In the summer of 1944, Poland had been under German occupation for about 5 years. The Polish resistance, specifically the Home Army, was organizing some sort of rebellion against the Germans. However, in addition to the complexity of organizing any act of organized and mass resistance anyway, the situation was complicated by the wider context.
The original purpose of the Home Army was to join forces with the Western Allies as they liberated Europe. But when the Red Army began its advance in 1943, it appeared that Poland would be liberated by the Soviet Union, not the West. This was in direct contrast to the plans of the Polish resistance, who intended to help establish a Western-style government friendly to the Allies. On the contrary, in case of liberation of Poland from the Soviets, the country would pass into their sphere of direct influence.
In fact, the resistance fighters clashed several times with the Soviet partisans. Following the revelation of the Katyn massacre, in which thousands of Polish officers, intellectuals, political prisoners and prisoners of war were believed to have been executed by the Soviet Union’s secret police (NKVD), the Soviets severed all diplomatic relations with Poland. At the same time, under Stalin’s instructions, the Rudenko Commission was created, which aimed to prove that the massacre was committed by the Germans. Meanwhile, the Polish government-in-exile in London argued that if diplomatic relations with the USSR were not restored by the time the Red Army entered Poland, the Home Army would have to continue its resistance until further notice.
However, the commander of the Home Army, Tadeusz Burr-Komorowski, decided to implement his own plan, the so-called Operation Tempest, the aim of which was for the Polish forces to regain control of the cities held by the Germans, as long as the latter would be busy preparing their defenses and fortifications against the advancing Red Army.
Eventually, Operation Storm was launched and the Home Army stationed in Warsaw (about 50,000 strong), with the cooperation of thousands of Polish citizens, revolted on 1the August 1944 and they were starting to attack the German garrison. Within three days, the Poles had regained control of almost the entire city, but had failed to capture central transport and communication arteries such as railway stations and major intersections.
By August 20, the Germans had drawn up a detailed plan for the recapture of Warsaw, as the city was critical to German positions in the area. On August 25 they launched their own offensive, which was intended to last for 10 days. The tactics of lightning war (blitzkrieg), as well as the armament superiority of the Germans led to fierce battles in which more than 40,000 civilians were killed. Warsaw was now under siege. It seems that the Germans, who had more supplies, were clearly in a better position than the blockaded Poles.
Meanwhile, the Red Army had occupied a suburb near Warsaw on the opposite bank of the Vistula River, but remained inactive, while the Soviet government did not allow the Allies to use Soviet bases to send supplies to the Poles. Despite the efforts of the Allies, the distance the planes had to cover and the extremely hostile conditions through which they were traveling made it impossible to provide substantial assistance. Finally, on September 13, Stalin ordered limited military and humanitarian aid to Warsaw.
But it was too late. On October 2, the Poles’ supplies ran out and the Home Army, which had broken up into smaller groups, was forced to surrender. Burr-Komorovsky himself was arrested, while the Germans systematically deported the population and destroyed the city. Polish casualties, both Home Army men and civilians, are estimated at 250,000 or more. For their part, the losses of the Germans are estimated at around 16,000.
Apart from the huge number of dead and wounded and the total destruction of the city, the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising also meant the disintegration of the remaining military organization that supported the Polish government in exile in London. So when the Soviets occupied all of Poland, there was no longer any organized resistance.
Column Editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigone-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
