Warsaw Uprising 1944: August 6 - Warsaw Postal Service Continues Amid Bloodshed

Hans Frank, governor of the German-occupied central Poland, the General Gouvernement stated, "Almost all Warsaw is a sea of flames. To set houses afire is the surest way to deprive the insurgents of their hiding places. When we crush the uprising, Warsaw will get what it deserves - complete annihilation." Since his appointment as governor in 1939 he has ordered the execution of Polish civilian life and the destruction of every aspect of Polish culture.Throughout the Nazi occupation of Poland, the Polish language, culture, music and arts have been strictly forbidden on pain of death. Over 30,000 Polish civilians had been arrested, many of them intelligentsia. Frank has segregated Jews into ghettos and has stated that he intends to eliminate them as well as the Poles, reserving only a small segment of the Polish population as slave labour for the Nazi German Reich. In his speech to his Cabinet he declared, “Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourself of pity. We must annihilate the Jews.”

The General Government is the location of six Nazi German extermination camps. While Jews comprise the largest segment of prisoners there are also thousands of Polish Christians and other nationalities imprisoned there.  Besides the Nazi death camps there are virtually thousands of concentration camps established throughout Poland. Throughout the Nazi occupation, Poles have been systematically arrested and executed -either shot or hung from public makeshift gallows. The recent outbreak of the Uprising has intensified the Nazi crackdown on Polish resistance fighters as well as Polish civilians and prison inmates.

Polish Civilians Hanged by Germans at Radom (date unknown)

Germans Hanged Polish inmates of Pawiak prison February 11, 1944

governor of Occupied Poland Hans Frank

The Polish Secret State in January 29 to 30, 1944 had planned to assassinate Frank just one night before the 11th anniversary of the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. The train upon which Frank was travelling en route to Lwow was derailed after a massive explosive device went off. Frank escaped unharmed. After Poland was invaded in Septemer 1939, the Polish Secret State was established by the Polish Underground in an effort to maintain and continue Poland's pre-war legal and governmental institutions and prepare for the eventual liberation of Poland. The Secret State is officially recognized by the Polish-government-exile in London as representing Occupied Poland and had been granted status as the Government Delegation for Poland. The AK is just one part of the military branch of the Polish Secret State.

Polish Home Army Command has consolidated the three parts of Warsaw: the North Group encompasses the area of the cemeteries, the Old Town, Żoliborz and Kampinos; Srodmiescie is linked with Powisle and Czerniakow; and the South Group includes Mokotow together with Sadyba as well as the Kabacki and Chojnowski forests.

After very heavy fighting Polish units under the command of Captain Waclaw Stykowski "Hal" retreated from Wola to Srodmiescie but they were successful in the taking contro of several positions including the recapture of Haberbusch i Schiele brewery at Ceglana Street. Thousands of civilians have organized themselves into teams to gather bags of barley and distribute them to the city center.  The barley is made into a type of soup called pluj-zupa (spit-soup). After having grounded the barley with coffee grinders, it is boiled with water. The availability of huge quantities of barley stock is a great relief for the Varsovians who are quickly running out of food.

Polish Insurgents carrying bags of Barley around Zelazna Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie

General Bor sent another radio wire to officials of the Polish government in exile in London today. In this sixth day of the Uprising, supplies are running out very quickly.  He stressed the urgency for military assistance and supplies. He stated, “We do not ask for material assistance, we demand that it be sent to us immediately!”

Meanwhile, in Pruszkow, the Germans have set up a transit camp on the site of the Train Repair Shops (Zaklady Naprawcze Taboru Kolejowego) and have interned about 60,000 Varsavians who have evacuated the city.(By the end the Uprising there will have been about 650,000 imprisoned from Warsaw and outlaying areas. Approximately 55,000 were transported to concentration camps, and 13,000 to Auschwitz.) They come from a broad cross-section of Polish society and represent many occupations: government officials, scholars, professors, artists, physicians, merchants, blue-collar workers. Many are suffering injuries or illness. Among them are invalids, pregnant women, as well as young infants and the elderly aged 86 or more. Many Jews who had been "living on Aryan papers" have been caught and arrested.

Polish civilians and insurgents at Pruszkow Camp Warsaw Uprising 1944

Since dawn there has been heavy fighting in the Wola district. Polish insurgents are fighting aggressively though they are outgunned and outnumbered by the German war machine. Although the German units have sustained considerable losses in this battle, the Poles have still not been able to to break through German lines in the direction of City Centre. Meanwhile, German troops have stormed the Karola i Mari Hospital and have massacred over 100 patients. At 2:00 pm yesterday, the Germans broke into Wola Hospital on Plocka Street, robbing the staff and wounded of their personal valuables, money and watches. An hour later shots were fired and they had killed Dr. Marian Piasecki, Professor Zeyland, and the Chaplin of the hospital, Reverend Father Kazimierz Ciecierski. The Germans then ordered the evacuation of the hospital. Whoever was able to walk even with assistance were taken out of the hospital and were assembled with several hundred Poles who had been rounded up  and then German soldiers systematically executed them.
 

During the night Mokotow finally reestablished communications with Srodmiescie. The commanding officer of the report depot in Aleje Jerozolimskie Street, Elzbieta Ostrowska “Ela” was able to force her way from Srodmiescie to Mokotow through the sewers. Amid this beleaguered city Polish civilians have volunteered to serve in any way they can, including the postal service. Makeshift boxes have been set up in territories held by the insurgents and are usually found near the vicinity of barricades and hospitals. Collection points are identifiable by labels of “Field Postal Service” or the designation of a lily, which is the symbol of Polish scouting. Delivering the mail are Girl and Boy Scouts, some no older than thirteen years of age. These courageous youngsters empty the boxes twice a day, unless tragically they are killed by stray bullets. Like the AK they also wear the red and white armbands. There are also countless number of men and women serving as underground couriers delivering messages between Polish insurgent units. Their courage and sacrifice is indeed awesome and they are as highly respected as any soldier of the Armia Krajowa.   
 

Young Polish Boy Scout Warsaw Uprising

Mailbox with symbol of Polish Eagle - Warsaw Uprising

HITLER AND STALIN: REIGN OF TERROR

WARNING:

The following video and photos contain extremely graphic and shocking images.
Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Joseph Stalin Pure Evil (00:05:32m)






EINSATZGRUPPEN 2 FILM RARE (00:08:10m)  Archival footage begins around 1:12



October 8, 1939

Polish territory has officially been incorporated into the Hitler's Third Reich.  In a decree issued today, Hitler proclaimed that "where 12 million Poles now live, is to be populated by 4 to 5 million Germans." He referred to central Poland which has come under the command of the Nazi General Gouvernement.  Western areas of Poland, in addition to the former Free City of Danzig, have been annexed to Germany.  As a result, Germany's eastern border has been extended some 200 kilometers into Polish territory. German citizens are flocking into areas formerly part of Western Poland, as part of Hitler's policy of lebensraum, displacing the Poles who were living there.

Polish citizens are being deported to the General Gouvernement in central Poland, and subjected to hard physical labour in areas of industry and agriculture.  There are severe shortages of food and fuel supplies in the work camps and Poles are being worked to death. Jews have been rounded up and isolated in Ghettos, heavily guarded by armed German soldiers. Any Jews trying to escape are shot.  A Polish man was shot on the spot for tossing a loaf of bread over the ghetto wall.  Scenes like this are repeated every day in every city. The misery and terror are inexplicable.

Poles in Nazi Labour Camp

Meanwhile Polish citizens are being publicly executed in reprisal for attacks made on German soldiers.  The Nazis have imposed harsh rules and prohibitions. Posted in every city are bulletins forbidding the Poles from helping the Jews. The SS carry out frequent random house to house searches, looking for Jews in hiding, and upon finding them, shoot them in the street along with the Polish families who have been sheltering them. Thousands of Poles have been killed, both Jews and Christians.

Poles Executed by Germans

Poles executed by hanging. German looks on.

Poles Executed by Nazi firing squad

Nazi Bulletin Warning Against Helping Jews

Click here for translation

While the Nazis are exacting their rule of terror, the Soviet regime has applied its own draconian methods In the eastern part of Poland. Polish currency has been withdrawn from circulation without exchange for rubles literally wiping out entire families savings. All personal and state property has been confiscated. Poles refusing to accept Soviet citizenship are charged with "counter-revolutionary activity" and deported to Soviet gulags. Hundreds of thousands are never seen or heard from again.  All Polish institutions, political, cultural, and economic have ceased to exist. All organized religions are being persecuted.  All Polish political parties have become illegal. No one is safe. Politicians, civil servants, scientists, engineers, professors, teachers, journalists, and anyone even suspected of being a threat to Soviet rule is arrested and deported. Polish POWs are being killed by the hundreds of thousands by the infamous NKVD, the secret Soviet police.  Although the Red Cross has tried to investigate the condition of Polish POWs they have not been able to obtain permission to see them. The Soviet Union has refused to cooperate. They never signed the Geneva Convention in regard to the treatment of prisoners of war and do not recognize its merits.

At the core of Nazi-Soviet terror is a finely-tuned propaganda machine. By exploiting the existing tensions among minorities in Poland, clashes frequently occur between opposing groups ften leading to violent outbreaks and bloody massacres. German soldiers periodically harass and humiliate Jews in the Ghetto.  Reports indicate that a group of Hitler Jungen (Hitler Youth) armed with guns had entered the confines of a Jewish Ghetto, and used Jews as target practice.  

These and many other reports have been received from Jan Karski, and countless other members  of the Polish Resistance.  Britain and France have dismissed these claims as false or exaggerated.  International public opinion is outraged and is demanding an official inquiry.

Polish Underground Radio Station

In Riga Government Representatives from Germany and Latvia met today for the signing of an agreement for the patriation of all German-speaking citizens of Latvia, to the Third Reich.  An estimated population of 50,000 ethnic Germans will be transferred to Germany.

In Helsinki, the Finnish government has accepted a Soviet invitation to send a delegation to Moscow to discuss border disputes. Finland has declared its determination to maintain its independence and its neutrality in the war.

The Canadian government has announced that a division of 20,000 troops will leave for overseas next year.



Please note:  Tomorrow's blog will present concluding information and comments.  Don't miss it!


Link:
Polish Greatness.com

Polish Army Retreats At Mlawa

September 4, 1939

After three days of heavy fighting Polish infantry divisions retreated at Mlawa, in north-central Poland.  A German column of tanks led the attack supported by the Luftwaffe but could not push through Polish lines. The initial assault was repelled by Polish-made 37mm  Armata ppanc.wz 36 anti-tank guns. The commander of the German army ordered his troops to attack the Polish units several times in a row but all attacks were repelled and by nightfall the Germans were forced to return to their original positions. Yesterday the Germans opened fire on Rzehnow on the right flank of the Poles for over two hours continuously until the Polish units started to waver. Polish counter-attack by then was unsuccessful. The Commander of the Polish Modlin army ordered his Division to regroup further eastward to establish a defense of it's right flank between the villages of Debsk and Nosarzewo. Meanwhile the Germans were preparing for a counter-attack. The Manzovian Cavalry Brigade was also in the area and vulnerable to German attack.  The Polish Commander ordered his Brigade to split into two forces and attack from different directions, but conflicting information about German positions disrupted the plan and led to chaos among his troops. By evening most of the Polish units were destroyed but the 21st Infantry Regiment of Colonel Stanislaw Sosabowski managed to withdraw from the battlegrounds towards Modlin Fortress.

Map of surrounding area of Mlawa 1939

One of the Polish anti-tank artillery

Polish tanks mobilizing for attack

German engineers were able to cut through Polish anti-tank barriers and used local civilians as human shields. Despite being able to capture several bunkers on the left flank of the Polish forces they could not move farther.  German attacks on the right flank proved more successful and by late evening the German units had broken through the lines of the Polish 79th Infantry Regiment.  Rather than face the risk of being surrounded, General Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski ordered his troops to withdraw towards Warsaw and Modlin abandoning their fortified positions.

German mechanized units suffered heavy losses and were unable to take pursuit. The Polish regiment retreated to the south of Mlawa but because the area is lightly forested their position was easily detected and they were bombed and strafed continuously by the Luftwaffe.

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German troops occupied Czestochowa seizing all property and making mass arrests of Jewish Poles. They were led to public areas where hundreds were systematically executed in broad daylight in a massacre that has been referred to as "Bloody Monday."

German soldiers in Czestochowa watch Polish Jewish prisoners

                                                                        

Czestochowa: Jews were lined up along the wall. Moments later they were executed.

Eleven Polish planes and 3 bombers were obliterated by a fleet of German Me109 fighters over Lodz Poland today.  In the north, the Polish Modlin army is in a state of retreat after putting up a stubborn defense against the German war machine. Meanwhile the German 10th Army forces from the south have made significant gains and advanced more than 50 miles inland.

In a daylight raid in German airspace the British RAF flew 29 Blenheim and Wellington bombers targeting German warships in the Heligoland Bight. The German cruiser Emden was damaged but by the wreckage of a shot-down Blenheim. The RAF hit the Admiral Scheer 3 times but the bombs did not detonate.  Britain lost 7 of their planes.

Prime Minister Chamberlain gave a radio message to Germany and speaking in German denounced the Nazi regime and explained the British stand. Last night began the first of a series of propaganda raids in which the British RAF will be dropping 6 million leaflets on cities in northern Germany and the Ruhr.

In France, advance elements of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) are landing from destroyers docked at Cherbourg, in northwestern France. Sources indicate that intermittent skirmishes are taking place in "No Man's Land" between the French Maginot Line and the German Siegfried Line.

In a German article published in the official newspaper of the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP), the Volkischer Beobachter, Goebbel claims that the sinking of the SS Athenia was planned by Churchill to provoke hostilities between Germany and the United States.

The Japanese government continues to claim neutrality stating that they will concentrate "efforts on a settlement of the China affair."


Link:
Polish Greatness.com