The Warsaw Uprising 1944

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Thursday, August 28, 1944

Today is a very bad day for the chief of the RONA-Soldateska appointed by the Gestapo! In the Gestapo control center in Litzmannstadt, Łódź in Polish, an SS court martial convicted Bronislaw Kaminski ...



...to death.

This picture is supposed to show Kaminski during the trial ...:



The SS really makes short work of this - immediately after the death sentence, Kaminski is shot.

Exactly what the verdict was is unknown - the documents no longer exist.

Kaminski's fate was primarily that - as a native Ukrainian and because of his devious, quick-tempered and arrogant manner - he was heartily unpopular with his "race-conscious" SS comrades - and that there was no one "at the top" to protect him.

Oskar Dirlewanger's criminal brigade ...







... committed crimes comparable to those of the RONA fighters in Warsaw (and elsewhere!) - and also plundered extensively on their own account! But Dirlewanger was German - and SS Chief Himmler personally held a protective hand over him.

The RONA killers ...


... the German leadership continues to lie to something to keep them loyal and happy: Now it is said that Kaminski was killed in an attack by Polish partisans on his car.

The lied to believe the lie - and from then on they kill only more ruthlessly ...!

In the old town of Warsaw, however, the situation for the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa", who are besieged by everyone, is becoming more and more serious:

Without the usual preparatory artillery fire and the bomber attacks, German armed forces attack - this time led by a Wehrmacht officer, Colonel Schmidt - and occupy the area around the state printing house in a flash ...:






Here you can see Schmidt (right) next to the SS leaders Reinefart (left) and von dem Bach-Zelewski (middle) ...:



The Polish there unter Major Adolf Łojkiewicz...



...and Captain Stanisław Stefaniak...



... realize almost too late that they are almost cut off - but can flee at the last moment. However, they have to leave behind all their wounded and some irreplaceable equipment, weapons and minions ...


In the course of this German attack, the Poles also lose most of the ruins of the "Fiat" factory - but they can still hold out in a small part ...:




A relief attack by the AK fighters under Colonel Karol Ziemski ...



... with the aim of the reoccupation of the cathedral ruins fails bloody - almost all members of the group fall.

During the Polish counterattack, the devastating German artillery fire resumes - and German bombers reappear over the city.

But this time it's not "Heinkels" like on the previous days, but Stukas of the type "Ju 87" ...:



The "Stukas" hit the Polish positions with deadly precision!



**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

The AK-Batailon "Chrobry II", which tries to defend the "Hartwig" warehouses in Towarowa Street and the Postbahnhof, suffers heavy losses - all in all, the Poles are pushed back further and further ...:





However, the Polish manage to shoot down a German "Stuka" with machine guns ...:




In the afternoon, the German guns change target to the Mototów district south of the old town ...



... a clear indication that the Germans will go to Mototów when they are done with the defenders of the old town ...





The AK leadership sends an urgent radio message to help in London.

There Churchill ties up with US President Franlkin Roosevelt - and both agree that only massive Anglo-American bombing attacks on the Germans in Warsaw can now help the oppressed Poles.

But the approach route from the bases in Italy or Great Britain is long, very long, and most of the route leads through German or German-occupied territory. This makes Allied aid dangerous and the cycle of attacks very long.

Churchill suggests that Roosevelt ask the Soviet dictator Stalin whether one or more suitable and close-to-front airfields in the Soviet Union could be used.

Roosevelt informs Churchill that he had made this request to Stalin the day before.

And the "Father of Nations" said "Njet!" said ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Friday, August 29, 1944

The uprising of the Poles against the German occupiers, which Hitler had ordered to be put down within two days, is now in its fifth week - and the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" are by no means defeated.

Even if the situation for the AK fighters in the old town is becoming more and more dramatic.

The Germans in turn rely on the Ju 87 "Stukas", which deliberately destroy every house, every trench, every position from the air in which Polish fighters sit - or could sit!







Whole buildings collapse on their defenders, the toll of the fighters who stayed behind in the old town is enormous!



Nevertheless, the survivors of the melted battalions "Zośka" refuse ...



...and "Czata"...



.. to withdraw or even to follow the main forces through the sewer system to other parts of the city.

But they are being pushed back more and more!

The Germans overrun the few defenders of St. Mary's Church ...




... the Polish start a counterattack and recapture parts of the ruins.

Fierce hand-to-hand combat rages on there all day.

The town hall...





...and the Blanka-Palais...





... will definitely fall to the Germans on this day - as do a number of buildings around Theater-Platz.

Nevertheless, the Polish manage to hold the important - covered - "Simon Passage" and the surrounding positions.

The members of the criminal brigade "Dirlewanger" ...




... carry out a massacre of captured AK fighters and civilians in the old town on this day - the number varies between 100 and 150 unarmed people, depending on the sources, who are killed by the SS murderers!



When the news about this reached London, the Western Allies publicly warned Germany against committing further brutalities of this kind - and announced that they would hold the murderers known by name to account after the final German defeat.

In addition, the US-American and British governments officially inform the German Reich that they recognize the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" as soldiers of the armed forces of a sovereign Poland!

The Germans, who so far justified the killing of Polish fighters after their capture by claiming that they were "illegal and non-uniformed combatants" who were not subject to the protection of the Geneva Convention, have thus lost an argument under international law.

In practice, however, the Allied demarche is of little use!

The Germans are attacking again in the Śródmieście district - albeit as before, tentatively, rather hesitantly. The tank attack that was shot down by the Poles five days ago apparently made a big impression on the attackers.

A Polish group around Captain Bolesław Kontrym ...




... succeeds in repelling the attack without major difficulties!

And on this day the Germans shoot themselves more and more at the southern district of Mokotòw, which has been under heavy fire since the morning ...:





One of the largest buildings there, the "Elisabeth" hospital, is hit several times - dozens of patients and nurses are killed ...:



But here too, the Poles under Major Jerzy Lech Głuchowski ..



... hold all their positions ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Saturday, August 30, 1944


It doesn't work anymore!

On the night of August 30th, the high command of the "Armia Kraiowa" met ...



... after questioning the local commanders, the decision to evacuate the old town!

The danger that the few oathers who remain there will all be wiped out by the German superiority seems too great.

However, the decision was made not to use the sewer system to move south, but to break through to the neighboring inner city of Warsaw.

The fighters in the neighboring Śródmieście district received orders to help their comrades break out of the old town.

The area in which the fighters are to settle is outlined in dark red in the following map ..:



First of all, however, the Polish still have to regain positions that they had to give up yesterday but now urgently need for their breakout.

The remains of the battalion "Chrobry I" ...



...defend the Bielańska-Alley...



... and holds this important road in the hands of the insurgents.

Likewise, the town hall ...



...and the Blanka Palais at Tetralny-Place...



... to be recaptured again, as these two large ruins form a locking bar across the set outbreak route.

The remnants of the units "Zoska" and "Chata" attack with the courage of desperation - and create the impossible. Both ruins can be taken from them, but the Germans are staying in a part of the town hall.

Then the fighters march towards the city center, with all tangible equipment, weapons, ammunition and equipment being dragged along ...:






This in turn means that the Polish cannot defend themselves against the rolling "Stuka" attacks during the outbreak, which costs many victims ...:





Before nightfall, however, the decimated groups managed to break out of the old town into the inner city, with only 35 to 40 percent of the men of some groups who were there when the uprising 30 days ago saved themselves!

The remaining AK fighters are buried under the rubble of the old town ...




... or were killed by Dirlewanger and Kaminsiki's people after they were captured.

Incidentally, you can enlarge the aerial photo above and see: There is not a single habitable building in Warsaw's old town anymore ...!

The Germans, who notice what is going on, now waste no more grenades on the old town - only the "fire squads" with their flamethrowers go back to work ...:






Instead, the Germans are now concentrating the fire of their artillery fully on the southern district of Mokotów, with the 60 centimeter mortar being used again ...:




A Vollteffer largely destroys the hospital on Chełmska Street, what does not collapse burns abundantly!





Almost all of the wounds lying there and the nursing staff perish.

Meanwhile, the governments in Washington and London are renewing their warnings to the Germans to continue killing prisoners, Polish fighters and civilians!

The British statement ends with the words:

"His Majesty's government solemnly warns all Germans who are involved in or in any way responsible for the violation of these rights (of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention, note M.R.), that they do so at their own risk and for their crimes to be held accountable. "

 

[Nap]

Hi Martin

A incredible amount of details , sewer fighting , mass executions, children fighting , the amount of war materials being thrown at the defenders is amazing

We can only admire and respect the defenders ...they fight hard ...to the end for so many

Thanks for the series ...it continues !

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Sunday, August 31, 1944


After yesterday the defenders of the southern part of the old town were able to successfully break through to the south into the adjoining Śródmieście district, it is now up to the fighters who are still holding on to the northern part of the devastated old town to break out there as well. ("Stare Miato" = old town) ...:



Today the situation is much more difficult, because the Germans who have enclosed the old town now know what is going on - and have strengthened their units between the old town and Śródmieście ...:






At 3 o'clock - at dawn - the soldiers of the "Czata" battalion start a diversionary attack on the containment ring, which is supposed to distract the Germans ...:




The attack ends in complete failure - the Dirlewanger criminals ...





... shoot the Polish fighters together completely!

Nevertheless, the Poles start their escape attempt as planned.

Two groups break up - the larger one consists of the units of Majore Billewicz ...



...and Jan Andrzejewski...



... the smaller one is led by Major Stanisław Steczkowski ...:




The larger group comes to the ruins of the police barracks on Ciepła Street ...



... which stands in the way, has been developed into a stronger base by the Germans and therefore has to be captured first.

The Polish succeed in taking the ruins of the barracks with heavy losses, but then they get stuck and are stuck in heavy German fire!

The remains of the unit "Broda 53" ...



... under Major Andrzejewski can finally break through the containment ring and pave the way for their comrades in the larger group.

However, the Germans, who react unexpectedly quickly to the attack, prevent ...




... the union with Major Steczkowski's smaller group, who are eventually forced to break away through the sewer system ...





... and finally reached their own lines in Śródmieście.

50 soldiers of the "Zośka" battalion ...



... who also belong to the latter group, manage to make their way above ground!

The Germans move up immediately and occupy the former Polish positions in the ruins of the "Fiat" factory.

The members of the battalion "Chrobry I", which has melted down to less than 350 fighters ...



... which holdthe important covered path, the so-called "Simon Passage" ...



... and defend the surrounding ruins - according to the plan - should be the last to leave today.

But it doesn't come to that anymore:

As soon as the view is good enough, the German "Stukas" appear over the old town ...



... and bomb this Polish position with great precision!

Over 300 men of the group "Chrobry I" perish, the survivors are taken alive ...



... and shot immediately!

In the entire old town area there are only about 5,000 Polish fighters that evening, who are still doggedly defending their scattered positions.

In his daily radio message to London, AK chief General Bor-Komorowski expresses himself ...



... today very skeptical about the expected further course of the fighting for Warsaw. The situation in the old town in particular gives him a hard time.

At the end, the general asked London not to broadcast any more reports on the sutation in the old town, fearing that these reports would have a very negative effect on the morale of his fighters ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Monday, September 1, 1944


Exactly five years ago the Polish ordeal began with the attack by the Hitler army on September 1, 1939 ...



... and the Polish uprising in Warsaw is in its second month.

The preparations for the evacuation of the last Polish fighters in the old town continued feverishly throughout the night.

At dawn, the last members of the "Zoska" batailon, who had previously gathered in the cellars of ruined houses on Senatorska Street, went away, over the earth...



They manage the trick of slipping through the German lines unnoticed ....



... and safely to reach the southern district of Śródmieście.

The other fighters are less fortunate - because when others try to do the same to their "Zoska" comrades, an attack by the SS-Wiking intervenes!



Now nobody can escape, first of all the Germans have to be brought to a standstill, which only succeeds around 10 a.m.

In the middle of the evacuation, which has just started again, a second, even more powerful attack by the SS men, this time also supported by tanks and armored vehicles, comes up at noon ...:







The Polish can assert themselves ...



... are being pushed back step by step and losing part of the streets Freta, Długa and Bonifraterska as well as the Krasiński Garden ...:



At the same time the dreaded German "Stukas" reappear over Warsaw and fly devastating precision attacks on the Polish positions ...:



Now the AK fighters only have the escape route through the sewer system!

They fight their way to two entry holes on Krasninski Square and Daniłowiczowska Street and descend - one behind the other - into the sewers ...:







Da der Weg nach Süden in den Kanälen, in den man nur gebückt laufen kann, alsbald überfüllt ist, wenden sich etwa 800 AK-Kämpfer nach Norden, zum Stadtteil Żoliborz...:


The fighters are led by volunteers who have already explored the sewer network very carefully before the start of the uprising - and who call themselves "sewer rats". In the next picture you can see some of them ...:



About 4,500 fighters and civilian refugees finally reach Śródmieście safely after a long underground march through the stinking and stuffy sewers ...:



**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

In the evening, the Germans start another attack on the Sadyba district, in which so far only minor fighting has taken place.

First the "Stukas" destroy an important base of the Polish fighters, the old fort "Dąbrowski" ...:


Today the ruins of the fort are a museum ...:







The following infantry attacks can be carried out by the Polish, over which Captain Jacek Wyszogrodzki ...



... takes over the command, fend off all of them.

A relief counter-attack by the AK fighters by a company of the "Baszta" regiment, however, fails with bloody losses!

 

[Nap]

It truly must have been terrifying not only to use the sewers as underground trenches but also fighting areas ......thankfully defenders can move with at least some but so dangerous ease

Thanks again Martin

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Tuesday, September 2, 1944



In the early morning, the rearguard, who had remained in the now evacuated old town to cover the canal entrances, also moved away.

The few surviving fighters of the "Radosław" group ...



..under Lieutenant Edward Rozłubirski...



... succeeds in reaching the Śródmieście district safely and without further losses.

This means that there is no longer a member of the "Armia Kraiowa" capable of fighting in the abandoned area in the center of Warsaw!


But:

The Polish had to leave 35,000 people behind - most of them seriously wounded fighters, but also many surviving civilians ...:



They will fall into the hands of the Germans - and most of them will die!







Those who are shot on site are still in luck - many prisoners are doused with petrol by vengeful RONA fighters and Dirlewanger criminals, but also by members of the Wiking division and burned alive.

Those who survive this massacre - in particular civilians, old people, women and children, are taken to German concentration camps - and face a no less painful death there ...:




SS commander von dem Bach-Zelewski obeyed Hitler's and Himmler's orders to wipe out the entire population of Warsaw with cruel reliability - he would get the Knight's Cross for it!

SS-Obergruppenführer Reinefarth (behind, with knight's cross) ...



... and Wehrmacht Major General Günter Rohr (left, during the interrogation of prisoners) ...



... with their troops now occupy the entire old town, or what was once the old town ...





From there a new attack on the Sadyba district will be launched immediately because the Germans assume that the new Polish positions are not yet fully consolidated.

And with this assumption you are correct, the AK defenders of Sadyba are literally overrun! Those who survive can only save themselves by fleeing quickly ...:




The Germans do not give the AK fighters a break and at the same time turn to the Mokotów district, which is now being increasingly targeted by their artillery and "Heinkel" bombers ...:



The St. Alexandra Church is particularly hard hidden ...





... as also the Queen Jadwiga High School ...:



There are many dead!

The Polish, on the other hand, are trying to consolidate their lines - and they succeed in doing so at a particularly exposed point: A combat group succeeds in conquering the still intact YMCA building on Konopnicka Street ...:




**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Shortly before dark, German tank gunners make themselves ...



... have fun destroying one of the landmarks of Warsaw:

The Sigismund column, which has no military value and has survived all battles unscathed, is deliberately wiped out during target exercises ...:

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Wednesday, September 3, 1944


Apparently the Germans are not sure which of the isolated resistance centers of the Polish they should take next ...:




Yesterday they tried Sadyba and heavily bombed Mototów, today they are testing the Polish defense in Śródmieście.

In addition, the Wehrmacht regiment led by Colonel Schmidt (Schmidt can be seen on the far right at the preliminary meeting) ...



... is deployed and the SS fighters of Oskar Dirlewanger ...:



This criminal unit has meanwhile been renamed "Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger". Before it was officially called the "36th Waffen SS Grenadier Division" - and there can now be no question of a unit of division strength - the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" have pounded the troops with such difficulty in recent weeks.

That the strongest unit, the SS division "Wiking" ...





... is not used today shows that the Germans only want to test the defensive strength of the AK fighters in Śródmieście today.

The Ukrainian and Russian RONA fighters are also not used, but for other reasons:

These self-proclaimed "liberators" have lost about half of their crew strength in Warsaw because they are better murderers than soldiers. And since their boss Kaminski was shot dead five days ago, they have been almost left to their own devices.

Since nobody cares about the supplies for the RONA's, they are increasingly turning into an armed, looting and murdering mob, whose cooperation is generally considered to be of little value on the German side.

In the Śródmieście district ...





... the Polish have now organized themselves and taken up good positions.

Major Stanisław Blaszczak is in charge ...



... to him are the newly formed groups of Lieutenant Cyprian Odorkiewicz (in civilian clothes) ...



...Leutnant Julian Szawdyn...



...and Captain Stanisław Skibniewski...



... assumed.

The most important position - the ruins of the power plant ...









... take over Skibniewski's fighters ...:



After the usual morning air raids by the "Heinkels", accompanied by German artillery and throwing fire ...



... the Germans advance from the west and north.

The attacks on the northern part of Śródmieście are carried out with great force, for a while it looks as if the Germans could break through the Polish defensive positions - in the end the AK fighters hold up, bloody repelling the Germans!

However, the German attackers are now exactly in the picture about the Polish positions - and in the evening the dreaded "Stukas" appear again over Śródmieście ...




... and extensively bomb the Polish entrenchments in Traugutt, Mazowiecka, Królewska and Grzybowska streets ...:

 

[Nap]

Amazing details yet again

I wonder how much more attacks from the air the defenders can stand ...particularly from the screaming Stuka

Fighting for rubble positions continues ....

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Thursday, September 4, 1944
The Germans are now getting serious in the Śródmieście district!



They use the same tactics as before successfully in the old town:

At dawn the "Heinkel" bombers appear and unload their deadly cargo ...



... at the same time heavy fire from artillery and tank cannons and volley guns begins ...:







Then comes the infantry - with tank support!



After today's bomb attack, the Poles are no longer able to generate electricity at the Powisle power station. So far, engineers and workers had somehow always managed to repair the most necessary machines for - albeit very little - electricity generation ...:




This is ending now!

Around noon the fighting for the part of the city in Wybrzeże, Kościuszkowskie, Dobra, Browarna, and Karowa streets fully breaks out ...:






Die sich verbissen wehrenden Polen können mehrere Attacken zurückschlagen...:





The district is burning in several places, the waterplant on Linde-Straße ...



... changes hands several times - until the Poles can claim it for today towards evening.

Before it gets dark, the German "Stukas" arrive - almost as usual - and bomb precisely the Polish positions.

The building of the "Victoria" hotel is destroyed - in which all the staff who had sought protection there perish ...:





In addition, the printing works of the Army Military Publishing House, which was previously used by the "Armia Kraiowa" for the production of leaflets and circulars, will be razed to the ground.

Antoni Chruściel ...



... and his combat group manage to occupy the ruins so that the Germans cannot break through here. Likewise the "Lazarus" hospital.

After dark, however, a German strike troop succeeded in snatching the ruins of the printing works from the Poles.

On this day, German tanks willfully destroy the grave of the unknown soldier, which has no military value ...:

 

[Nap]

It now seems the contstant pounding from land and air is just destroying every single brick and the life of Warsaw is being drained out

The attacking commanders just seem to use as much force as possible to achieve the devastation.....and yet the defenders appear still to hold on in small pockets with much bravery

Thanks again Martin

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

At the end of the story you'll read about the after war career of the German commanders...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Friday, September 5, 1944


The fights for the Śródmieście district and the Powiśle power station are no less intense than those for the old town, and sometimes even surpass them!

But the overwhelming power of the Germans and their better armament gradually gained the upper hand ...





... especially since the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" can no longer be supplied from the air and are beginning to suffer from a lack of ammunition.

After the hardest fighting, the Germans take the ruins of the "mutual insurance company" ...



... arrives at Copernikus-Strasse, whose Polish crew can withdraw.

Sewerynów, Oboźna and Leszczyńska streets ...





... are wrested from the Polish by the Germans ...



... with the entire group of Lieutenant Tadeusz Malinowski ...



... more than 150 men - perish!

The situation of the Polish fighters defending the bombed-out ruined power plant in Powiśle is also without hope...:



... when the ammunition of the Polish runs out, the commander Stanisław Skibniewski orders ...



... the withdraw of his surviving fighters.

The surrounding streets and house ruins remain - initially - still firmly in the hands of the Poles under Major Blaszczak ...:



In the afternoon, he ordered all civilians from the area around the contested power plant district to be evacuated into the inner part of the Śródmieście district because he did not know how long his people could hold their positions - here, too, a first shortage of ammunition was noticeable.

When the civilians made their way into Śródmieście ...





... they come from the rain into the eaves, because at this time the German "Stukas" appear over the district and upload!



There are many dead!

Just as the Poles think that today's "Stuka" attack is over and that their cover is abandoned - especially the evacuated civilians immediately start looking for lost relatives - a second wave of "Stuka" appears over Śródmieście, whose bombs are among the civilians to live even worse than the first!



Meanwhile, in the neighboring district of Czerniaków, the fighters of Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz (front) ...



... the Książęca Street ...



... to fight and secure it to Śródmieście, so that a retreat route is open to their comrades and civilians in the contested part of the city in the event of the worst ...

The Motoków district is relatively calm today, Lieutenant Aleksander Tyszkiewicz (center) ...




... uses his fighters to dig a few German bases on Puławska Street with raiding parties!

That doesn't change the overall situation, but the Poles capture machine guns, anti-tank weapons and plenty of ammunition ...



Meanwhile, the Führerhauptquartier and the Reichssicherheitshauptamt in Berlin ask the German commander, SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, why the uprising in Warsaw has still not been suppressed.

Almost reluctantly, Bach sends a message back: "Because the Poles fight like heroes!"

 

[Nap]

Despite severe casualties the polish fight on ......weapons are gained and they are smiling but those Stuka always are attacking .....any targets ......brave defenders and innocent civilians suffer likewise

Wonder what the response to the message Bach sent was ?

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Saturday, September 6, 1944


On this day there is a veritable exodus of civilians from the district of Powisle!



Along the Jerozolimskie-Alley...



... crowds of people scurry and try to reach the still safe southern part of the neighboring district of Śródmieście ...



... "safe", if you disregard constant artillery attacks and German bombing attacks ...

The Polish fighters defending Śródmieście, meanwhile, establisch in a building on Pius XI Street ...



...their new Headquarters...:



... for they lost the old one in the building of the "mutual insurance" to the Germans.

When it got light, the Dirlewanger criminals, the Wehrmacht regiment of Colonel Schmidt and forces from the SS division "Wiking" set about wresting Powisle from the Polish for good ...:



Some of the German attackers get into misdirected artillery fire - public Germans are killed by this "friendly fire"!

The Polish fighters are withdrawing step by step - the German pressure is simply too strong! In addition, a lack of ammunition - especially for the British bazookas - is becoming more and more negative!

Where the Germans use armored vehicles or even tanks ...









... they can hardly be stopped because the Polish have - apart from a few homemade flamethrowers ...



... almost nothing with which the "Panthers", "Tigers", "Hetzer", assault guns and SPWs can fight effectively!

Nevertheless, the Germans do not achieve their daily goal of occupying the entire Powisle district - when it gets dark, they only have the northern part in their hands.

The barricades in Chmielna, Warecka and Świętokrzyska streets will become the last Polish defense bastion in Powisle ...:





The AK fighters can hold out here until the fighting subsides at nightfall. Nevertheless, it is foreseeable that this position will not be sustainable either if the Germans renew their attacks tomorrow.

At the same time, some of the AK fighters moved directly to Śródmieście - and suffered heavy losses when the German "Stukas" reappeared and some pilots were able to place their bombs directly in the column!

A deeply depressed AK chief Bor-Komorowski ...



... transmits to London, which - as he calls it - the "tragedy of Warsaw" will, in his opinion, take a week at most until the Germans have finally put down the uprising.

Bor-Komorowski asks the British urgently for support - especially armor-piercing bullets! Otherwise - according to his radio message - "it is to be feared that after the final collapse of the Warsaw Uprising, power will fall into the hands of communists throughout the country."

But the Western Allies can do little!

Sure, ammunition could be dropped from airplanes, as in the first - so hopeful - days of the uprising.

But the two only suitable dropping points, the two large cemeteries in the old town, have been in German hands for days! And drops on "good luck" over Śródmieście would mean, given the confusing situation, that most of it would probably end up with the Germans.

And they don't want to drop own troops - such as airborne soldiers - via Warsaw (which Stalin initially feared!), Because thy also need the last man for the planned delicate operation "Market Garden" in Holland, for which the preparations are already in full swing tours are in progress (and which will begin September 17th and end in fiasco).







Whether the Germans have overheard Bor-Komorowski's desperate call for help or whether it is a pure coincidence:

After a three-week break, German planes are dropping leaflets over Warsaw for the first time, calling on the Polish and their high command to surrender!




Whoever does this is promised all the rights of a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Convention!
(Whereby the Germans keep silent that Hitler and Himmler's orders still apply to liquidate the Polish fighters without exception ...)

On the Polish side, the Germans received no answer from the AK High Command. And not a single Polish fighter puts down his arms ...!

 

[grasshopper]

This has been wonderful to folllow