This was not how it was meant to be. Launched on August 1, 1944, the Warsaw Uprising had been undertaken with the best—if not arguably naive—of intentions.
Germany was reeling, its armed forces left punch drunk by the Red Army’s relentless onslaught. As the Eastern Front ground closer that summer, columns of wounded Germans filtered through Warsaw, heading further westwards. Soon, they would be joined in retreat by both civilian and military members of the city’s occupying force. For Varsovians, it felt that the end was in sight.
While Claus von Stauffenberg’s bold bid to assassinate Hitler had failed, all outward signs suggested that the Third Reich was teetering on the brink of collapse.
Sensing their chance, Poland’s underground army, the AK (Home Army), devised a giant insurrection aimed at driving the remaining German forces out of Warsaw—this, believed some, would strengthen Poland's negotiating position with Stalin once Russian troops entered. With a Polish-held Warsaw as a bargaining chip, the country, it was argued, could be saved from Soviet hegemony.
Doubts are aired
However, the success of what would become known as the Warsaw Uprising was far from assured. For the AK to triumph, several things would first need to happen, though perhaps most saliently of all, victory relied on German forces being taken by surprise and showing no will to fight.
Even before the Uprising was launched, several voices had questioned the wisdom behind it.
While some urged Tadeusz Komorowski, the commander of the Home Army, to start it, others—including his operations and intelligence chief—warned against it.
General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Poland’s government-in-exile, telegrammed Komorowski, telling him such a military operation was devoid of common sense: “In the face of the rapid progress of the Soviet occupation on the territory of the country, it is necessary to strive to save the biological substance of the nation in the face of the double threat of extermination,” he cautioned.
In the end, reservations were dismissed, and on August 1, 1944, between 40,000 and 50,000 Polish troops were called into action to liberate the capital.
Despite being outgunned, early successes were numerous for the Home Army; however, these were offset by Germany’s reaction.
News of the insurgency had infuriated the Nazi hierarchy; incensed, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler issued an infamous order stating: “Every inhabitant is to be killed, no prisoners are to be taken, Warsaw is to be razed to the ground, and in this way a terrifying example is to be created for the whole of Europe.”
Within days, savage massacres of the civilian population followed; in the district of Wola, 50,000 are estimated to have been butchered in the space of a week.
For the Home Army, it was to get worse. Soft German resistance had been anticipated, so when this failed to transpire, the Home Army’s lack of heavy firepower soon became an issue. With Allied airdrops proving insufficient and the Red Army failing to fully apply pressure from the eastern bank of the river, the die was cast.
Even so, for 63 days Polish units battled on, making the Warsaw Uprising the largest armed underground action of WWII.
Warsaw’s fate is sealed
Of course, it could not go on. Faced with certain defeat, on October 2, 1944, representatives of the Home Army’s high command signed an act of capitulation at the headquarters of SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach in Ożarów.
The cost had been immense. While precise figures remain unclear, most sources agree that the final death toll stood at around 15,000 insurgents and approximately 200,000 civilians.
Under the terms of the surrender, the half-a-million residents that had survived were expelled from the city and taken to transit camps, with approximately 100,000 ending up being used as forced labor by the Nazi war machine. Combatants, meanwhile, were interred in POW camps.
Many never returned to Warsaw again, and those that did were greeted by a sea of ruins. Contrary to the provisions of the capitulation act, Nazi sappers had swiftly set about destroying surviving structures, paying particular heed to sites of cultural importance.
Nowadays, the merits of the Uprising find themselves the subject of fiery debate. In many quarters, it remains mythologized as the most glorious of patriotic acts. On the other hand, recent years have seen others reassess it as a needless waste of lives—a high-stakes gamble that led to the sacrifice of Warsaw. Growing increasingly polarized, proponents of these opposing standpoints are unlikely to ever find common ground.
What lies beyond doubt, however, is that on this day in history, Warsaw endured its darkest day—its complete destruction now awaited.
