The Warsaw Uprising 1944

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Sunday, September 7, 1944

Today Wehrmacht Major General Günther Rohr (right) ...



... takes over the newly created post of "Commander of the Southern Sector of Warsaw" - with which the operations against the Powisle, Śródmieście and Mokotów districts also belong to his area of command.

General Rohr asked his commander, SS-Obergruppenführer von dem Bach-Zelewski ... (who only called himself "von Bach" at the time - the second, Polish, part of his surname would only be used again after the war!). ..



... as a prerequisite for taking command, the immediate removal of the marauding, murdering and raping RONA-Soldateska from his command area.

His request will be granted immediately!

On the same day, the almost 5,000 surviving RONA's ...





... transported from Warsaw and stationed in a barrack camp in the surrounding area.

It had already been decided beforehand to dissolve the RONA as an association and integrate it into the "ROA", the "Russkaja oswoboditel'naja armija" of Lieutenant General Andrei Andreevich Wlassow ...



... which also fights on the German side and is usually only called the "Vlasov Army" after its commander.

When Wlassow inspects the reinforcements promised to him for his army - namely the RONA's ...



... he gets a massive fit of anger and yells at the German liaison officer:

"So that's what you give me: bandits, robbers and thieves! You give me what you no longer need yourself!"

Vlasov almost got violent!

Except for the - somewhat more capable - Major Kostyenko ...




...Wlassow fires immediately all RONA-Officers...





... and divides the RONA "soldiers" into small groups in his "ROA".

The RONA killers have thus played their role in Warsaw!

What is happening in Warsaw today is what the leadership of "Armia Kraiowa" feared yesterday: the German tanks ...





... roll over the Polish resistance in Powisle - and in the afternoon the part of the city belongs to them!

Anyone who cannot break away from the Polish fighters in time and flee via the only free road to Śródmieście, dies!



At the same time, the Germans are stepping up their attacks on Śródmieście itself - there is intense fighting, especially in Jerusalem-Alley ...






... where the Polish can maintain their positions with their last efforts.

The German tactic of splitting the district into a northern and a southern part and then finishing off the Polish groups, one after the other, is all too clear.

Jerusalem-Alley is the decisive position for this. But the Polish can still stand there!

At the same time, Major General Koch has the Mokotów district south of Śródmieście under heavy fire ...



... on the other than the already existing 60 centimeter mortar ...



... now also three brought 42 centimeter stifire guns participate ...:



In addition, the Germans are now attacking Mokotów with ground troops!

Their destination is the ruins of the "Magnet" battery factory on Stępińska Street ...:



Although the Germans manage to break into the largely destroyed building several times, the defenders of the "Bazsta" battalion ...



... pushed back again and again.

At the end of the day, the "magnet" factory will remain in the hands of the Polish defenders - but for how much longer?

Meanwhile, the situation of civilians in Śródmieście is getting worse and worse because of the constant fire and fighting! This is also the case in other parts of Warsaw.

The civilian leadership of the Polish underground decided to start negotiations with the Germans.

Objective: The non-combatants should be able to leave the city during an agreed fire break.

A delegation from the Polish Red Cross is sent to SS-Obergruppenführer von dem Bach - and what hardly anyone expected: The SS leader agrees!



He agrees to allow the elderly, women, children and the sick to leave Warsaw. The campaign is scheduled to begin on September 8th and end on September 14th. During the evacuations, shooting should not take place on either side at certain times.

Finally, the headquarters of the "Armia Kraiowa" agrees to the evacuation - but urgently warns his compatriots against placing too much trust in promises made by German commanders.

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Montag, September 8, 1944

The first round of evacuation of civilians agreed with the Germans the day before in the Śródmieście district will begin in the morning - under incessant fire from German artillery.

This prompts the command of the "Armia Kraiowa" to issue another urgent warning against believing the promises of the German besiegers!

But SS-Obergruppenführer von dem Bach adheres to the exact second the agreement made with the Polish representatives yesterday:

At 12 o'clock sharp, the German guns fell silent - and the first large group of civilians could leave the burning, enclosed district.





According to the agreement, each of the refugees is allowed to take food with them for a daily ration, which, however, is only checked randomly by the Germans when the column passes their lines ...:



In the two hours that the ceasefire agreement lasts, several thousand old, sick, women and children leave ...



... Śródmieście - the Germans make sure that there are no fighters or even men of fighting age among them!

However, the AK soldiers are ...



... too proud to secretly make off this way!

The agreed ceasefire ends at 2 p.m. - and the German artillery canal breaks loose again to the second.





In addition, the Germans - in the justified hope that the Polish would concentrate on evacuating their compatriots - have assembled considerable ground troops with tanks in readouts ...:





Again strong German attacks are directed against Jerusalem-Alley, with whose possession the Germans could split the district Śródmieście and its defenders into two small cauldrons.




But essentially the Polish can claim ownership of the road ...





... are however forced to visit the ruins of the police headquarters ...




... and give up the Ministry of the Interior and Administration!




Heavy hand-to-hand fighting rages around the bombed Holy Cross Church - the Polish can, however, maintain the ruins until dark ...:





Again, the Germans did not reach their target and lost a number of soldiers and tanks!





In the evening, news spreads like wildfire:

Soviet rocket artillery has started firing massive volley guns on German positions in Warsaw's Praga district on the east bank of the Vistula!



The next picture shows in the middle the smoke over the part of town Śródmieście, which was bombarded by the Germans, in the upper right background the Vistula with a bridge, and behind it the town of Praga with the smoke caused by the detonations of the Soviet "Katjuschas" ...:



In the Praga district, where many soldiers of the German garrison are stationed and preparing positions to defend Warsaw against the expected - and feared - autumn offensive of the Red Army, the Polish uprising collapsed on the first day.

The hour-long bombardment of Pragas by the "Katjuschas" of the Red Army, whose characteristic howling can also be heard well in Śródmieście (and the other parts of the city still held by the "Armia Kraiowa"!), Feeds hopes for an imminent intervention among the Poles of the Allies ...!

 

[grasshopper]

Hitting a like button seems trite..this is excellent

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Tuesday, September 9, 1944

Today is the second date for the evacuation agreed between the Poles and SS-Obergruppenführer von dem Bach; again there should be a two-hour truce from 12 noon.

But early in the morning a parliamentarian appears in front of the Polish lines, accompanied by the regional commander, Generalmajor Rohr ...




... and on behalf of the German High Command asks that today's ceasefire be brought forward to the time between 6 and 8 a.m.

There has long been speculation about why the Germans do this! Presumably it was done in order to then be able to use a "full" day of fighting in daylight - a peculiarity of the battles for Warsaw is that the fighting, apart from small businesses, usually ends in the dark, because in the rubble and ruin jungle of the capital hardly anyone has an overview at night ...

The Polish respond to the German request - and civilians who want to leave the destroyed Warsaw have to pack their things in a hurry!





The evacuation goes - just like yesterday - without any incident.

A total of just over 8,000 civilians left Warsaw on September 8 and 9, 1944 ...:





At 10 o'clock sharp there is war again - and the bitter fights, especially around the Śródmieśce district, continues!









The fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" immediately noticed that the Germans had changed their tactics!

Instead of trying - as on the previous days - to split the district into two separate basins, Generalmajor Rohr is now increasing the pressure from the north on the Polish positions considerably in order to push the AK fighters step by step from the northern part of Śródmieśce to the southern part .

Colonel Józef Zawiślak, who is in charge of the defense of this northern area, has to see that his people are the remains of the "Tunguz" battalion ...



... be pushed back bit by bit!

Towards the evening about a third of the district is up to Sikorski-Allee ...



... in German hands!

The following original aerial photo shows - running across the picture - the Sikorski-Allee and a white arch, which denotes the German positions reached on that day ...:





AK chief General Bor-Komorowski radios to London:

"The situation in Śródmieście-Północ (north, note MR) is deteriorating rapidly. The soldiers' stamina is at the end of human possibilities [...] We are losing a lot of ground. By conquering Sikorski Avenue, we are becoming smaller and smaller Islands crowded If the defense of North Śródmieście collapses, people and soldiers can be killed. There is also the possibility of surrender. "

Presumably this radio message was also intercepted and decrypted by the Germans, because shortly afterwards Generalmajor Rohr received a Polish civilian delegation, to whom he offered the honorable surrender of the surviving Polish defenders in Śródmieście.

The "Armia Kraiowa" refuses of course!

Meanwhile in London there are plans to send a large bomber convoy made up of British and US aircraft to Warsaw - fully loaded with weapons, ammunition and equipment.

General Bor-Komorowski will be informed of this by radio message.

While Śródmieście is still fiercely fighting, the Germans are now attacking the Mototów district with ground troops; so far they had only fired and heavily bombed Mokotów with heavy artillery.

The Germans concentrate on the Sielce district, which is in the center of Mokotów ...:



But the Polish defenders under Lieutenant Colonel Remigiusz Grocholski ...



... can fight back all attacks on this day ...:







If yesterday the bombardment of the Praga district on the eastern side of the Vistula by rocket artillery of the Red Army triggered great euphoria among the Polish fighters, it remains completely quiet there for today ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Wednesday, September 10, 1944


Fierce ground fighting has raged in the Śródmieście district since dawn!

However, the desperate defense of the Polish defenders are being pushed back step by step by the overwhelming German forces.

They first lose the important barricade on Chmielna Street ...






... and then the ruins of building no.11 ...



... which gives the Germans a good attack position on the center of the district.

Around noon the attackers, who now also include units of the 12th German Panzer Division, advance across the Jerusalem Allee - and thus have half of the contested district under control!

In the southern district of Mototów, on the other hand, the fighting activity is extremely low today - after the Poles repulsed a major attack there yesterday, which cost the Germans a number of tanks and many lives, the attackers are limited today to probing - they are testing the Polish defense with small actions and are looking for a weak point in the defensive ring around Mokotów.

In view of the desperate situation of "Armia Kraiowa", AK chief General Bor-Komorowski ...



... in the early afternoon direct contact with the German commander, Generalmajor Rohr ...



... and explores the possible conditions for a total surrender of the Polish fighters in Warsaw.

In a letter to Rohr, Bor-Komorowski demands that the German side must recognize the "Armia Kraiowa" as the official Polish army, which would guarantee all fighters prisoner-of-war status according to the regulations of the "Geneva Convention" - and he demands the same for everyone Polish underground fighters BEFORE the Warsaw Uprising, who are in German hands!

In a letter of reply, Major General Rohr replies in principle in the affirmative, but claims that he still has to coordinate precisely with his Commander-in-Chief, SS-Obergruppenführer von dem Bach.

Then the Germans suddenly broke off the talks - a reason for this is initially not apparent to the Poles.

But a little later the reason can be clearly heard - massive battle noise on the eastern bank of the Vistula!




Under massive artillery preparation ...





... the Red Army has started its autumn offensive, which it will take to the Oder by the end of the year!

Panzer packs and rifle regiments of the "1st Belarusian Front" ...



... under Marshal Georgij Zhukov (here with his political deputy General Aleksandr Evgenjewitsch Golovanow) ...



... attack the German positions in Warsaw's Praga district - now it is suddenly the Germans who are sitting between two fires!









Fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa", who were able to hide from the stalking of the Germans in Praga after the suppression of the uprising there, emerged - and served the Soviet soldiers as local leaders ...:




AK General Bor-Komorowski immediately radioed to London that the Red Army has now - apparently on a larger scale - has become active and is much more optimistic than in the morning.

The British and Americans react immediately - and publish a list containing the names of 28 German officers whom they accuse of war crimes and other atrocities in connection with the fighting for Warsaw!

Stand at the top

SS-Oberstgruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski and SS-Obergruppenführer Heinz Reinefarth ...:



SS-Oberführer Oskar Dirlewanger...:



SS-Brigadeführer Bronislaw Kaminski (the Allies are not yet aware of his execution by the SS)...:



... and "Ataman" General Timofej Domanow, whose Don Cossack troops are also deployed in Warsaw on German side) ...:

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Thursday, September 11, 1944


The negotiations between the leadership of the "Armia Kraiowa" and the Germans, which were interrupted yesterday, are entering a second round today.



They end with the German side fully confirming the Polish demands - but only verbally:

All civilians should remain untouched, all Polish fighters, including those who worked underground before the Warsaw Uprising, should be granted prisoner-of-war status - and the "Armia Kraiowa" should be officially recognized as the Polish army!

What is missing, however, is an official German document that guarantees all of this and that General Bor-Komorowski insists on.

The Germans are reluctant. Yet?

While the negotiations are in progress, the noise of the battle can be clearly heard from the other bank of the Vistula: Marshal Rokossowskij's soldiers are fighting their way step by step through Praga towards the Vistula - and will probably soon have reached the eastern bank of the river!









This happening is now forcing the Germans to change their strategy!

At the moment they had concentrated on the destruction of the "Armia Kraiowa" in the Śródmieście district and brought the decimated Polish defenders to the brink of total defeat, one notices there that the German pressure has greatly eased!

There is still fighting in Śródmieście, but it is of a minor nature.

This is due to the fact that the Germans withdraw a large part of their troops deployed there - in particular SS-Wiking and parts of the 19th Panzer Division - and are now concentrating on the western bank of the Vistula in order to build up a defensive front against the Soviet Army.

A look at the map, however, shows that the Germans are in the way of the districts of Mokotów and Czerniaków, which are still occupied by the AK fighters.




If the Germans don't have Mokotów and Czerniaków, they don't have their backs free! So they have to conquer Mokotów and Czerniaków and destroy the Polish defenders there!

The attempt of the Germans to occupy Mokotów and Czerniaków practically "in passing" to the bank of the Vistula and to "clean up" them fails bloody today ...:




The Polish, in turn, suffer far higher losses than the Germans, but almost all of them can hold their positions - especially the hard-fought ruins of the "Magnet" factory ...



... and in Czerniaków the so-called "Wedel House" on Górny Mokotów Street ...

... stay in their hands!

The Polish fighters only lose a few barricades in the west of Mokotów to the Germans ...:





However, a night counterattack by the "Baszta" group fails ...




390/5000
... which aims to recapture these very barricades, with heavy losses!

In London, meanwhile, plans to send out a large fleet of bombers with supplies on board for the Polish fighters are almost complete.

The US B-17 and B-24 will take off from British bases, while the RAF's "Lancaster" and "Halifax" bombers will take off from Italy ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Friday, September 12, 1944


While the Germans got a bloody nose in front of the Polish fighters in Mokotów yesterday, today the fighting over the Czerniaków district flares up with full force.



Czerniaków, located directly on the Vistula, MUST have the Germans if they can defeat the Soviet attack that is advancing in Praga ...




... want to counter a defensive barrier.

The German high command therefore decides to deploy all troops available in the area of the city of Warsaw to Czerniaków ...



... and leaving only smaller fuse units everywhere else!



While everywhere else the Polish defenders breathe a sigh of relief ...



... because the German pressure is easing, it is now increasing rapidly on the AK fighters in Czerniaków!



Heavy artillery, super-heavy mortars, volley guns and armored train cannons ...







... ensure that Czerniaków is on fire in many places after a short time!

Where the Germans have definitely recognized a Polish position, the hated German "Stukas" soon appear over Czerniaków - and do their precisely fatal work.

The German tactics mean that the Polish have to face the burned-out ruins of the social security ...:




The Polish also lose the entire area surrounding the ruins of the YMCA building, but they can claim the building itself, but from now on they are in constant danger of being cut off ...:



The almost completely destroyed St. Lazarus Hospital ...



... changes hands several times that day, towards evening the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" prevail there for today! It is the same with the ruins of the gas factory!



The toughest fights, however, are raging right on the bank of the Vistula around the small port of Czerniaków!

Although the Poles succeed in maintaining their positions there until dark, the defenders are at the end of their power - and they are running out of ammunition, and there are no more armor-piercing projectiles.
The leadership of the "Armia Kraiowa" is preparing for the fact that the port will have to be abandoned tomorrow.

General Bor-Komorowski is still radioing hopefully to London today:

"A large-scale Soviet attack on Praga. I consider it successful. The Soviet Air Force has an advantage over the Germans. The Soviet-German aerial battles that have been observed have improved morale. The soldiers and civil society have a great will to persevere Mood is optimistic.
The German pressure on us is particularly high in the Czerniaków area. There is a lack of ammunition. [...] Immediate ammunition support is necessary. "

On the other side of the Vistula, Marshal Georgij Zhukov hands over the operational management of the "1st Belarusian Front" to his colleague Marshal Konstantin Rokossowski ...





... to take over the overall management of the "Oder-Vistula Operation" of the Red Army on Stalin's orders.

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Saturday, September 13, 1944


The situation of the almost defeated Polish fighters in the almost completely destroyed Polish capital seems to be turning dynamically for the better!

What has never happened before: In the early morning of the day a whole pack of Soviet planes with twin-engine "Petlyakov" Pe-2 bombers appears ...




... over the bitterly fought district of Śródmieście the day before yesterday, in which hardly more than a handful of the surviving defenders saw their end.

The "Pe-2" are dive bombers - one after the other flies in, and bales of weapons, ammunition and food, packed in good and shockproof packaging, "rain" out of each aircraft for the Polish fighters, including a large number of "Protiwotankowoje Ruschjo Simonowa", Soviet Anti-tank rifles type Simonow PTRS-41 ...


... along with bullets!

Most of the material of this rather rustic "Air Drop" ends up with the Polish as requested!

Finally the enclosed AK-Fighters have armor-piercing weapons to defend themselves against German tank attacks!




However, today it remains almost completely quiet in Śródmieście - just like in the Żoliborz district north of the old town, which the Polish also claim!

In the meantime, the soldiers of the Red Army in the Praga district east of the Vistula ground the German defensive positions into Satub; what is still alive and not captured by the Germans floods back in full dissolution over the Vistula bridges to the western bank!

Right in the middle of this withdrawal movement, German pioneers blow up all the bridges that are still intact over the Vistula - the railway bridges blow up in the afternoon ...



...the large Poniatowski-Bridge...



...at dawn...



... and shortly before midnight the last connection to Praga, the Kierbedź Bridge ...:





By the afternoon, the Soviet advance through Praga towards the Vistula had turned into a triumphal procession ...







... and in the evening the Red Army soldiers of the "1st Belarusian Front" occupied the entire bank of the Vistula opposite Warsaw ...:



The Soviet successes on the eastern bank of the Vistula resulted in renewed, downright dogged attacks on the Czerniaków district opposite Praga.

The Dirlewanger murderers in the north of Czerniaków and two regiments of the SS-Wiking in the west and south of the district form the German "spearheads", supported by a few tanks from the 19th Panzer Division ...:









It turns out that the previous German tactics of eliminating recognized pockets of resistance by Ju 87 dive bombers with precision attacks no longer really works:

The "Stukas" come when they are requested, but modern Soviet fighters of the types Jakolwlew Jak-9 and Jak-11 are circling over Warsaw - and for these fast and agile fighter planes of the pilot regiments of the "1st Belarusian Front" are the slow ones German "Stukas" easy prey ...:


The Germans do not get beyond selective successes!

They can conquer the building of social security ...



... and finally the ruins of the completely destroyed hospital "Sankt Lazarus" ...


... and a small part to the west of the port of Czerniaków.

The fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" claim the greater part of the port, in particular the part of the port located east of the Vistula.

The Polish had to leave several dozen wounded in the ruin of the social security building when they set off - these were all killed by Dirlewanger's murderers when they occupied the ruin!

However, the AK fighters also suffer a serious setback:

An attack aimed at re-establishing the connection between Czerniaków and the trapped defenders of Śródmieście fails bloody in the German fire! Almost the entire Polish command falls!

In the evening, the leadership of the "Armia Kraiowa" sends two - Russian-speaking - representatives from the port of Czerniaków in a tiny boat across the Vistula to the Soviet-occupied east bank.

Their mission: You should ask the Soviet commander for further support for the uprising of the "Armia Kraiowa" and - if possible, coordinate the joint efforts ...

The question of why Stalin is now advancing to aid the "Armia Kraiowa" has been widely discussed. Actually, there is only one possible explanation:

The "father of the peoples", who was very well informed about the events in the embattled Polish capital, came to the conclusion that the Germans had destroyed the Polish Home Army, allied with Great Britain, to such an extent that he could use it as competition for the "Lublin government" and his subordinate the troops of the "Polish People's Army" that are also dependent on him no longer need to fear ...

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Sunday, September 14, 1944

The two daring emissaries of the "Armia Kraiowa", who had crossed the Vistula, are received by Red Army outposts on the eastern bank of the river and "passed on" to the front commander via several stations (including a brief interrogation by NKVD members) .

One can well imagine their amazement when they greet the marshal with carefully chosen Russian words, and who answers them in fluent Polish.

Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Rokossowski is polish himself and was born in Warsaw!

He treats the two AK representatives very politely and courteously - but can only evasively answer their urgent requests for help and cooperation: No orders have yet been received from Moscow.



And really: The ground troops of the Red Army are making no attempt today to cross the Vistula or otherwise intervene in the ground fighting.

Meanwhile, the Polish defenders of the Czerniaków district are coming under increasing pressure, because the Germans are really leaving no stone unturned to get this area into their hands!





The situation of the Poles is worsening from hour to hour - the German "Stukas" also come into play again because the Luftwaffe has scraped together a few Messerschmitts somewhere that are now protecting the slow "Ju 87" from the Soviet "Jak" fighters. ..:



In the early afternoon the head of the Polish defense of Czerniaków, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz ...



... can't help but to order to withdraw his units ...



... to a central position near the bank of the Vistula ...:



Everything else is given up!

Today, after a long break in which only reconnaissance and raid troops took place, the Germans attack the districts of Mokotów in the south and Żoliborz in the north of Warsaw, which are still held by the Polish ...:



In Żoliborz, the attackers are not successful ...



... but the Ukrainian militia of SS-General Reinefarth in the Marymont district are massacring Polish civilians who have stayed behind ...:



Mokotów has also suffered heavily - here a "Stuka" attack on the so-called "Redoubt Alkazar", a fortress of the old Warsaw fortress ring from the 19th century, which was shot down into ruins, claims heavy losses among the Polish defenders.








The brick-earth fortification hardly offers any protection against German 250 kilo bombs!

In view of the actual situation, it really seems a bit presumptuous what the Polish government-in-exile in London is broadcasting on the BBC radio station for the defenders of Warsaw:

"Polish! The moment of liberation is near. Your torments and suffering are over. The Germans will pay dearly for the bloodshed and the ruins of Warsaw and in the end: Help is coming! All strength!"

 

[grasshopper]

Throughout there seemed a disconnect between the government in exile and the reality in Warsaw

 

[Nap]

Just amazing to catch up with this ( wasn't getting notifications ) .....fighting continues , a slight reprieve to get civilians out but the hell continues

Must have been especially scary at nighttime despite action normally stopping

This is a great thread and tells the story ŵell

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warswa, Monday, September 15, 1944

The Soviets in Praga are back in action today!

Dive bombers from the air regiments of the "1st Belarusian Front" provide the trapped Polish defenders in Czerniaków and Śródmieście with weapons, ammunition and food. Almost everything arrives!





In addition, the Soviet commander, Marshal Rokossovsky, is now sending emissaries across the Vistula.

An officer patrol of the Red Army managed to contact the command staff of the defenders of Czerniaków.

The Poles ensure that the officers are "seen" - and where this happens, they meet with genuine enthusiasm!




The Polish commander of the "Armia Kraiowa", Lieutenant Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz ...



... keeps nothing from the Soviets!

Since yesterday he had to pull his fighters back to a "last position" due to the German attack force, the AK fighters have suffered the heaviest losses:

They are crowded together in a very small space, are almost constantly attacked by tanks and infantry - and bombed by German "Stukas" and artillery during breaks in combat.

Mazurkiewicz makes it very clear to the officers that he cannot hold out much longer without the help of Rokossowski's troops.

With this impression the emissaries make themselves on the dangerous way back to the east bank of the Vistula to report to the Marshal.

Meanwhile, the bitter fighting in the center of Czerniaków continues - the focus is on the ruins of the Citroen factory ...



...and the so-called "PKO-Building"...:





The Polish defenders under Lieutenant Zbigniew Paszkowski ...



...and Captain Zygmunt Netzer...



... hold - but how much longer ...?

Mokotów is also being massively attacked by the Germans today - especially the "Dolny Mokotów" ( "Under-Mokotów") is the target of the attacks, in which remotely controlled "Goliath" explosive tanks are used again if the infantry doesn't get any further ...:





When the defenders - remnants of the terribly decimated battalion "Rys" ...



... are on the verge of being overrun, fighters under Hauptman Lech Głuchowski come to them at the literal last minute ...



...to help!

For free! Captain Głuchowski falls with almost all of his command - the Sielce district has to be given up after almost all Polish defenders there are dead, the Germans conquer the old fort ...





... they invade Belwederska, Dolna and Piaseczyńska districts.

That means: the Germans are in control of Dolny-Mokotów!

In Gorny-Mokotów (= Upper-Mokotów) there is no ground fighting - however, heavy German artillery fire, which constantly claims its victims.

The big air supply action planned for today by the Americans and the British by the USAAF and the RAF has to be postponed indefinitely because of the low clouds over the Warsaw target areas.

The Soviets with their rustic and less complex technology, managed to supply the insurgents from the air today, as shown at the beginning of this chapter ...

 

[Nap]

Still the defenders are holding out ...but only just .....continually attacked from land and air ...

Perhaps hope is happening with Russian airdrops and troops

We shall see

Cheers Martin

Nap

 

[grasshopper]

Stalin and other Allies watched them die

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Not all...

We will see...

Cheers

 

[grasshopper]

Lack of documents precludes definitive conclusion, but allied air drops were hindered by distance and lack of access to airfields,,soviets stopping may have been due Stalin hoping for home army extermination, tired forces, other potential threats..but in the end any help was too little too late

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Tuesday, September 16, 1944


On the morning of that day - the weather over Warsaw is still "too bad" for the planes of the Western Allies - the Soviet pilots reappear with their "Pe 2" bombers and are supplied with parcels over the positions of the Polish fighters in Mokotów and Czerniaków from!




But that's not all:

Marshal Rokossovsky sends Lieutenant Colonel Sergiusz Kononkow (in the picture with a pipe) ...




... with his battalion across the river to help the AK Fighters!

Kononkov's unit is the 1st Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division of the 1st Polish People's Army, which is fighting in the ranks of the Red Army under its General Zygmunt Berling! "

The more than 300 soldiers make their way with self-made boats ...



... and rafting on the dangerous route across the Vistula ...







... and besides their own combat equipment they also take with them so much supplies for their cpmpatriots, which the unsafe watercraft can only carry.

Of course, this is recognized by the Germans and the Polish Red Army soldiers are heavily shot at during the crossing - and have several failures.

Most of them make their way to the west bank, sit down on the Solec bank ...



... and a headland south of the port of Czerniaków ...





... and is soon involved in fierce battles with units of the SS-Wiking ...:



For today Rokossowskij cannot send any more troops - in broad daylight this would be sheer murder of his own soldiers!

In the center of Czerniaków itself the fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" are still standing alone - and the situation there is deteriorating from hour to hour in view of the desperate German attacks!

The hard-fought ruin of the hospital at 9 Zagórna Street ...



... must be finally given up, the Germans occupied the completely destroyed building - and killed around 150 Polish wounded who were housed in the somewhat secure basement of the building ...:



In the center of Czerniaków, the terribly decimated remnants of the Polish battalions "Zośka", "Czata" and "Parasol" have no choice but to entrench themselves at the traffic junction "Der Kreis" and use all-round defense.

Some of these units manage to get through to the positions of the Polish People's Army Soldiers of Lieutenant Colonel Sergiusz Kononkow on Solec - their withdrawal movement there is covered by Soviet artillery on the eastern bank of the Vistula, which Kononkow requests by radio.

In the meantime, the Germans are turning back to the closely encircled Polish units in the Śródmieście district, which is being taken under heavy fire by the 60 cm murderer and the three 42 cm high-speed cannons, among others.





A direct hit of 42 cm destroyed the former "Hollywood" cinema, which had already been bombed into ruins. In addition to a few Polish fighters, more than 100 German prisoners who were brought there die in the rubble ...:

SS soldiers occupy the rubble ...:



The last fighters in Śródmieście have only one officer left, Captain Witold Plechawski ...



... everyone else fell!

Under Plechawski, the Polish retreated one more street and occupied new positions in the confusing field of rubble.

Later that day, the heavy German artillery changed target to the part of Mokotów still held by the Poles - with equally devastating effects:

The Poles are also losing ground in Mokotów and have to withdraw again. The ruins of the "Opel" factory, previously a permanent Polish bastion, fall.

 

[grasshopper]

The daily story effectively shows the inexorable inevitability of it all

 

[Nap]

The daily story effectively shows the inexorable inevitability of it all

Agree there ...fighting over rubble and so many heavy artillery in use

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Warsaw, Wednesday, September 17, 1944

Gradually, more and more Polish soldiers from the ranks of the Red Army came across the Vistula. Today there are another 300 of the 9th Regiment of the Polish People's Army (Armii Wojska Polskiego) under the command of Capt. Stanisław Olechnowicz (2nd from left) ...:







Even in the night some came over the Vistula.

The two bridgeheads on the Solec bank and on the peninsula south of the port of Czerniaków are now held by almost 900 "Soviet" Poles - but they are themselves under heavy pressure and cannot take offensive action around the hard-pressed fighters of the "Armia Kraiowa" in the center Czerniakóws to help ...:





However, a few Polish fighters manage to drag food packages to their positions that their "Soviet" comrades have landed in Solec.

The AK soldiers in Czerniaków were able to repel a total of eight German attacks on their positions on this day - and they are being decimated more and more.

In his daily report to London, AK boss Bor-Komorowski openly compares the situation of his people in Czerniaków with the situation in Warsaw's old town before they had to give it up!

The difference, however, is: the fighters from the old town were able to escape through the sewer system to Śródmieście and Mokotów, but there is no way out of the Czerniaków basin ...

In Śródmieście, the Germans start another attack today - after intensive artillery preparation - to occupy a street.

However, they fail in the defensive fire of the Polish defenders ...

While almost all Poles look to the southern districts of Warsaw, where the hardest fighting rages around Śródmieście, Czerniaków and Mokotów, 78 soldiers from the company of the 6th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division of the "Soviet" Polish Armed Forces in the Red Army cross around midday , commanded by Lieutenant Kuźniczenka ...



... the Vistula in the northern part of Warsaw ...







... and pushes through to the AK fighters in the Żoliborz district.



There they are not a moment too late, because the Germans have brought in another strong Wehrmacht unit that is now active against Żoliborz: the 25th Panzer Division!













But the AK fighters in Żoliborz still have ammunition for their anti-tank weapons supplied by the British - and their "Soviet" comrades also brought anti-tank rifles with them:






The attack of the 25th Panzer Division is getting stuck!