The Warsaw Commune: Betrayed by Stalin, Massacred by Hitler. Zygmunt Zaremba 1947
Caught by surprise by the uprising, and dumbfounded by the defeat they had suffered at the start, the Germans quickly recovered their balance. They gathered together substantial forces against Warsaw. They put into operation a great number of tanks and armoured cars. In this way they attempted to terrorise the population, and began by destroying the fortifications – the pitiful barricades put up by the Warsaw Uprising. The Panther and Tiger tanks penetrated into the streets, shelling the barricades and the adjoining buildings. Then the armoured cars brought up reinforcements in order to take the bombarded Polish positions. But the enemy perceived that this method would not provide the expected results. Behind the fragile barricade constructions, and behind every corner, the heart of the Polish soldier is full of courage. At his feet are bottles of petrol. The tank comes closer and closer... its crew thinking that all the Poles will flee before a tank roaring and spitting out death... suddenly, at close range, petrol bottles fall on the tank, and then a grenade, transforming it into a blazing mass. There is a grinding of the motor and tracks. The petrol tank blows up, and the monster comes to a halt, destroyed, choking to death amid black smoke.
When the petrol runs out, old big-game hunting methods are brought to mind. Thus in Iron Street the Tigers take a barricade by assault. The tank smashes it, and passes on. It unhesitatingly advances towards the next one. A second monster follows 100 metres behind it, spitting fire in every direction. The second barricade falls under the weight of this enormous body of steel. The tank suddenly tilts forward, its brakes grinding. Reverse gear... Too late! The tank falls with a crash into a deep ditch. When they see the first tank disappear below the level of the ground, its companions then turn round to retrace their steps.
The tanks, the object of fear during the first days of the uprising, eight days afterwards no longer dare to venture into the interior of the barricaded city. They are heard at a distance, shooting blindly at buildings, without a great deal of success.
In order to hold on to the main arteries linking the eastern districts of Warsaw with the rear, the Germans brought up reinforcements, and above all heavy artillery. The main attack took place along Wolska Street. The enemy tactic consisted of systematically levelling the streets with intense artillery fire, assisted with special flame-throwing units. Having pushed back the rebel units towards the Powązki districts and the Old Town, and burned down the whole of Wolska Street, they captured the Wola area. [1] The German soldiery, joined by mercenaries recruited from among Soviet prisoners, murdered the defenceless population. [2] Men, women and children were shot, either all together or individually. Having won this ‘victory’, the Nazis penetrated into the centre of the capital by way of Chłodna Street. Warsaw was thus divided, and the Old Town became an encircled fortress.
The second objective aimed at by the enemy was to cut an escape route through Sikorski Alley. But here its attempt ran up against an energetic defence put up by our units, among which the heroic garrison in the Post Office, which commanded the railway lines, played a decisive role. At the same time the Germans attempted to go on to the offensive in other directions; they particularly wanted to cross over the Cracow district [3] and Saviour Square right into the centre of the city. During these attacks they used a barbaric, truly Nazi tactic which the Prussians had previously used at the time of the Battle of Głogów in the twelfth century. [4] They protected the tanks with a living shield made out of civilians dragged from their captured homes. Behind this protection, the tanks approached the Polish lines. The rebels’ hands faltered... But the enemy could not be allowed to enter, even at such a cost. The best marksmen came forward. They opened fire. The living shield dispersed. The tanks went into reverse. The German ruse did not bring about the expected result.
After a few frontal attacks aimed at the Polish defence lines, the Nazis proceeded to carry out a regular siege of Warsaw, along traditional lines. They not only mobilised artillery, but bombing aircraft as well. The Polish soldiers and the Warsaw population, who knew how to confront infantry and the largest tanks, found themselves powerless in the presence of heavy artillery and above all wide calibre mortars. With an infernal grinding, these mortars launched a cloud of explosive and incendiary fire that transformed entire houses into a mass of ruins. The German bombers flew at low altitude, approaching their objectives by skimming the roofs. The Polish soldier, carefully conserving his ammunition, could not attempt to shoot them down with a rifle volley.
Tough days had come. The fighters’ only comfort lay in the hope of help from outside. The equipment taken from the Germans could only arm a minute proportion of those who wished to fight. Ammunition was being exhausted at a terrific rate. Only reinforcements coming from outside could prevent so much enthusiasm and courage from ending in tragic defeat.
1. Wola and Powązki were poor areas on the west side of Warsaw, with over 60 per cent of their population being workers. The population of the Old Town, a poor area adjacent to the River Vistula, was over 80 per cent working-class or small traders. It had also been a heavily Jewish area. [Editor’s note]
2. The bulk of the atrocities were committed by the SS Storm Brigade Rona, which was led by General Kaminski, and consisted of renegade Soviet citizens, and by the SS Brigade Dirlewanger, which was led by Colonel Dirlewanger, and whose ranks were 50 per cent common criminals, and whose officers were 40 per cent renegade Soviet citizens. Going into action on 5 August, they killed 40 000 civilians within two days. [Editor’s note]
3. This was a better-off part of Warsaw. [Editor’s note]
4. The Battle of Głogów occurred in 1109, when Emperor Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire attempted to cross the River Oder on which Głogów (Glogau) is situated. He encountered stiff resistance, and Polish hostages were dangled on ropes from the walls of the siege towers. Zaremba’s reference here is anachronistic. The family of Henry V (1111-1125), the last Holy Roman Emperor of the Salian line who campaigned unsuccessfully against Poland in 1109, came from Schwabia, not Prussia. Prussia at the time was still pagan, and had not yet been conquered by the Teutonic Knights. [Editor’s note]