Posted on 08/01/2007 7:47:27 AM PDT by twinself
Aug 1, 2007, 12:31 GMT
Warsaw - Memorial ceremonies across Poland Wednesday marked the 63rd anniversary of the tragic Warsaw Uprising of Polish Home Army (AK) partisans against occupying Nazi German forces, bent on systematically destroying the Polish capital and its population during World War Two.
'It is very difficult to suffer such a great loss, but Poland would be weaker today if not for the Warsaw Uprising,' Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski told reporters after a ceremonial changing of the guard at Poland's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Fought in a bid to secure Poland's post-war independence, the Warsaw Uprising was launched by AK commanders loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in Britain on August 1, 1944 by a largely unarmed force of nearly 40,000 Polish partisans.
Despite minor victories, the rising was crushed by the Nazis after 63 days of fierce fighting. Nearly half of the AK insurgents and at least 100,000 civilians were slaughtered. The rag-tag partisan units had fought a well-armed force of 50,000 German troops of whom some 16,000 died in action.
The battle is widely regarded as the bloodiest in Poland's turbulent history.
With no Allied support, the uprising was crushed by October 2, 1944. On orders of Adolf Hitler, Nazi forces subsequently began to level Warsaw until close to 90 per cent of the city was left a smouldering heap of ruins.
Between 600,000-700,000 Warsaw residents, many of them Jews, perished under Nazi occupation between 1939-1944. The capital boasted a population of more than 1.3 million before 1939. All told, six million Polish citizens, roughly half of Jewish ancestry, died in World War Two.
Historians agree the uprising's failure was certain without Allied support.
Stationed only a few kilometres away from the fighting on the opposite bank of the Vistula river, the Soviet Red Army was ordered by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to wait as the Nazis massacred the Polish resistance. Western Allied forces also failed to help.
The uprising's collapse is therefore also viewed as having paved the way for the post-war Soviet take-over of Poland and, ultimately, the beginning of the Cold War.
With Poland's post-war communist authorities bent on trivializing the Home Army's wartime drive for Polish sovereignty, the uprising was relegated to the margins of history until the demise of communism in 1989.
For over 40 years, the communist regime branded it a hopeless suicide mission which had been 'irresponsibly' ordered by Poland's wartime government-in-exile in Britain.
But in 2004, the 60th anniversary of the event finally saw the opening of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising Museum, a multi-media facility devoted to documenting one of the most dramatic episodes of Polish history.
ping!
Even more tragic was how the brave AK soldiers were treated by the Communist traitors after the war. Fighting Nazis and Soviets was bad enough, but to face their demise from fellow Poles, like Beirut and Gomulka, was an even worse tragedy.
Evil dictators...take note....you cannot smother the human spirit!
Despite minor victories, the rising was crushed by the Nazis after 63 days of fierce fighting. Nearly half of the AK insurgents and at least 100,000 civilians were slaughtered. The rag-tag partisan units had fought a well-armed force of 50,000 German troops of whom some 16,000 died in action.
To those who think the 2nd Amendment was never about defending yourself from an out of control government. Imagine if the Poles were armed like the average Texan...
The streets would have run red with Nazi blood.
After that, possibly Soviet blood.
Never have an armed government and and unarmed populace.
Maybe I have been deceived, but I have had the impression that this uprising was the Warsaw **Ghetto** uprising, an exclusively Jewish phenomenon.
Right. For example members of famous scouting “Zoska” (popular form of girl name Zofia) battalion were sought after and sentenced to death by puppet commie judges for treason. They were the ones who liberated Jewish concetration camp in Gesiowka street. My older daughter carries the name after this brave baon.
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
- George S. Patton
The level of cynicism this bespeaks is almost beyond comprehension.
Not entirely true. While the Red Army waited for the Germans to exterminate the resistance, there were limited air drops by the British. Distance provided a major logistical problem for the Western Allies.
The Warsaw rising also coincided with the build up for, and execution of, the failed Market Garden offensive which also limited the resources available for airborne supply.
Different event, different date. The Warsaw Ghetto liquidation occured in Spring, 1943; the Warsaw rising occured in Fall, 1944, a year and a half later, as the Red Army approched the city. For the Ghetto liquidation/uprising (by a force of less than 1000), go here: http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/wgupris.htm
You may have been confused because there were some surviving Jews who took part in the later Warsaw rising.
People should not loose sight of the fact that sociopaths should not be empowered. Many do. People should be vigilant about recognizing sociopathic politicians and preventing them from accumulating power.
Unfortunately, far too many intelligent people appear to be either oblivious or bla·sé or careless.
Perhaps to many the end justifies the means.
Perhaps they're convinced that they uniquely can have tea with the devil and outsmart him--or that they can lie down with swine and not get dirty--or with dogs and not get fleas.
Did I say these people are intelligent? Can I take that back?
Churchill appealed personally to Stalin to help the Polish Heroes. Stalin refused, and called them criminals. Further, Stalin would not allow US or UK aircraft to land in Soviet airspace, since a roundtrip was not possible from the Western front. We should have stopped convoys to the SU after that.
The Warsaw ghetto rising took place in either 1942 or 1943. The rising in the article took place in 1944.
The former was confined to the Ghetto. The latter took place over much of the city.
I was confused too! Thanks for the clarification. It does make you wonder what would have happened if the Polish Home Army partisans had supported the Jews in the ghetto. History may have been very different!
Pretty name.
Also, the Red Army sent a message encouraging the AK to start the uprising, and told them that the Soviets would quickly come to their aid.
Of course, Soviet Propaganda will tell you that the AK were reckless, but the truth is, the Soviets encouraged them.
Despite minor victories, the rising was crushed by the Nazis after 63 days of fierce fighting. Nearly half of the AK insurgents and at least 100,000 civilians were slaughtered. The rag-tag partisan units had fought a well-armed force of 50,000 German troops of whom some 16,000 died in action.
Yep.
Many suggest this uprising, and its early successes, delayed Operation Barbarossa (?) six weeks, and that in turn caused the Germans to reach Moscow in the dead of winter.
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