The Warsaw Commune: Betrayed by Stalin, Massacred by Hitler. Zygmunt Zaremba 1947
The entire population of Warsaw was at war. It tore down the hated Nazi flags, and hoisted Polish flags over public buildings. Joyfully the capital saw the two-colour flags floating once more over the town hall and the Central Post Office. They symbolised our hopes for five years, the miracle of freedom and victory over a powerful force that had made the world tremble. The tombstone that Hitler had wanted to use to crush Poland was thrown off. Wild enthusiasm gripped the population. Women and children even mixed in with the fighters. Everyone wanted to take an active part in the struggle. And whoever was prevented from fighting through lack of weapons built barricades, helped to feed the soldiers, joined the medical corps, got busy putting out fires, or else joined the anti-aircraft squads. A million hearts beat to one rhythm. These million hearts drew faith in a final victory from this first success.
After eight days’ fighting, the Germans only maintained control of certain districts and a few dispersed fortifications. Since they were well equipped with motorised weapons, they could not be driven out or taken at the first attack. But the northern districts stretching from the citadel and its fortifications to the old Ghetto on the west formed an area entirely in the hands of the Germans, who also held some sectors in the southern part of the capital, and were counter-attacking. Buildings that had been hastily transformed by the insurgents into fortified centres had finally to be given up, after an heroic defence, in the face of superior force. Making no distinction between combatants and non-combatants, the Germans decimated the population of a conquered quarter. Its inhabitants were subjected to the most cruel reprisals. Assembled in public squares, they were terrorised and tortured, and women were raped. Those who were not shot immediately were taken to a camp in Pruszków (a Warsaw suburb), from where they were sent off, either for forced labour in Germany, or to concentration camps. With the exception of the buildings that they were living in, the Germans burned out all the houses, right down to the cellars.
Praga, where the uprising had been stamped out at the start, was left high and dry in the hands of the enemy, along with the bridges linking this district with Warsaw. In the areas at the centre of the capital taken by the Poles, the enemy kept hold of a number of important positions that for quite a while paralysed the action of the rebels. These were the fortifications of the Mint, the University, the Telephone Exchange, the National Bank, St Edwig’s High School, and the police barracks.
These German fortified positions right at the heart of the city were blocking communications between the rebel positions, and preventing life from being organised in the liberated zone of the capital. It was necessary to liquidate them as rapidly as possible. The efforts of the population and the Home Army were therefore concentrated upon this task; in order to defend the streets in those areas taken under enemy fire, the inhabitants erected barricades and cut passages underground. Then the siege began of the enemy’s fortified centres. It was then that an extraordinary thing happened. The remaining German strongholds, abundantly supplied with weapons and ammunition, and supported by tanks and aircraft, one after another surrendered to the poorly-armed Polish units. The Mint gave in, and the police barracks fell. St Edwig’s High School and the YMCA building were captured by storm. Each of these strong points became a fortress in our hands. Each success increased the enthusiasm of the masses, who saw it as a foretaste of victory.
What evidence of invention and initiative was produced in the course of these battles! The weapons – both those we already possessed and those we had just taken – needed frequent repairs. Immediately armourers’ workshops were set up, which in addition manufactured automatic pistols. Soon other workshops opened up which brought out a type of grenade called ‘double almonds’. The tremendous shortage of explosive materials necessitated extreme economy. All the bombs that had failed to explode were collected together to use for making our grenades. These first parachute drops originating from the enemy were put to good use by us. A bottle full of petrol became the most widespread weapon in the battle against the tanks; it was a superior replacement for grenades when we captured the enemy fortifications.
Even the innocent garden spray, cunningly transformed in the hands of the insurgents, shot out a flame 20 metres long. This modest anti-insect device drove the Prussians out of more than one position. [1] Catapults set up after the ancient manner using ropes and old car tyres threw grenades over a great distance. Courage and enthusiasm were the most important weapons of the Warsaw insurgents.
1. Fire hoses were also used as flame throwers. [Editor’s note]