The Wehrmacht crushes Polish resistance
Hearing of the westwards advance of the Red Army, the underground Polish Home Army rose up against the German occupation. The aim was both to expel the invaders and stymie a Soviet takeover of Poland in order to prevent the replacement of a fascist occupation with communist terror. An uprising in the Polish capital Warsaw was launched in early August as a central plank of this strategy.
Although the Wehrmacht was caught unawares, it fought back brutally after an initial retreat. Bolstered by SS units, the German army ruthlessly exploited their superior firepower and killed around 15,000 insurgents. After two months of hard fighting, the Polish Home Army surrendered on 2 October 1944. Around 150,000 civilians were killed, both as “collateral damage” and as part of targeted reprisals. Entire districts of Warsaw, including its beautiful Old Town, were razed to their foundations. After learning of the uprising, Stalin ordered the Red Army to halt on the eastern bank of the Vistula and wait for the massacre to play out.
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