Posted on 08/01/2008 2:36:23 PM PDT by lizol
Poland remembers the Warsaw Rising
Created: 01.08.2008 08:20
Today marks the 64th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Rising of 1944, the biggest operation organised and executed by a partisan organisation in WWII.
In the Uprising, lasting 63 days, 18,000 insurgents were killed and 25,000 wounded. Losses among the civilians amounted to 180,000 people. Much of the capital was razed to the ground and left in ruins.
The battle began on August 1, 1944, as part of a nation-wide rebellion, Operation Tempest. and was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army reached the city and assisted in liberating it. But while the Soviet advance stopped short on the eastern side of the Vistula River, the Polish resistance against Nazi forces continued for over two months, only to finish in defeat on October 2.
For 63 days the insurgents conducted an uneven and heroic battle, the aim of which was an independent Poland, free from both Nazi occupation and Soviet domination. The huge losses borne by the Poles in the uprising make, even today, the events of the Warsaw Rising of 1944 a hotly debated event.
Many involved in the uprising felt it important to liberate Warsaw before the Red Army arrived, so as to stress Polish sovereignty.
On August 1, 1944 some 40 to 50,000 insurgents started their heroic struggle, poorly armed with only one in four carrying a gun.
By mid-September 1944 Soviet forces had reached a point a few hundred metres from the city, across the Vistula River, but they made no further headway during the Uprising. Many historians accuse Stalin of letting the Nazis crush the Polish forces before entering Warsaw, so making the domination of Poland easier for the Soviets.
Hearing about the outbreak of the insurrection in Warsaw SS chief Heinrich Himmler gave instructions "that every inhabitant should be killed" and that Warsaw should "be razed to the ground" as an example to the rest of Europe under German occupation.
And so tens of thousands of defenceless civilians were slaughtered week after week. One by one, the city’s districts were destroyed as Soviet troops watched from across the river. Poland’s Western allies expressed regret, but decided that they cannot do anything.
After eventual capitulation of the uprising 500,000 people were expelled from the city, which itself was reduced to a pile of rubble.
The Warsaw Uprising was probably the largest single operation organised and executed by any partisan organisation in WWII. As an attempt to achieve its goals, the uprising was a terrible failure, but it was also a remarkable success in showing the courage and the dedication of the Polish nation.
The only issue I take with the article is that the Soviets weren't 'held up' by the Nazis, they deliberately waited so that the Germans could do the dirty work of destroying the freedom loving Poles instead of Stalin.
L
Poland: a staunch ally -— always.
Poles will never take freedom for granted.
I’m with you, but in fairness, the article did say this:
“By mid-September 1944 Soviet forces had reached a point a few hundred metres from the city, across the Vistula River, but they made no further headway during the Uprising. Many historians accuse Stalin of letting the Nazis crush the Polish forces before entering Warsaw, so making the domination of Poland easier for the Soviets. “
But even this isn’t a really true statement since it says, “they made no further headway”....they *chose* not to make any further headway. A little deceptive.
Kit
The Poles fought alone - twice, in one war - against the Germans. God Bless them, may their future be free from German and Russian domination.
Even worse, the Soviets made sure after the war that most of the surviving AK fighters were either killed, or expelled from the country.
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