WARSAW GHETTO 1943: THE JEWISH UPRISING - 28 DAYS OF RESISTANCE

Warsaw Ghetto Burning

On April 19 sixty-nine years ago, hundreds of Jewish men, women and even children of the Warsaw Ghetto launched an Uprising against the Nazi Germans. For twenty-seven days, the Jews fought with all their might bearing what few weapons and arms they had against the overwhelming Aktion of the German Wehrmacht. It was the largest Jewish resistance movement of World War Two.

On April 20, 1943, the SS Police Leader of Warsaw Ghetto sent a telegram to the High SS and Police Leader East, Cracow. It read as follows:

GERMAN TANK USED AGAINST WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

Progress of the Ghetto Aktion on April 19, 1943. Closing of ghetto commenced at 03.00 hrs.

At 06.00 hrs. the Waffen-SS was ordered to comb out the remainder of the ghetto at a strength of 16/850.(referring to officers and men)

As soon as the units had entered, strong concerted fire was directed at them by the Jews and bandits.  The tank employed in this operation and the two SPW [heavy armored cars] were attacked with Molotov cocktails. The tank was twice set on fire. This attack with fire by the enemy caused the units employed to withdraw in the first stage. Losses in the first attack were 12 men (6 SS men, 6 Trawnicki men**).

About 08.00 hrs. the units were sent in again under the command of the undersigned. Although there was again a counterattack, in lesser strength, this operation made it possible to comb out the blocks of buildings according to plan. We succeeded in causing the enemy to withdraw from the roofs and prepared elevated positions into the cellars, bunkers and sewers. Only about 200 Jews were caught during the combing-out operation. Immediately afterwards shock-troop units were directed to known bunkers with orders to pull out the occupants and destroy the bunkers.

NAZIS WAIT AS JEWISH FIGHTER EMERGES FROM BUNKER

About 380 Jews were caught in this operation. It was discovered that the Jews were in the sewers. The sewers were completely flooded, to make it impossible to remain there. About 17.30 hrs. very strong resistance was met with from one block of buildings, including machine-gun fire. A special battle unit overcame the enemy, and penetrated into the buildings, but without capturing the enemy himself. The Jews and criminals resisted from base to base, and escaped at the last moment through garrets or subterranean passages. About 20.30 hrs. the external closure of the ghetto was reinforced...

NAZI GERMANS SMOKE OUT JEWISH RESISTANCE - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The Warsaw Ghetto was established on October 2, 1940 by Dr. Fischer, Governor and Head of the Warsaw District. All Jews in the surrounding area were ordered to move to residences within the designated areas by the end of the month. For the next year and a half thousands of Jews were deported from nearby cities and towns and herded into the ghetto until eventually there were from 300,000 to 400,000 Jews crowded into an area of only 1.3 square miles. (3.4 squared km).

MAP OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING 1943

On November 16,1940, the Germans sealed the Ghetto by building a high wall around it, topped by barbed wire and guarded by armed sentries. Any Jew caught leaving the ghetto compound was shot on sight. Living conditions were deplorable; typhus was rampant, and food limited to barely 184 calories per day per person. The Jews were being starved to death. Over 100,000 ghetto prisoners died.

NAZI POSTER - DEATH PENALTY TO JEWS OUTSIDE GHETTO AND TO POLES WHO HELPED THEM

HEAVILY ARMED NAZIS GUARDING ENTRANCE TO WARSAW GHETTO

CONSTRUCTION OF WALL - WARSAW GHETTO

JEWISH CHILD DIES IN THE STREET - WARSAW GHETTO

JEWISH BABY DIED OF STARVATION - WARSAW GHETTO

The first deportations began on July 23, 1942 and lasted until September of that year. It was carried out on the pretext of "relocating" the Jews to work camps, but instead they were being sent to their deaths at Treblinka. From 254,000 to 300,000 Jews were exterminated. In the beginning there was no resistance to the deportation. By the end of the year it became apparent to the Jews that the so-called deportations were a ruse. By then, the remaining Jews were determined to fight to the death.

WARSAW GHETTO - UMSCHLAGPLATZ - DEPORTATION OF JEWS TO TREBLINKA

Among several Jewish resistance groups, the largest ones were the ZZW (Jewish Military Union), the PKB (National Security Corps) and the ZOB (Jewish Combat Organization). Each rallied for support of the Polish resistance movements of the Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army, or AK) and the Gwardia Ludowa (Polish Communist army, or People's Guard). Elements from each group joined the Jewish fighters and attacked German sectors posted near ghetto walls, and smuggled arms, ammunition and supplies into the ghetto. Despite Polish efforts the quantity of weapons supplied was woefully insufficient. (Unbeknownst to the Jewish Fighters, the Poles were planning to launch another Uprising which began on August 1st, 1944.)

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY THE NAZIS - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

NAZI GERMANS INTERROGATE CAPTURED JEWISH FIGHTER - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The PKB supplied the Jewish fighters with 2 heavy machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 21 submachine guns, 30 rifles, 50 pistols, and over 400 grenades.  Agents of the Jewish resistance were smuggled outside to the Aryan side of Warsaw to purchase weapons on the black market. Stefan Korbonski was Head of the Polish Directorate of Civil Action (and one of the founders of the Polish Underground). In his book, "Polish Secret State", among the weapons that the Armia Krajowa donated to the Jewish Resistance, was 1 light machine gun, 2 submachine guns, 50 handguns (including magazines and ammunition), 10 rifles, 600 hand grenades with detonators, 30 kilograms of explosives (plastics received from the air drops), 120 kilograms of explosives of its own production, 400 detonators for bombs and grenades, 30 kilograms of potassium to make the incendiary "Molotov cocktails" and finally large quantities of saltpeter that were ingredients necessary to manufacture gun powder. They also provided the ZOB with invaluable assistance and instructions on how to manufacture bombs, hand grenades and incendiary bottles; how to build strong-holds; and where to get rails and cement for their construction.

POSTER DISTRIBUTED BY THE ZOB IN WARSAW WW2

 (English translation)

All people are equal brothers;
Brown, White, Black, and Yellow.
To separate peoples, colors, races -

Is but an act of cheating!

  
 

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING - JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY NAZIS

On April 19th the Germans began to liquidate 35,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto and were surprised by fierce resistance from Jewish Fighters. The next day the Germans brought in tanks and armoured cars in an effort to quash the revolt but the Jews continued to fight back. For the days and weeks which followed there were gunshots, explosions and grenades. By the 28th of April the Germans began to set fires to the houses in the Ghetto, systematically, one by one, block by block until the Warsaw Ghetto was engulfed in flames.

SS NAZI STROOP WATCHES GHETTO IN FLAMES- WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

GERMAN TROOPS BURN DOWN WARSAW GHETTO - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

On May 6, 1943, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published a statement of the Polish Government Delegatura, which vehemently denounced the German crimes against the Warsaw Ghetto.The Delegatura paid homage to the Jewish fighters and made an urgent appeal to all Polish citizens to help the Jews escape from the Ghetto. It was a heroic appeal but few had the courage to respond.  But to have helped the Jews would have meant certain death. (In 1941, the Nazis issued an edict that any Poles who helped the Jews would be condemned to death.)
 

The Jews suffered heavy casualties, but continued to

fight heroically, weapons in hand. They managed to kill

over 300 Germans and wounding 1,000 more.

Throughout the Uprising the secret Polish radio station SWIT, under the direction of Stefan Korbonski made numerous radio transmissions to the allies, giving daily reports on the course of the fighting in the Ghetto, and pleading for allied intervention. But their appeals feel on deaf ears. The Uprising ended in catastrophe and enormous loss of life. Tens of thousands of Jews were captured and deported, murdered or burned alive by the Germans.

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED AND LINED UP AGAINST THE WALL - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

According to the underground newspaper Economic Bulletin, by May 15th, about 100,000 Jews had been killed during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 2,000 industrial locations and 3,000 commercial establishments and factories were completely burned or blown up. As the Germans were liquidating the Ghetto, several Jewish commanders and fighters of the ZOB were able to escape the Warsaw Ghetto with the help of their Polish compatriots, guided through the maze of underground sewers. Many Jewish fighters joined the Polish Underground and went on to fight in the Warsaw Uprising.

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING - JEWISH WOMEN AND CHILDREN SURRENDER

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY NAZIS - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended tragically, and like that of the Warsaw Uprising which followed in 1944, became symbolic of the unquenchable determination and courage of the Poles and of the Jews to fight against impossible odds - even to the death. They held fast to the conviction that is was far better to die fighting, than to die on one's knees. This blog post is in tribute to the heroic Jewish fighters, and the Polish compatriots who risked their lives to help them.

ZOB FLAG - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

MONUMENT TO JEWISH FIGHTERS OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

KATYN MASSACRE: SOVIET NKVD KILLING FIELDS

VEIL OF SECRECY

The Katyn Massacre was one of the most heinous crimes ever committed against the Polish nation by the infamous Soviet NKVD. Even after seventy-two years the tragedy of Katyn elicits little if any attention by the West. A veil of secrecy was cast upon Katyn during WWII, by Anglo-American politicians in an effort to maintain and nurture the tenuous alliance or collaboration of their Soviet counterparts. Their objective was to win the war against the Nazis at whatever cost. Extraordinary measures were taken by Churchill and Roosevelt to portray Stalin as a friend of the West, going so far as to refer to him as "Uncle Joe". But there was nothing benign about Stalin. He was by far the most evil dictator and mass murderer, outranking even the perverted insanity of Hitler.

THE MOST EVIL MASS MURDERS IN HISTORY

Stalin decreed the deaths and execution of millions of people. Though statistics vary among historians, the total numbers are quite likely closer to 40 million, which included the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33, executions , purges, deportations, and deaths by starvation and overwork of prisoners held at gulag camps. Among the victims were Polish nationals - Jews as well as Christians, as well as Russians and other nationals.

Notebook: Great Names in Russian History

What is most disturbing is that there are many Russian people today who glorify Stalin. In a Russian survey, Stalin was ranked third by a television audience as one of the greatest men in Russian history. Particularly worrisome is the recent sale of school notebooks targeted to young Russian students, depicting the image of Stalin on the front cover - blatant propaganda.(Thankfully, many Russian citizens and ministers of government have voiced their opposition to this trend.)

NAZI-SOVIET INVASION

POLISH OFFICERS CAPTURED BY RED ARMY SEPT 1939

On September 1, 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland from the north, west and south and seventeen days later the Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east, partitioning Poland in two - the result of a secret pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop) signed on August 23, 1939 between Germany and Russia. Their objective was to eliminate the Polish state, beginning with its leaders, military and intelligentsia. While the Nazis inflicted their reign of terror against the Polish people in the west, the Soviets swept through eastern Poland arresting and deporting from 250,000 to 454,700 Polish soldiers, officers, and policemen to Russian gulags. Many Polish were able to escape but about 125,000 remained imprisoned in Soviet NKVD camps. By 1941 over 1.5 million Polish people, citizens and military men had been deported to the work camps and gulags. Hundreds of thousands were either executed, or perished from the severe cold, disease, and starvation.



VICTIMS OF THE KATYN MASSACRE

In March of 1940, upon the recommendations of the NKVD Chief, Lavrenti Beria, Stalin decreed the execution of thousands of Poles. About 20,000 Polish prisoners were massacred, including an admiral, 14 generals, 24 colonels, 79 lieutenant colonels, 258 majors, 654 captains, 17 naval captain, 3,420 NCO's, 200 pilots, seven chaplains, three landowners, a prince, 43 officials, 85 privates, 131 refugees, 20 university professors, 300 physicians, several hundred lawyers, engineers, teachers, more than 100 writers and journalists, priests, artists, judges, an Olympic athlete, and the Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army.

PHOTOS OF A FEW OF THE POLISH OFFICERS WHO WERE MURDERED AT KATYN

After decades of denial, on April 13, 1990 the Soviet Union finally admitted that the Stalinist regime was responsible for the massacres but it wasn't until April 2011 that declassified documents confirmed the gruesome statistics: 21,857 Polish internees were executed after April 3, 1940. Of the total number, 4,421 were from Kozelsk, 3,820 from Starobelsk, 6,311 from Ostashkov and 7,305 from prisons in Belarus and the Ukraine. Among the victims was one woman. About 8% of the victims of the Katyn massacre were Polish Jews.

According to sources, the NKVD spared the lives of 395 Polish prisoners, although no mention has been made of their names other than that of Stanislaw Swianiewicz and Jozef Czapski, both of whom were transported first to camp Yukhnov and then to Gryazovets.


COLD-BLOODED MURDER

Katyn Executioner Vasili Blokhin

Under the command of Major General P.K. Sprunenko, head of the NKVD POW department, Polish prisoners were organized into "selections" or groups and were executed at various locations including at Katyn. One of the locations was at the NKVD headquarters in Kalinin, Russia (Tver). Thousands of Polish prisoners were summoned one by one to appear in the presence of Vasili Blokhin, Soviet Major-General and the official NKVD executioner. Blokhin was personally responsible for devising and carrying out the system of executing as many Polish prisoners as possible. In April 1940, the NKVD shot 300 Polish prisoners per night for 28 consecutive nights.


It was a scene from a macabre nightmare. The walls of the execution room were heavily padded to ensure soundproofing. The floor was constructed of concrete and tilted at a sloping angle and was installed with a drain and a hose. One by one the Polish prisoners were led to a small red antechamber which the Soviets referred to as the "Leninist room". There, each prisoner was subjected to a brief identification, after which they were handcuffed and led to the next room - where the execution would take place.

Each prisoner was shoved against a log wall and without any formalities, or reading of sentence, Blokhin, wearing a leather butcher's apron, cap and shoulder-length gloves, entered the room, took aim with his pistol and shot each prisoner once at the base of his skull. It was done very quickly and efficiently with no interruptions. Blothkin later boasted that he averaged one prisoner every 3 minutes.

To add to the horror, Blokhin carried around his own briefcase filled with pistols. He had particular preference for the German Walther Model 2 .25 ACP pistol, because he considered them more reliable under heavy use. As a matter of fact, this choice in weaponry provided the NKVD with a plausible argument in denying Soviet culpability when the grave sites were discovered by the Germans in 1943. It was fairly easy for the Soviets to convince everyone that the Germans were responsible, since the Walther pistol was standard issue to Nazi agents.

NKVD EXECUTION ROOM TVER

After each execution, the NKVD agents or guards would then drag the bodies of the Polish soldiers from the room and hose down the floor of all the blood. This scene was repeated continuously throughout the night until just before dawn the next day. The corpses were taken through the back door of the execution room and loaded onto covered flat-bed trucks. Twice each night these trucks drove to Mednoye where the bodies were dumped into large trenches that had been prepared in advance. Blokhin made arrangements for a bulldozer to be sent to the site with two drivers who dug up at least 24 trenches measuring a total of eight to ten meters. By daybreak the graves had all been covered up with earth. The NKVD worked this way without stopping for ten hours throughout the night and at dawn, Blokhin rewarded his accomplices with vodka.


Thousands more Polish prisoners were executed in Katyn forest. They had been told that they were being repatriated to Poland. The first group boarded a train, but strangely it was not travelling east but rather westward. Trains arrived at Gniezdowo station about 18 kilometers from Smolensk, others reached Smolensk, just outside of Katyn forest. From there the Polish prisoners were herded into black vans, with the windows blurred, and driven to a clearing in the woods. When they stepped out of the van, NKVD agents forced them to kneel at the edge of a huge pit. Their hands were tied behind their backs with rope or wire, and a choke knot tied around their necks and hands to prevent them from struggling.  They were surrounded by dozens of NKVD agents, who systematically shot each Polish man at the back of the head, and dumping their bodies into the open pit. These massacres went on continuously throughout several weeks. By mid-May over 4,500 Polish officers had been executed and buried in eight large mass graves, the largest one containing 12 layers of corpses.

KATYN MASSACRE - HANDS TIED BEHIND BACK - CORPSE OF POLISH OFFICER

Corpses of Polish Officers Exhumed from Mass Graves April 1943 KATN FOREST

Sir Owen O'Malley, the British Ambassador to the Polish government-in-exile, described the grisly scene in his report:

"In the broad deep pit their comrades lay, packed closely around the edge, head to feet, like sardines in a tin.... up and down on the bodies the executioners tramped, hauling [the corpses] about and treading in the blood like butchers in a stockyard."

CORPSES OF POLISH OFFICERS PILED INTO MASS PITS - KATYN FOREST

Polish prisoners from Kozelsk camp were transported to Smolensk and executed in Katyn Forest. No fewer than than 4,410 prisoners were murdered.

Polish prisoners from Starobelsk camp were transported to Kharkov and were taken to the basement of an NKVD prison where they were executed by shots below the back of the head. Their bodies were buried in mass graves on the grounds of the NKVD sanatorium (region 6 of forest-park zone) approximately 1.5 kilometers from the village of Pyatikhatka (near Kharkov). No fewer than 3,739 prisoners were executed there.

Polish prisoners from Ostashov camp were taken to the NKVD prison in Kalinin, where they were killed by a shot at the back of the head. No fewer than 6,314 prisoners were murdered.

Map of Polish Deportations - NKVD prison camps - and location of KATYN MASSACRE April 1940

On July 30, 1941 the Sikorski-Maisky agreement was signed between Russia and Poland whereby Stalin agreed to the release tens of thousands of Polish prisoners from Soviet gulags, and granted them so-called "amnesty" - preposterous since the Polish were not guilty of any crime. Nevertheless, it was agreed upon that a Polish army would be created on Soviet soil to fight alongside the Soviets. Despite Soviet assurances of cooperation, the fledgling Polish army was plagued by starvation, and subjected to training with wooden rifles. After considerable pressure by Generals Anders and Sikorski, Stalin finally relented and agreed to the evacuation of Polish troops through Persia (Iran), Iraq, to Palestine. As evacuees began to arrive in Palestine, it became evident to General Anders that there were thousands of Polish officers unaccounted for, and whose whereabouts could not be explained. Despite intense inquiries by Polish authorities, Stalin remained unresponsive, providing only flimsy explanations as to what may have transpired. He claimed that they may have gotten lost somewhere in Mongolia. It remained an unresolved mystery for the next two years.


Acting on information provided by a local Russian peasant, the Nazi-occupiers found the mass graves at Katyn forest in April 1943 and it was apparent that the Soviets were responsible for the atrocity. It set off a series of virulent Soviet, and Nazi denials and counter-accusations - and a controversy which lingered for decades after the end of the war. Polish officials were all too familiar with Soviet deception and chicanery and made every effort to convince Churchill and Roosevelt of Soviet culpability in the massacre but to no avail. Though Britain and the United States were aware of the facts, neither wanted to acknowledge it for fear of offending Stalin. When General Sikorski called for an investigation of the massacre by the International Red Cross, Stalin broke off all diplomatic ties with the Polish government in exile, and proceeded to install a puppet government in Soviet-occupied Poland. The Polish government-in-exile was severely chastised by Churchill and made out to be the villain.

With the end of the WWII and throughout much of the Cold War, the subject of Katyn was kept secret and hidden. But it was not over by any means. By the early 1970s Polish emigres communities in the UK began to question the HMG about Katyn, and lambasted British officials for their complicity. Surprisingly, even three decades after the war, the Brits were still ill at ease to enter any discussion on the subject for fear of provoking Soviet wrath.

On November 11, 1971, Poles in the UK created the Katyn Memorial Fund Appeal in an effort to raise enough money for the creation of a monument honouring the memory of the victims of the Katyn Massacre. The Katyn Committee proposed that a 20 foot high obelisk be erected at Cromwell Road Triangle. Though some British officials were favorable to the idea, the majority of them firmly opposed the plan for fear of long term negative effects on Anglo-Soviet relations. Those fears were magnified when on September 13, the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister, S.P. Kozyrev, delivered the following message:

Attempts have again been made recently in Britain, with aims hostile to the Soviet Union, to propagate the slanderous invention of Goebbels propaganda about the so-called Katyn case... according to the British press, the initiators of this campaign have already received the approval of the local authorities to set up such a memorial obelisk in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea... The Ministry expresses the hope that the British Government will take all the appropriate measures for its part to oppose this provocative act, which can only bring damage to Soviet/British relations.

Former KGB Vladimir Putin

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and collapse of the communism, the truth about Katyn finally began to emerge. In 1990 Gorbachev made the first official statement admitting that the Stalinist regime was responsible for the Katyn massacre and released numerous documents to the Republic of Poland. Further evidence was released in 1991 and 1992 however full disclosure was never provided. In March 2005, the Polish Sejm voted unanimously in favor of an Act calling upon the Russian government to declassify all documents related to the Katyn massacre, and to admit that it was an act of genocide. Moreover, the Polish Foreign Ministry requested confirmation from the Russian government about the alleged film footage taken by the NKVD during the gruesome massacres in April of 1940. Apparently there was no response other than that given by Vladimir Putin, saying that the Katyn massacre was merely a "political crime" and not a genocide.


By 2007 several Russian politicians (pro-Soviet communists) began to deny Soviet guilt of the Katyn Massacre and claimed that the documents that had been previously released were fakes. By the end of the year several Russian newspapers (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Nezavisimaya Gazeta) were printing stories that reiterated the time-worn refrain that the Nazis were responsible for the crime. Irregardless, on May 8, 2010, the Russian government released 67 volumes of de-classified reports and documents to Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski which referred to "criminal case No. 159", an investigation that was instigated in the 1990s regarding the Katyn murders. Then Russian president Medvedev pledged that the Russian government would continue declassifying documents about the Katyn Massacre. While this is regarded as a positive step towards improving Russian-Polish bilateral relations, the rate of declassification of such documents is eternally slow, intermittent and piece meal.


THE SECOND KATYN

In a cruel twist of fate, on April 10, 2010 the aircraft carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 87 high-ranking government and military officials, crashed near the Katyn Forest, near Smolensk, Russia. All aboard perished. They were en route to attend ceremonies commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. The news of the tragedy reverberated around the world plunging the entire nation and Polish citizens worldwide into national mourning. Not long afterwards conspiracy theories began to circulate. Though the crash was investigated and deemed an accident, some sources maintain that there was a sinister element which led to the tragedy. Tragically, one may never know the truth.

THE SECOND KATYN TRAGEDY

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria,

 and government officials died in plane crash April 10, 2010

near Smolensk, Russia

Katyn-Kharkiv-Mednoye Memorial - KATYN MASSACRE SMOLENSK RUSSIA

GREAT POLISH GENERALS OF WW2: Stanislaw Franciszek Sosabowski

General Stanislaw Sosabowski

No other Allied General during World War II had been so villified and ostracized by British Command as General Stanislaw Franciszek Sosabowski. He was Commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade which fought valiantly in Operation Market Garden, a battle which ended with disastrous casualties of allied troops including the Polish division. Sosabowski attempted to divert disaster by warning British command of their flawed strategy but it was not heeded nor tolerated and ultimately resulted in a swift and humiliating dismissal from his command. Sosabowski was a brilliant strategist with an illustrious career in the military yet British command made him a scapegoat so as to avoid admitting their own culpability in the tragic debacle.

To the rest of the world the name Stanislaw Sosabowski has since faded into virtual obscurity, that is until 2007 when a Polish documentary was produced that finally exposed the slander and libel that has tarnished the legacy of a great man and a great General. The film, Honor Generala (A General's Honor) has succeeded in restoring honour to his name, and to the men that served his unit. (video at end of post)

Stanislaw Sosabowski was born on May 8, 1892 in Stanislawow. At the time, Poland was under foreign occupation having been partitioned in 1772 by the imperial powers of Russia, Prussia and Austria. It was one of three partitions that virtually obliterated the Polish state for 123 years. Stanislowow is now part of the Ukraine which is now called Ivano-Franivsk. Before the partitions, the city of Stanislawow was a private fortress that had been built in the 17th century by the Potocki family and owned by them until they were constrained to relinquish it to the House of Habsburg. (Incidentally, the Potocki name comes from a long line of Polish aristocratic land-owners whose legacy has been indelibly intertwined with the Polish history and culture of the region.)

Sosabowski's early life was one of struggle and self-sacrifice. He was one of four children - two boys and two girls but Stanislaw Andrzej Janina and Kazimiera died at a young age. His father worked as a railway clerk. In 1910 Sosabowski was accepted by the Faculty of Economics at the University of Krakow but when his father passed away he abandoned his studies and returned to Stanislawow to assume the responsibilities of caring for his family, working as a bank clerk.

Polska Druzyna Strzelecka

He joined the Druzyny Strzeleckie (Polish Rifle Team), an underground Polish scouting organization and was very soon promoted to head all the Polish scouting groups in the region. Their mission was to prepare and mobilize to fight for the independence of the Polish fatherland.

By 1913 Sosabowski had been drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army and soon after having completed his training was promoted to the rank of Corporal in the 58th Infantry Division. He led his unit into battle when World War I broke out and fought with great distinction in the Battles of Rzeszow, Dukla Pass and Gorlice.

Sosabowski helped to defend the Austrian fortress city of Przemysl and was one of the only three survivors of a total company of 250 men. He was decorated with numerous medals for his bravery and service and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. But in 1915 Sosasbowski was badly wounded in action and had to withdraw from the front. He spent many months in hospital with Maria Tokarska at his side, whom he later married.

In 1917 Sosabowski was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant but because of his war wounds he was instead appointed to Staff Officer of the Archduke Franz Josef HQ in Tyrol. His first son, Stanislaw Janusz was born in Brno.

When Poland regained it's independence on November 11, 1918 Sosabowski pledged allegiance to the re-emerged Polish State. He was made Captain of the new Polish Army and organized the disarming of Ukrainian soldiers, and former units of the Austrian army. Sosabowski and his family took up residence in Zoliborz - a very upscale district of Warsaw - then and now. From 1919-20 he worked at the Ministry of Army Affairs in Warsaw as materiel and supplies specialist and also served as member of the Polish Mission to the Inter Allied Council in Spa, Belgium. (He was fluent in French.)

Following the end of the Polish-Soviet War, Sosabowski was promoted to the rank of Major. In 1922 he attended the Wyszwsz Szkola Wojskowa in Warsaw, the Polish Army General Staff College - prestigious institutions accessible only to a privileged few. Among his classmates was Przedrzymirski Heller Ulrich who would later achieve very high military stature. During this time Sosabowski's second son, Jacek was born. The family house, located at 11 Josef Haukiego Street, was constructed in grand style consisting of basement, two floors and a large garden. (It's market value today is in the millions.)

In 1928 he was promoted to rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the 75th Regiment at Chorzow, and at Rybnik, and then made Deputy Commanding Officer of the 3rd Podhale Rifle Regiment, an elite infantry division.


From 1930 to 1936 he served as lecturer and head of the Polish General Staff College, and during that time published two books which have since become standard for military texts. After a prolonged absence he finally returned to the front line as CO of the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division in Zamosc. Just at that time, tragedy struck and his younger son Jacek had died in a horrible accident.

In 1937 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and was appointed commanding officer of the 9th Polish Legions Infantry Regiment in Zamosc. Two years later he was given command of the prestigious 21st "Children of Warsaw" Infantry Regiment. (Dzieci Warszawy)

Schleswig Holstein fires first shots of WWII

When Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939, Sosabowski's regiment was stationed at Ciechanow, in east-central Poland, where it was held as a strategic reserve of the Modlin Army. By the 3rd day his unit had already relocated near Mlawa and entered combat with the enemy. Though Sosabowski's regiment succeeded in capturing Przasnysz, his troops were surrounded by the Germans and destroyed. Sosabowski and the remnants of his regiment retreated towards Warsaw.

Sosabowski's unit, attached to the 8th Infantry Division had reached the Modlin Fortress by September 8 and after several days of defensive battles, the unit headed towards Warsaw 50 kilometers away. As soon as they arrived, Sosabowski's regiment was ordered to defend Grochow, Kamionek and Praga against the Nazi 10th Infantry Division.

During the Siege of Warsaw, Sosabowski and his men, against all odds managed to maintain their objectives. When the Germans launched a general assault on Praga, the Polish infantry succeeded in not only repelling their attacks but conducted successful counter-attacks and destroyed many enemy troops. Warsaw capitulated on September 29 but despite the overwhelming power of the German war machine Sosabowski and his men managed to keep fighting the enemy until the end of September. General Juliusz Rommel awarded Col. Sosabowski and the entire company of 21st Infantry Regiment with the highest military decoration for bravery, the Virtuti Militari.

Sosabowski was taken prisoner and interned at a German camp near Zyradow, but luckily he managed to escape and returned to Warsaw under an alias and joined the Polish resistance ready to continue fighting. But he was ordered to leave Poland immediately and head for France with important documents detailing the situation in Nazi-occupied Poland and set out on a long and perilous journey through Hungary and Romania. Once having arrived in Paris, the Polish government in exile appointed Sosabowski as commanding officer of the Polish 4th Infantry Division.

At first the French authorities were reluctant to provide the Polish unit with equipment and armaments but eventually cooperated albeit with equipment that predated World War I. In April 1940 the Polish division had been moved to a training post at Parthenay and were supplied with weapons they had been expecting since January, but only 3,150 weapons were available to distribute among the 11,000 soldiers. Time was running out. The Germans invaded in May and France fell. The commander of the unit, General Rudolf Dreszer,ordered the troops to withdraw to the Atlantic coast. On June 19, 1940 Sosabowski and his men were among the 6,000 Polish soldiers who made their way to La Pallice to evacuate to Great Britain.

Polish soldiers evacuation by boat presumably from France to England 1940

The Polish General Staff in London assigned Sosabowski the command of the 4th Rifles Brigade. Recruits were mainly young Polish men from Canada, and it became quickly apparent that there were not enough men with which to create a division. Sosabowski envisaged a transformation of his unit into that of a specialist parachute brigade - the first of its kind in the Polish Army. Soon recruits were flooding in from all sectors of the Polish Army and a parachute training camp was established at Largo House.

Largo House Fife Scotland - Training Camp of Polish paratroopers

Sosabowski joined his men in the training schedules and passed the tests. At the age of 49 he made his first parachute jumps. Their objective was to assist in the national uprising in Poland and were planning to be the first wave of the troops from the Polish army-in-exile to reach the fatherland. Their motto was Najkrotsza Droga, the Shortest Way. The unit was named the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade and by October 1942 they were ready for combat.

Polish paratroopers training  ( Special Cichociemni forces)

But British authorities had other ideas. In September 1943, Lt. General Frederick Browning made a proposition to transform Sosabowski's unit into a British division, with the remaining posts filled by British soldiers. And in an effort to sweeten the deal, Browning offered command of the unit to Sosabowski along with a promised promotion to rank of General. Sosabowski adamantly refused to accept those terms. He was intent on maintaining the unit's independence from British Command, and insisted that only Polish troops were eligible to enlist. Nevertheless, on June 15, 1944 Sosabowski was promoted to Brigadier General.

After years of covert preparation, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) launched the Warsaw Uprising on August 1, 1944. British authorities had been notified in advance, and the expectation was quite high among Polish troops that the British would provide military assistance and supplies to the Home Army at the appropriate time. The 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was at the ready to drop over Warsaw and fight alongside their colleagues. However British Command, loyal to their new ally, Stalin, would not allow Sosabowski's men to provide assistance to the Warsaw defenders. British authorities insisted that the mission would be jeopardized because transport aircraft could not make a round trip of such a great distance. The awful truth was that Stalin denied them access to Soviet airfields.

The bad news impacted the Polish troops quite severely and they were on the verge of a mutiny. When British Command threatened the Polish unit with disarmament, Sosabowski had to resume control of his unit. The Polish Commander-in-Chief Kazimerz Sosnkowski had no choice but to put the brigade under the authority of British Command - and the hopes and plans of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were crushed. Instead of fighting for their own country, they were compelled to fight at Arnhem.

OPERATION MARKET GARDEN - BATTLE AT ARNHEM

 

The Battle of Arnhem (September 17-26, 1944) was an ambitious project proposed by Field Marshal Montgomery albeit an unsuccessful one - to bypass the Siegfried line and attack directly into the industrial heartland of Germany through the Rhine. Originally he had planned to launch Operation Comet, which would combine the forces of the 1st Airborne Division and the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade. However, on September 10th the Operation had to be scrapped because of bad weather having lasted for several days, as well as concerns by Montgomery of increasing German resistance in the area.

An allied victory was greatly anticipated as well as the expectation of shortening the war by several months. It was the largest airborne operation yet devised combining the airborne divisions of the US 101st and 82nd, the British 1st and the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, as well as land forces including the XXX Corp. Major-General Urquhart was given command of the British and Polish divisions. The mission's tactical objectives called for the capture of several bridges across the Maas, securing the Waal and the Lower Rhine in addition to several canals and tributaries - the most important of which was the Arnhem Bridge. While the allied had initial success, it was minimal.

Though British Command was fervently optimistic, the mission was doomed to failure. Despite numerous warnings from General Sosobowski, which was supported by Major-General Urquhart and other officers, plans went ahead anyway for the invasion.

L-R: General Sosabowski and Browning

Browning believed that German resistance would be minimal, but in reality Arnhem was heavily defended by German panzer divisions. Major Urquhart, Browning's intelligence officer, ordered an aerial reconnaissance which confirmed it, but General Browning chose to ignore the report and ordered Urquhart on sick leave. From the start there was considerable disagreement between General Sosabowski and Browning regarding the Operation's strategy but no amount of reasoning could persuade Browning of this folly.

Allied Landings - Operation Market Garden - Battle of Arnhem

A massive aerial armada commenced on September 17, 1944, transporting thousands of personnel and equipment from Britain to Holland. But instead of flying several sorties and dropping all paratroopers on one day, the second contingent was dropped only the next day. With Operation Market Garden already underway, the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was still in England, it's departure postponed due to bad weather and heavy fog. To compound the difficulties, the Brigade's artillery had been dropped with the 101st while the howitzers were being shipped by sea - a scenario which made it virtually impossible for the Polish forces to function effectively.

Polish soldiers of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade boarding plane

Because of a severe shortage of transport planes the Polish brigade had to be split up into separate contingents. On September 19 two of the brigades' three battalions were dropped opposite the position of the 1st Airborne Division south of the Rhine near Driel and the remainder were to arrive two days later at a distance town, Grave. It was a suicide mission. Many paratroopers dropped right into enemy territory and were cut down by a barrage of heavy gun fire.

Polish troops were called in to provide reinforcements to the besieged 1st Airborne Division, however they had no choice but to withdraw to Driel. The opposite bank of the river was heavily reinforced by Germans, and the ferry that the British thought was available had been sunk and was unsalvageable. The Polish Brigade were ordered to make the crossing using small rubber boats. After three attempts, under heavy German fire, about 200 Polish troops made it across, but with heavy casualties.

General Sosabowski at Driel with Polish troops

Casualties suffered by the Polish Brigade were as high as 40%, the result of General Browning's decision to drop the troops 7 kilometers distance from the bridge. Landings were made too far from the Arnhem bridge and the poor logistical coordination by the RAF resulted in supplies being dropped 15 km (9.3 miles) distance from the opposite side of the Rhine. General Sosobowski had tried to warn Browning several times of the dire consequences in conducting this ill-fated strategy but to no avail.

At a staff meeting on September 24, Sosabowski made a suggestion that the battle could still be won by uniting the troops of XXX Corps and the Polish Brigade for an all-out assault on enemy positions in an effort to break through the Rhine. British Command rejected the plan and ordered him to lead his troops southward and provide cover for the retreating remnants of the 1st Airborne Division. An evacuation was undertaken on September 25th.

Montgomery sent a letter to General Sosabowski on October 5, 1944 commending the Polish soldiers for their valor in battle and offering to award ten of his soldiers. But a week later Montgomery wrote another letter, to British Command, in which he blamed General Sosabowski for the failure of Market Garden, and accused him of being argumentative, "difficult to work with" and "unable to adapt himself to the level of a parachute brigade commander" and so on. He issued a report claiming that the Polish troops had "fought very badly and the men showed no keenness to fight".

These were scathing words that ultimately put enormous pressure on Polish Command to respond, and resulted in Sosabowski's dismissal. He was utterly humiliated and reassigned as commander of guard troops. Apparently Sosabowski was replaced with a younger man who was easy to manipulate. Despite Sosabowskis' efforts to warn British Command of their flawed strategy, the failure of the Operation was placed squarely on his shoulders, and he was made the scapegoat.

At the end of the war the Soviet-controlled communist government in Poland stripped Sosabowski of his Polish citizenship. Luckily he was able to get his wife and son out of Poland in time. It was only at the end of the war that General Sosabowski was informed that his son, Stanislaw "Stasinek" had lost his sight during the fighting in the Warsaw Uprising. He was a medic and member of the Kedyw. Sosabowski spent the remaining years of his life in exile, living in London, where he worked as a factory worker for the CAV Electric plant in Acton. He passed away on September 25, 1967. His friends and colleagues had not known of his military achievements until they were read out loud at his funeral. General Sosabowskis' remains are interred in the Powazki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands

The British, it has been said, are loathe to acknowledge their own failures and defeats. Much easier for them to use others as scapegoats. Irregardless of British sentiment, General Sosabowski and the men of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade have been duly honored by the people of The Netherlands.

On May 31, 2006 Queen Beatrix conferred the Military Williams Order (fourth class) to the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, and the prestigious Bronze Lion, posthumously to General Stanislaw Sosabowski, the highest Dutch decorations awarded for bravery.

Recognition of the Polish forces had been proposed in 2005 by then Minister of Defense, Henk Kamp. It was followed by a thorough investigation and assessment that lasted eight months. Finally, the Chamber's decision to present the awards was unanimous.

Apparently British diplomacy did not approve.

AWARDS AND MEDALS

Knight's Cross of the Virtuti Militari

Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
(posthumously)

Cross of Independence

Polish Cross of Valor

Gold Cross of Merit with Swords

Bronze Lion (Netherlands)
(posthumously)

Bronze Lion awarded posthumously to General Sosobowski

Military Williams Order (fourth class)
 to the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

Banner of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

 

NAJKROTSZA DROGA

BY THE SHORTEST WAY