73 yrs ago: Home Army orders the start of the Warsaw Uprising
Exactly 73 years ago, on July 31st 1944, Home Army (AK) chief general Tadeusz Komorowski "Bor" (Polish for 'The Forest'), ordered his forces to attack the Nazi German occupiers of Warsaw on August 1st, 1944.
On July 26, 1944, the Polish Government-in-exile authorized its Home Delegature to set a date for launching Operation Tempest in Warsaw.
At a special meeting of the AK commanders, General "Bor" entrusted the command of the insurgency to the head of AK's Warsaw region, colonel Antoni Chrusciel "Monter" (Polish for 'fitter'), who, at around 1745 hrs, was personally given the order to launch the Warsaw Uprising at 1700 hrs the next day.
In fact, it was Chrusciel's report that the Soviets are approaching Warsaw that finally persuaded "Bor" to kick off the uprising.
"Monter" set the exact date at 1700 hrs, calculating that amid the late-afternoon rush hour, it would be easier for the insurgents to reach their concentration points.
His order to the insurgent forces, issued at 1900 hrs the same day, and immediately distributed, read as follows:
"Attention! To the district commanders. July 31st, 1900 hrs. I order Hour "W" on August 1st, 1700 hrs. Regional headquarters address: 22/20 Jasna street, operational from Hour "W". Confirm receipt of the order immediately".
General Komorowski's address, published in the AK's Information Bulletin on August 2nd, read as follows:
"SOLDIERS OF THE CAPITAL. Today I have issued the order you have been waiting for, the order to begin open battle against Poland's age-old enemy, the German invader. After nearly five years of uninterrupted and heavy fighting underground, today you will carry your arms in the open in order to free your country again and to render exemplary punishment to the German criminals for the terror and crimes committed on Polish soil."
The AK command made several calculations. First, it assumed the approaching Soviet Army would want to capture Warsaw as soon as possible, for strategic reasons. Second, it expected the Uprising to be completed within a few days, before the arrival of the Soviets. Third, it counted on support from the allies.
The AK wanted to recapture the city before the advancing Soviets, to strengthen Poland's position vis-a-vis its big Eastern neighbour. It was also important to install a civil administration, linked to the Polish government-in-exile, as the Soviet-controlled communists had already set up their own political authority.
Poland's then prime minister in exile, Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, thought the uprising would strengthen his hand in impending negotiations with the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
The AK was also, to some extent, provoked into action by Soviet propaganda, which claimed its command had fled the country and urged the Polish people to rebel against the Germans. Thus the AK chiefs feared the resistance effort would be hijacked by the communists.
Moreover, the timing seemed favourable, at least in the sense that the Germans' morale was low after recent losses and the failed attempt on Adolf Hitler's life. In late July, the occupants had in fact started to evacuate some of their civilian population and military forces. In addition, the Germans wanted the Varsovians to help them defend the city against the Soviets; at the same time, violence and oppression against the people intensified, as did prisoner executions.
All those factors let to general Komorowski "Bor"'s decision (approved by a representative of the London-based government-in-exile) to open hostilities on August 1st.
After a successful start, the Uprising met with strong German resistance, while the expected allied support did not materialise. The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, meanwhile, played for time.
Amid calls for capitulation, on September 9th "Monter" wrote a letter to "Bor", urging him to ignore them and continue the fight.
On September 14th, the London-based Polish exile government's chief military commander promoted "Monter" to the rank of brigadier general "for outstanding command and personal bravery in the fight for Warsaw".
Following the uprising's collapse in October 1944, "Monter" was arrested and imprisoned in successive camps in Germany, until he was liberated by American forces. When the war ended, he stayed away from communist Poland, living in London and, from 1956, in Washington, where he died in 1960.
In 2004, his ashes were brought to Poland and buried in the military part of the Powazki cemetery in Warsaw. (PAP)
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NOTE 1: The Home Army (AK) was the main resistance movement in Poland when it was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. It was formed from the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) (see: NOTE 3), which in turn evolved from a clandestine organisation called the Polish Victory Service (SZP).
The SZP was launched on the night of Sept. 26, 1939 by a group of senior officers led by Gen. Michal Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, with the participation of Warsaw Mayor Stefan Starzynski. It became the nucleus of a nationwide resistance movement known as the Polish Underground State.
The Home Army, whose allegiance was to the Polish government-in-exile, was one of the largest and best organised resistance movements in Europe, with the total number of fighters put at anywhere from 200,000 to 600,000.
In his book God's Playground. A History of Poland, prominent historian Norman Davies said that "the Home Army could fairly claim to be the largest of European resistance [organisations]".
The so-called Polish Underground State, which operated from 1939 to 1945 and by many was looked up to as a model of conspiracy administration, was subordinated to the Polish government-in-exile, which was first based in France and subsequently in Great Britain. In Poland the government-in-exile had an impressively developed administration with secret courts and prosecutors, underground schools and universities, publishing houses.
The Home Army was the armed wing of the Polish Underground State. Along with various combat activities, the AK was also widely involved in rescuing Jews, among others, by means of the famous 1942-founded Council to Aid Jews (Rada Pomocy Zydom) codenamed 'Zegota' - the only organisation in Europe and a unique one on a global scale established to defend and provide help to Jews in ghettos and elsewhere.
The successive commanders of the AK were generals Stefan Rowecki (until June 30, 1943) Tadeusz Komorowski (until Oct. 2, 1944) and Leopold Okulicki (until Jan. 19, 1945).
The culmination of the AK's armed struggle came with the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 (see: NOTE 2). The AK's wartime losses totalled about 100,000 soldiers killed in fighting or murdered, and about 50,000 taken to the Soviet Union and imprisoned.
In early 1942, the Home Army had about 100,000 soldiers; by the summer of 1944 the number had risen to 380,000. These included 10,800 officers. Poland’s famous Silent Unseen elite special-operations paratroops were also part of the Home Army.
The Home Army's activities did not end with the end of WW II. After 1945 the AK's so-called Enduring Soldiers fought the Soviet regime.
Under communism AK soldiers were persecuted by Poland's authorities, especially during the Stalinist period. Many of them were handed death penalties; others spent many years in prison.
NOTE 2: The Home Army-organised Warsaw Uprising broke out on August 1, 1944 as the biggest resistance operation in German-occupied Europe. Initially intended to last several days, it continued for over two months before its suppression by the Germans. The uprising claimed the lives of 18,000 insurgents and around 200,000 civilians.
After the insurgents surrendered and the remaining 500,000 residents were expelled, the Germans methodically burned down and blew up Warsaw house by house. By January 1945, app. 90 percent of the buildings and city infrastructure was destroyed.
NOTE 3: The Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) was an underground force formed in Poland following the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939. On February 14, 1942, it transformed into the Home Army (AK). (PAP)
