Warsaw Uprising Essay Example for Free

Warsaw Uprising Essay It all started on August the 1st. The Warsaw Uprising was in fact the largest single operation conducted by a partisan organization during 2nd world war. The Warsaw UPRISING was actually a struggle of the Polish armed struggle in order to liberate Warsaw and its 1,000,000 people from the German pursuit when the Soviet army was entering the city limits from the east.   The 378,000 Polish armed people augmented by 2,000-strong nationalist and communist units in the beginning controlled a major part of Warsaws left bank. Later, with the German determination for a complete invasion on all the installation as well as the military checkpoints, the Warsaw Uprising ended after 63 days of effort killing more then fifteen thousand people dead and 5,000 wounded in addition to 200,000 Polish civilians who also died during this whole process where the entire city was devastated. On the other hand German lost its 16,000 lives and 9,000 wounded. (Krall, Hanna. 1986) United State and British army had already landed in Normandy and the Red Army had entered through the Eastern front into the city of Warsaw. Ever since the start of the Nazi occupation the locals had been planning for a complete underground attack, and on 1st August 1944 the order was ultimately given by General Bor Komorowski for the forces of the Armia Krajowa (AK) get the Warsaw back from the Germans, which was been occupied since 4 years. In Warsaw the polish army was commanded by General Antoni ChruÅ›ciel, codename Monter initially. Under his command the polish insurgents came out on the street to fight the Germans. The Germans were prepared fortified forces, and they had been on full alert; however the polish youth who initiated the insurgency were inexperienced Polish youths had to attack an experienced, fully equipped enemy in daylight. Realizing the fact of being weak the polish commander requested the British Army for help. British army was already helping the locals against the Russians and Germans in a lot of other areas of USSR. British helped the polish but were not on their priority list. Despite their help was very small but that made a difference in their regime as it has a great psychotically affect on the German army. Americans also sent the help to polish but it was too very late like in mid of September In some parts they succeeded and in some partisans had to retreat. The attacks on the major installations like airbase and radio stations were all repulsed. The first attack is the most crucial step, was thus only partially achieved as the city was largely in control of insurgents, however within there were still a lot of fortified pockets of German army. The first day at war, ended with a lot of casualties from both sides. (Ciborowski, 1962) The fight went on for four continuous days and till 4th, Srodmiescie was largely in Polish hands. Germans had to retreat from Ã…Å¡rà ³dmieÅ›cie-PowiÅ›le-Starà ³wka-Wola region, the Zyrardow region, and the Mokotow. The polish was out of supplies thus General Komorowski asked the British and Americans to send them with ammunition and air support. The aid began and the city was largely in control   Polish fighter pilots flying from bases on the Apula (Italy) started shelling over Warsaw. Those pilots had to return to Italy, however the Soviets denied them permission to use there bases. First determined fighting by the Germans came out on 5th of August. The thrust came from the Wola region, and after three days of intense fighting, the 5000 Wehrmacht soldiers succeeded in dividing the part of the ARMIA KRAJOWA defense which was the most important area of polish insurgency, which comprised of about 2000 unequipped soldiers.   (J. Kirchmayer Powstanie Warszawskie†) Simultaneously, the other German failed in Mokotow-Ochota region. The insurgents were successful in protecting the Ã…Å¡rà ³dmieÅ›cie for over a week, staving off an early fall down of the armed effort. The Germans were able to make only limited movement. During August 8, Stalin ordered to delay militant actions close to Warsaw. He denied any allied transport air aid to land on Soviet airfields which practically denied helping the uprising by airdropping the supplies, as the nearest airport were located in England and Italy. By August 10th, however, the ARMIA KRAJOWA leadership knew the result of the Soviet-German war. They knew that they would not be able to combat the insurgents. As a result they started to expel their rage on the civilians. That activity changed the war into dirty struggle where a lot of innocent people were executed. The polish insurgents were very determent to be liberated. After the fall of Wola, the German army concentrated all their army on the Stare Miasto region. That area was considered to be most insurgent region, having bridges conceiting it to Vistula. The attack came on the 12th of August, and after heavy fighting, the Poles were forced to retreat, evacuating from old Jewish ghetto.   While the German retreat they had to face insurgency thus making the Germans to divert some troops from the main thrust to deal with this new event. Polish requested the British for air aid. Thus ARMIA KRAJOWA units were sent to help the insurgents The insurgents became successful in drawing some of the German forces from the Warsaw. (T. Bà ³r-Komorowski Armia Podziemna) Powisle was conquered by the Germans on 6th of September, pacifying defenseless civilians. On September 11th 47th Soviet army conquered the Prague. The Bach regiment was ordered to fully shut off the partisans from the Vistula with help of German air force and the 9th Armored Division. Red Army resumes its fight towards Warsaw. German and Russian airplanes engage in dog fights over the city. Soviet artillery shells German positions in Praga, Saxon Garden and Okenche air base. The German offensive became successful in narrowing the positions of insurgents to only a small piece of land near the Wilanowska Zagà ³rna streets. On 10th September the Red Army ordered the Marshal Konstantin Rokossovy, to enter the city however they met heavy resistance. After five days of struggle the Soviet forces were able to capture the right bank of the city. Rokossovy then restricted his army from further fight and waited for reinforcements. On 15th of September, when the uprising was already on the edge of disaster, a mass air-drop was possible. However to their dismay the air drop was mostly been acquired by the insurgents instead of the Germans. Even they captured the arms and ammunition. That affected the Germans position in the region diversely. (Adler, Stanislaw, 1982) For three consecutive nights, 1,600 soldiers from Berlings army cross the Vistula and join insurgents in the Czerniakow district. The tried landing in September 17th to 18th in the district fails with most of the 1,050 people executed or captured. On 20th of September germen army did some strategic changes to fight western allies along with the polish insurgents. The complete force, renamed the Warsaw Home Army Corps (Warszawski Korpus Armii Krajowej) and commanded by General Antoni ChruÅ›ciel   Heavy fighting in Czerniakow continues till September 23rd. Some defenders left across the river, others reach the City Center. Germans killed all captured insurgents and take Berlings soldiers as prisoners of war. (A. Borkiewicz Powstanie Warszawskie 1944†) On 16th Germans with help of the 9th army targeted the bridges followed by attack on Mokotà ³w, and taken over Makotow on 27th of September On 30th September the 19th Armored Division supported by Bach regiment attacked Ã… »oliborz, and captured it. This all resulted in hunger, the lack of arms, ammunition and medical help, therefore ARMIA KRAJOWA started negotiating with Bach. The Polish Red Cross negotiated with Bach-Zelewski the act of act of surrender was signed by both parties on October 2, 1944 and. 20,000 Armia Krojowa soldiers   were held as prisoners of war by Germans. The civilian were allowed to    References: A. Borkiewicz Powstanie Warszawskie 1944 Adler, Stanislaw. In the Warsaw Ghetto: 1940-1943: An Account of an Eyewitness. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1982. Ciborowski, Adolf and Stanislaw Jankowski. Warsaw Rebuilt. Warsaw: Polonia Publishing House, 1962. J. Kirchmayer Powstanie Warszawskie T. Bà ³r-Komorowski Armia Podziemna Krall, Hanna. Shielding the Flame: An Intimate Conversation with Dr. Marek Edelman, the Last Surviving Leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. New York: Holt, 1986.