Warsaw Uprising 1944: August 24 - Roosevelt Turns His Back On Poland

Child Praying at Grave

The Old Town Sector of Warsaw has been the target of numerous German attacks especially around the barricades of its southern perimeter. Insurgents are battling the Germans ferociously and have managed to dislodge them from Radziwillow Palace on Bielanska Street. In City Centre, the grouping Belt has succeded in recapturing the area between Marszalkowska and Poznanska Streets.  However the Germans managed to seize a part of the ruins of Jan Bozy Hospital.

The Germans have seized a part of the ruined buildings of Jan Bozy Hospital on Bonifraterska Street, a school on Rybaki Street, and an apartment house on the premises of the State Securities Plant. After heavy fighting, the insurgents succeeded in keeping control of the ruins of the Simonsa passage on Dluga Street. They have set up defensive positionts in the ruins at 27/29 Dluga Street, calling it the “Heavenly Mother’s Redoubt”. Polish units are defending the Old Town and are fighting back enemy attacks from the south while retaining outposts on Miodowa, Podwale and Piwna Streets. Polish forces from the east maintain control of Brzozowa Street.

In Srodmiescie German forces have launched methodical attacks on insurgent outposts on Kredytowa, Krolewska, Towarowa, Chmielna and Zelazna Streets. Insurgents on Krucza, Wspolna, Hoza, Wilcza and Koszykowa Streets are under constant heavy enemy fire. The Germans have attempted to take over some houses on Króoewska Street near the Saski Gardens and on Grzybowska Street and have launched fierce attacks at the Railway Hostel and the Postal Railway Station, as well as insurgent positions along Towarowa Street. Meanwhile in southern Srodmiescie, after a fierce struggle, insurgent troops managed to seize a German outpost on Zulinskiego Street and take over the quarter between Poznanska, Żulinskiego, Marszalkowska and Nowogrodzka Streets.

AK Machine Gunner

Polish Sniper

The AK has issued another radio broadcast pleading for help from Warsaw citizens for infants and children who are hit the hardest in the Uprising. The battles have taken a heaavy toll on the morale on Varsavians,– constant bombardment from German bombers and artillery fire, overwhelming casualties, the wounded,  dwindling food and water supplies. The devastation to the city and its people is unimaginable. The citizens of Warsaw are desperately struggling to survive and are beginning to blame the AK for their misery.

Polish children orphans

Wounded Polish Insurgents in Hospital (location unknown)

Throughout the German occupation, the residents of Warsaw have turned to their faith. Polish tradition adheres strongly to the Roman Catholic Church, and identifies it with the freedom and independence of their homeland. Holy Mary is deeply revered as the “Queen of Poland”. Everywhere there are pictures of Holy Mary and Jesus Christ. Churches are full of worshipers, and where churches no longer exist, Mass is celebrated in its ruins. There are also makeshift altars in bombed out apartment buildings where people gather to pray together in the evening. Throughout the Uprising, Holy Mass has had a special meaning to the Poles. It has drawn the community together and strengthened their faith, hope and the search for inner strength to overcome the enormity of human suffering in this place that the world forgot.


President Roosevelt sent a radio message to Churchill today stating that there is nothing that he or Churchill could do to convince the Soviet government to allow Allied planes access to Soviet airfields in order to conduct airdrops to Poland. By all intents and purposes, America has given up on Poland. He stated “I do not see that we can take any additional steps at the present time that promise results....Stalin’s reply...to our joint message...is far from encouraging to our wishes to assist.”  


A unique radio message was transmitted to the Polish Government in Exile in London from Warsaw “Lightning” Station, in which a poem was recited, and one that had become widely known during the Uprising. Here is a translation:

 

Why do you sing a mourning chorale in London,

While here we have long awaited a time to rejoice?

At the sides of their lovers, girls are fighting here,

And small children join them, and their blood flows proudly.

Hello....Here is the heart of Poland!...Hear Warsaw speaking!

Throw the dirges out of your broadcasts;

Our spirit is so strong it will support even you!

We don`t need your applause!

We demand ammunition!!! 

Churchill and Stalin

Warsaws secret radio station "Lightning" has been broadcasting since the early days of the Uprising.  Here is a special segment of yesterdays report. (in English)  To listen, please click on the following link. The audio is often inaudible due to static, morse code, and gun shots in the background but parts of the message can still be heard clearly. 

 "This is Warsaw Calling. This is Warsaw Calling. This is Warsaw Calling All the Free Nations...."   The voice of the announcer is that of Lt. John Ward broadcasting messages from the secret AK radio station, Blystawicka. He is the only British soldier who is a member of the Armia Krajowa. He has been dispatching messages to London since the first week of the Uprising demanding allied assistance and reporting on the details of daily events.

Amid great fanfare, Polish underground radio broadcast an ecstatic and joyful message to the French Resistance (FFI - Forces francaises de l'interieur) for their great victory against German occupaton. The Uprising began just five days ago on August 19, 1944 by the French Resistance, quickly followed by military backup from the Free French Army of Liberation and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. The French Resistance has put up a formidable fight attacking and have captured enemy fuel trucks, destroyed road signs, sabotaged German vehicles, cut communication lines, bombed gasoline depots, attacked isolated pockets of Germans, and liberated a Nazi prison (on the outskirts of Paris). By the end of the Uprising the FFI had control of most of Paris while German units held most of the main monuments and strong points. Skirmishes reached its peak two days ago when some German units tried to leave their strongposts. 

 

FFI uprising on 19 August, one insurgent wearing an Adrian helmet

Yesterday at 09:00 hours Choltitz ordered that the Grand Palais, an FFI stronghold be burned to the ground and German tanks launched a barrage of fire against the barricades. Hitler had given an order to inflict the maximum amount of damage on the city. In this battle lasting mere days, about 1,000 French Resistance fighters were killed and another 1,500 wounded This morning huge crowds of Parisians are in the streets in joyous celebration and are welcoming the 2nd French Armoured Division which had swept the western area of Paris including the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee. The Americans cleared the eastern part.  Warsaw citizens are elated of the news of Paris' liberation; their spirits are lifted that at any moment their much needed help will arrive.  They continue to fight with renewed strength.

 

LIBERATION OF PARIS

Warsaw Uprising 1944: August 23 - Germans Wipe Out Entire Polish Army

Junkers JU 87B Dive Bomber

German forces have launched a brutal attack against a unit of Armia Ludowa (The Polish Communist underground army) killing all 150 members. The Armia Ludowa was the same unit responsible for having liberated 324 men and 24 women from a German camp located in the Old Town district of Warsaw. Eighty-nine were Polish citizens, while the rest were victims of Nazi persecution from Romania, Holland, and Hungary.

The Armia Ludowa are communist partisan forces formed by the Polish Workers Party. Their objectives are to support the Soviet military against German forces as well as create a pro-Soviet communist government in Poland. As such they have refused to join the Polish Underground State however many AL soldiers joined the ranks of the 1st Polish Army that was recently formed in the Soviet Union rather than the Red Army.

Most of the members of the 1st Polish Army are Poles and secular Jews who had been deported to the Russian gulag after the Russians invaded Poland on September 17, 1939.  Over 40 per cent of the officers are of Soviet origin while the command staff and training officers constitute 70 to 85% of the forces. That the Soviets maintain tight command and control of the regiment clearly indicates continued distrust of the Poles.  The 1st Polish Army is organized in much the same way as its Soviet counterpart but with substantially weaker armament.

Armia Ludowa Peoples Army in a forest near Lublin

From positions inside the ruins of Warsaw City Hall Polish insurgents managed to shoot down a Ju 87 Stuka Bomber. It is the only bomber that the insurgents have been able to shoot down since the Uprising started.  The reason is that the AK placed a ban on targeting aircraft due to lack of sufficient ammunition. Later in the afternoon Germans launched an offensive in all sectors, attacking the Jan Bozy Hospital on Bonifraterska Street, the Fiat Factory on Sapiezynska Street and buildings of the State Securities Plant on Sanguszki Street. The Simona passage on Dluga Street burst into flames under heavy enemy fire.

Lt. John Ward

Lt. John Ward, a British soldier, and member of the AK has dispatched ever more urgent messages to London reporting that fighting has escalated in intensity.  A special dispatch was also wired to The Times providing details of the battle for Warsaw. This is what he wrote:

The battle for Warsaw is increasing in intensity. Today in Pius Street the Telephone Exchange was taken by storm. The action lasted 26 hours. The day before the Central Telephone Building in Sienna Street was taken. In all, some 200 prisoners have been taken in these two operations. Polish losses were not high. Yesterday the Germans opened fire with a mine-thrower in the area south of Jeroboams Avenue. In two hours they destroyed 22 houses, each house of which contained from 20-60 flats. More information to follow tomorrow.


Article addressed to The Times;

Today in Warsaw a battle is going on that I think is very difficult for the British nation to understand. It is a battle that is being carried on as much by the civil population a; by A. K., the troops of the Polish Home Army. It is total warfare. Every street in the city has been a field of battle for the past 24 days. The enemy mine-throwers, artillery and aircraft are taking a heavy toll of human life. The damage to property is incalculable. Normal life in the city is, of course, at a complete standstill. Practically the whole population is engaged in some sort of public duty. Thousands of people have been mobilized to stand by to put out the fires that are raging throughout the city day and night. Thousands more are engaged in keeping the streets that are in the hands of A. K. free from debris. There are, of course, many other duties such as couriers, field telephone workers, and of course Red Cross, which is working excellently under the most difficult conditions.

The actual army, that is to say A. K., is a queer mixture. Fighting in it are young boys of 16 years and old men of 70 years. There are weapons for about one man in a hundred. Weapons are varied; they range from the small automatic pistols 65 caliber to rifles. There are also some few heavy machine guns, but these are only used in emergency, as they use too much ammunition. Very few military formalities are observed. In fact, it is impossible to enforce any large amount of discipline in an army that is two-thirds untrained and has no uniform. There are colonels fighting as simple soldiers under the command of young lieutenants.

Weapons are being constructed. Hand grenades have been made from old gas pipes filled with some explosive mixture. These grenades have to be lit with a simple match before being thrown. Flame throwers that have been hurriedly constructed in small workshops are in use. Perhaps the most ingenious weapon of all was used two days ago. I personally saw ten of them explode. In an old German store 120 80-pound artillery shells were found; at first it seemed they were useless, until a sapper, since killed, put inside two detonators, to each of which was attached a 25 second fuse. When the order for action was given these shells were thrown from a second floor window as near to the German position as possible, and then the company of A. K. fled to such cover as was obtainable, the effect of this ingenious maneuver being considerable. The weapons that have been dropped by the GRAF have been of great value but are in quantity inadequate.


Another problem that is facing the population today is the shortage of food. Warsaw is a city that has been starved by the Germans for nearly five years. The quantity of food in the city at the outbreak of hostilities was small. It is already 24 days since hostilities began and at the moment in Warsaw we see no hope of a speedy end to the present state of affairs.


The population have a second great worry. What form will the Russian occupation take? News comes daily of further leading members of the community being arrested in territories occupied by Soviet troops. Also a large number of officers from A. K. have been put into Soviet concentration camps. It was understood by the Polish people when the uprising started that it was only a question of a few days before the Soviet troops entered the city. The fight against the common enemy that has been waged in Poland during the past five years has been hard and bitter. The population of the Capital was called upon to make one final effort. The call was answered gallantly. Hardships are many, losses very high, but despite all this the determination of the people is firm to hold out and rid their city and country of the enemy.

Just one month ago today, the Lwow Uprising was launched by the Armia Krajowa in what was planned to become a nation-wide Uprising code-named Operation Tempest. The battle for Lwow lasted a mere five days and ended with a Polish victory of sorts. No sooner had the AK liberated Lwow that the Red Army arrested the Polish soldiers and forced them to join the Red Army or be deported to the gulag. Lwow is now under Soviet control. After a fierce battle Polish units were able to take back the Holy Cross Church as well as the adjacent building of the former Police Headquarters at No. 1 Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street. This has given Polish units a much needed advantage, from which to attack German positions towards the Old Town.
 

Polish Insurgents on observation post on tower of Holy Cross Church (Gustaw Battalion?)

On the opposite side of Krakowskie Przedmiescie troops under the command of Captail Cyprian Odorkiewicz "Krybar" has charged the University. Also taking part in the attack were insurgent armored cars "Kubus" and "Jas". However the Germans succeeded in repelling the attack. Kubus, means little Jacob in Polish, but also "Winne the Pooh". Construction of the first Kubus began on August 8, 1944 in a car repair shop belonging to Stanislaw Kwiatkowski.in the borough of Powisle at the corner of Tampka and Topiel Streets. The designer and engineer is Walerian Bieliecki. In fact there was no blueprint prepared. The construction was improvised and took thirteen days to complete. The Kubus is based on the chassis of a Chevrolet 157 truck, licence-built in pre-war Poland by Lilpop. Rau I. Lowenstein Company. The chassis is fitted with steel plates for protection of the crew. The plates have been bolted to a steel frame and then welded together. The Kubus could carry between 8 and 12 soldiers and is armed with a Soviet-built DP machine gun, underground-built K pattern flamethrower and hand grenades, in addition to personal armament of the soldiers.  It entered service yesterday as soon as it was completed and was attached to the "Wydra" motorised unit.  Today the Poles mounted a concentrated attack against German positions at the main campus of the Warsaw University. Poles charged the campus driving the Kubus, together with a captured Sd.Kfz.251/3 Ausf.D APC  but the attempt failed under heavy German fire.
 

Polish armoured car "Kubus" Warsaw Uprising

Rear view of "Jas"  (has internal mounted antenna)

During the Nazi occupation of Poland there has been a circulation of about 137 underground newspapers. There is an extensive array of journals printed by the Polish Underground, including a few written in the German language for propaganda purposes. The Polish Underground press has had remarkable longevity and success in distributing these newspapers -  right under the German noses. The vigor of the Polish Underground has not subsided. Since the Uprising began almost three weeks ago, young Poles have been risking their lives to deliver messages between insurgent units throughout Warsaw. Their sacrifices and those of child soldiers merits them the same respect as that conferred to any Polish soldier.

Warsaw Uprising 1944: August 22 - RUSSIAN ARMY SLAUGHTERS POLISH SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS

The Killing Machine - NKVD units

AK Command fears of the possibility of a massacre of their units in the countryside. German and Soviet troops are spread out and hunting them down. NKVD agents are known to be among the ranks of the Red Army and have been begun an indiscriminate campaign of massive arrests of Polish soldiers, as well as civilians. Many Polish POWs have been deported to Russia in areas unknown or shot by summary execution without  trial. Many others have been subjected to mock trials in Soviet courts and convicted of being "enemies of the State" and then shot.  Sources indicate that Polish prisoners are forced to endure the most inhumane conditions, living in over-crowded cells, or holes dug into the ground, which are often flooded with freezing water.  Beatings occur on a daily basis. Executions are being carried out by the head of the jail, Sergeant Bazyli Rogozinski. Those who survived tell the story, "whenever Rogozinski started to drink it was an indication that he would be executing prisoners that night".

General Bor has sent an urgent message advising AK units outside the city that if Warsaw is taken by the Soviet Army, and he is unable to give orders, then they are directly subordinated to the orders of the Polish Government in Exile in London. 

NKVD Slaughtered Polish military and civilians



Armia Krajowa

Stalin sent Churchill and Roosevelt a top secret diplomatic message. In it he said, “Sooner or later the truth about the group of criminals who have embarked on the Warsaw adventure in order to seize power will become known to everybody. These people have exploited the good faith of the citizens of Warsaw, throwing many almost unarmed people against the German guns, tanks and aircraft. A situation has arisen in which each new day serves not only the Poles for the liberation of Warsaw but the Hitlerites who are inhumanly shooting down the inhabitants of Warsaw....Meanwhile the Soviet troops....are doing everything possible to smash these counterattacks of the Hitlerites and to go over to new wide-scale attack in the region of Warsaw. There can be no doubt that the Red Army is not sparing its efforts to break through Germans around Warsaw and to free Warsaw for the Poles.....”




Prime Minister Mikolajczyk has recently made another attempt in reaching a deal with the Soviet Government. Polish General Izydor Modelski, Deputy Minister of National Defence in the Polish Government in Exile was sent to deliver a message to the Soviet official Volkov in London. The letter informs the Soviet Government that the Polish Prime Minister has every intention of forming a government in Warsaw and that he is willing to accept Polish Communist participation. He claims that he has already gained the support of three Polish political parties and the majority of socialist ministers. There is no response as yet from the Soviet government.  

Stalin and Chief Executioner Nikolai Ezhov

In the Old Town Polish insurgents are desperately fighting back an attack of German tanks and infantry on barricades in Nalewki and Długa Streets barring access to Krasinski Square. By evening, after heavy fights, the Germans succeeded in taking up positions in the ruined Arsenal. The remainder of the insurgent troops have already evacuated the building and are stationed near the Simonsa passage on the corner of Dluga and Nalewki Streets. In the northern part of Srodmiescie the insurgents have fought back an enemy attack on Borman’s Factory on Targowa Street. German infantry units have attacked barricades at the entry of Traugutta and Mazowiecka Streets. Polish fighers have captured a German outpost in the “Cristal” restaurant located on the corner of Aleje Jerozolimskie and Bracka Streets. Germans posted there had kept the passage across Aleje Jerozolimskie under constant fire.         


Sabaton- Uprising (napisy PL) (00:04:56m) 
 

   

At about 2 a.m. the Poles mounted a second attack on Gdanski Railway Station lead by insurgent troops from Zoliborz and Kampinos, under the command of Lt. Col. Mieczysław Niedzielski “Zywiciel”. From the Old Town, they were supported by units commanded by Maj. Waclaw Janaszek “Bolek”. However the attack broke failed and by dawn insurgent troops retreated with severe losses. In both attacks the casualties of dead and wounded has reached about 500. The new commander of District V Lt. Col. Jozef Rokicki “Karol” has forced his way through the sewers to Mokotow and has divided the area into Dolny (Lower) Mokotow including vast areas of Sielce, Czerniakow and Sadyba, and Gorny (Upper) Mokotow west of Puławska Street. Fighting in that area is the “Baszta” regiment.    

 

Joseph Rokicki

Baszta Battalion