had suffered really heavy losses and developed due respect for the determination of the Polish fighters ...:



In Żoliborz (see map, No. 2), yesterday the scene of the most violent fighting, there are no fighting activities today.

Both sides use the relatively quiet day to search the sea of ​​rubble for their own wounded and - wherever possible - to rescue and care for them ...:












Many - too many! - But there is no more help! Temporary graves are being dug in the torn open streets ...:



**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

In the evening the first news of the fall of Paris and the invasion of the French armored spearheads of the "Armée Leclerc" reached the city center ...









... of Warsaw, which aroused great enthusiasm and confidence among the Polish fighters ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Monday, August 25, 1944


As of today, the RONA-Soldateska has a new commander, Major Kostyenko, also Russian (in the picture with Papakha) ...



... according to consistent reports from contemporary witnesses, the only "officer" in the murderer gang who is at least approximately suitable as an officer.

When the soldiers ask about their old boss Kaminski, they are lied to as planned!

The Germans still need them as fighters and the SS superiors around Reinefarth and von dem Bach fear for the loyalty of the people if you tell them the truth. So it is said that Kaminski is "missing after a partisan attack" - but they are looking for him.

Meanwhile, Kaminski is interrogated by the Gestapo in Litzmannstadt and tries to explain his valuable loot, which was found on him, by saying that he had collected for a "Russian liberation fund" ...

In the old town, the Germans are attacking the Polish positions with renewed violence.

The main attack is aimed at the printing works and the Polish positions on Sanguszki Street. But the defenders, the "Leśnik" group, named after the nickname of their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Szypowski (/ in suit) ...





... can successfully defend their positions and repel all German attacks.

Fierce hand-to-hand fighting is raging around the building of the hospital that the insurgents are able to occupy again after being driven out yesterday - and also hold onto it.

However, the pressure from Dezt is getting stronger every day!

This leads the members of the Headquarters of the Home Army, the Council of National Unity and the Government Delegation for Poland to the decision to evacuate all their fighters from the enclosed old town - through the sewers ...:



One expects more success to fight at other points in Warsaw, for example in the Śródmieście district, where the "Armia Kraiowa" has so far been extremely successful ...:



So this afternoon the "Kilński" battalion under Wojciech Wyczańsk succeeds ...





... which has hardly any company strength, without a single loss wrest another position from the Germans, the coffee house "Cafe Club" ...:





The 18 SS men defending the coffee house are gutted down to the last man ...:



In the districts of Prosta, Piękna and Wronia, the Germans can also do nothing. In Mokotów, conditions are almost "peaceful" on this day - the Germans do not move here.

The "Armia Kraiowa" commanders use the day to regroup their armed forces and expand their positions ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

And now I have to make a little break:

You will get the full story - until the last day, as promised.

But now I am going to Berlin for a few days to meet the great love of my (new) life - what is more important to me than anything else in the world!
Thanks for your understanding...

 

[Nap]

And now I have to make a little break:

You will get the full story - until the last day, as promised.

But now I am going to Berlin for a few days to meet the great love of my (new) life - what is more important to me than anything else in the world!
Thanks for your understanding...

Thanks for the continued story , such bravery on the defenders side and such severe attacks from both sides suffering casualties and death risking cholera possibly

Have a good time in Berlin

Nap

 

[Ferris]

And now I have to make a little break:

You will get the full story - until the last day, as promised.

But now I am going to Berlin for a few days to meet the great love of my (new) life - what is more important to me than anything else in the world!
Thanks for your understanding...

You bought a new car Martin?

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Of course not! She is a fantastic powerwoman from Samara, living and working in Spain. We will see how to manage those circumstances. Now she is here with me, and I'm really like newborn again...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Tuesday, August 26, 1944


During the night, the employees of the headquarters and most of the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" set off through the sewer to the south in the direction of the Śródmieście district ...:














They evacuate as many civilian lists as possible from the old town, who follow them through the canals ...:





The action succeeds completely - the Germans still haven't realized that the Warsaw sewer system can be used as an underground path ...:



(Due to the lack of original photos, I had to use some pictures from a feature film, note M. R.)

Meanwhile the old town is under non-stop German artillery fire and bomb carpets ...:



The fate of the Polish units is sad. They stay behind in the now almost completely devastated old town to cover the withdrawal movement of their comrades and continue to doggedly defend important positions in order to keep the Germans away from the entrances to the sewer system.

All of them will hold out for a few more days - but in the end almost all of them will fall in combat or will be knocked down by the Germans after they have been captured!



We don't want to forget the achievements of this lost heap!

Volunteers under the command of Major Gustaw Billewicz ...



... on this day, the particularly fought over ruins of the Bank of Poland can be seen until nightfall ...





... and the Warsaw City Hall ...





... hold against all German attacks ...



... even take prisoners ...



... but in terms of numbers are melting together more and more.

However, the Germans manage to finally take the hospital ...





... with all Polish defenders die!



**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

The ruin of the state printing building ...





... in which the last survivors of Lieutenant Colonel Jan Szypowsk's group ...



... holed up, fight on even when their commander falls. The ruin changed hands several times on that day - and when the Germans thought they were victorious, a few fighters from the equally decimated group "Zośka" suddenly appear out of nowhere ...



... and "Czata" ...



... and together the Polish manage to completely retake the ruins and hold them until the evening darkness puts an end to the fighting for today.

But tomorrow the Germans will come back ...

Then another tragedy towards evening:

In the old town, the aerial mine dropped by a German Heinkel destroyed ...



... the largely intact building at Freta-Strasse 16 ...:





At least 150 civilian helpers from the "Armia Kraiowa" die - mostly nursing staff - and unelected wounded ...

This evening bomber attack by the Germans was actually directed against the Śródmieście district, because the Germans have now noticed the considerable increase in the number of fighters there.

The predominantly used German incendiary bombs (there is actually nothing left to destroy for high-explosive bombs!) Cause extensive fires in Śródmieście ...:



On this evening a Polish fighter noted in his diary that the situation in the burning Śródmieście reminded him of "Dante's Inferno" ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Wednesday August, 27, 1944


It's hard to believe, but the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" who stayed behind in Warsaw's old town are still fighting against an overwhelming German superiority!



During the night the command areas had been reorganized and streamlined, each part of the heap of rubble that was once the beautiful old town of Warsaw now has its own combat commanders who coordinate with each other through detectors.

These "reporters" are mostly volunteer underage boys! They can slip through the smallest openings in the rubble and offer German shooters targets that are harder to hit.



In the records of the Warsaw Uprising there are many episodes about the exploits of these children (many of which - let me add - many will not have fully grasped the deadly seriousness of the fighting).






In the north of the old town, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz ...



... takes command, in the eastern part captain Eugeniusz Konopacki ...



...and Major Stanisław Błaszczak...



... commands the southern defense area and Major Gustaw Billewicz ...



... the western one.

The Polish fighters in the western defense area have to withstand the heaviest German pressure ...:









- here stands the "Czwartaków" battalion ......







... that will suffer by far the greatest losses during the uprising.


The Polish can successfully maintain their position everywhere even today, even if an incessant hail of German grenades and bombs rains down on them during breaks in the fight ...:





**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

The burned-out ruin of the state printing plant is once again the scene of bitter hand-to-hand fighting and changes hands six times that day. At the end of the day, the heap of rubble remains in German hands ...:



The Poleish also have to give up the hard-fought area around the ruins of the cathedral at "Thre Crosses Place" ...:









In other places, on the other hand, the AK fighters in the old town have had successes: A command group under Lieutenant Colonel Bolesław Gancher ...



... succeeds in re-occupying the remains of the police barracks on Heisser-Strasse!



Other Polish fighters manage to reoccupy the "Nazareth Monastery" in Czerniakowska ...



... and to maintain until dark - even if it is foreseeable that you will not be able to stay here long ...

In the north of the old town, in Żoliborz, the insurgents manage to take over the gas school on Oliborz Street ...:



An attempt by the group "Gryf" under Captain Zygmunt Netzer ...



... to break through from Zoliborz to the old town and hit a corridor fails - with heavy losses!