The Warsaw Uprising

Death of the city. A still from the film "The Pianist" based on the recollections of the Polish Jewish pianist Vladislav Shpilman

Historical and the political assessments of the decision to provoke an uprising in Warsaw in August 1944 are so multifaceted and contradictory that it is impossible to bring them under any common denominator and will hardly be possible in the near foreseeable future. Despite all the absurdity of the political attitudes of the uprising and the horrors of its military defeat, it is still popular among the army of enthusiasts. His critics often use the ominous word "crime". The heaps of radio messages exchanged between Warsaw and London during the days of critical decisions are investigated. The memoirs of the participants in the events have been published. The calculations of Generals Tadeusz Komorowski (Boer), Antoni Khrushchel (Monter), Stanislav Jankowski (Sobol) and objections of Colonel Jerzy Kirchmeier are known for certain. The facts are known ... They in no way change the extremely opposite opinions in their assessment. You can argue about them endlessly.

One, however, the factor of those events is invariably lost against the backdrop of these disputes, at least not popular with either historians or politicians. Let's give a voice to the famous Polish publicist, Stefan Kiselevsky (Kissel):

Gene. Tadeusz Pelczynski ("Grzegorz"): The actual inspirer and commander of the uprising, because the Boer did not command much there. I only met him in 1957 in London. He called me and said he wanted to meet. We met, and by the way, he was an officer of the "Two", that is, intelligence. And right off the bat, he began to interrogate me professionally:
- Did you serve in the army?
The answer is:
- Served.
- What regiment?
- In such and such.
- Um, who is Turovich?
- Editor.
- Did he serve in the army?
I say:
- No, as far as I know.
- Why not?
- I do not know why.
- Did Stomma serve in the army?
Finally I got tired of it and say:
- General, and now I want to ask you a question.
And he said:
- Please.
And I told him:
- You know ... Piano, tuxedo, father's library ...
He says:
- What?
And I:
“Lost in the uprising, and I want to know why.
And then he got angry:
- Because you are a demagogue! “And something else about my ancestry.
We parted without saying goodbye. He was a decent man, but whatever you say, he destroyed Warsaw.

Piano, tuxedo, father's library ... Short and angry. When deciding on an armed uprising, regardless of whether it would be short-lived, as Boer Komorowski expected (it is not known on what basis), or last, as it turned out later, for two months, one had to reckon with the destruction of the material civilizational structure of a large European city. Obviously, it was impossible to foresee the planned and systematic destruction that the Germans, out of a thirst for revenge, carried out after the surrender of the rebel forces. But huge losses were inevitable. Meanwhile, in the reasoning of the ideologues of the uprising, one does not at all show concern about this issue. The prospect of the destruction of the seven-century cultural heritage, the achievements of generations of tens of thousands of Polish families, sights, archives, libraries did not horrify any of them. The value of urban quarters was considered from a purely military point of view: in the categories of strongholds, firing points, areas of concentration of units, etc. There is nowhere a word about cultural values, masterpieces of art, about civilizational achievements created by generations of workers.

Let's go through the pages of history.

It was 1814, and Napoleon's opponents took Paris. The emperor was determined to recapture the French capital, to fight in the city, and issued the appropriate orders to Marshal MacDonald.

Arriving at Fontainebleau, the emperor began to gather troops for an attack on Paris ...

MacDonald admitted that the surrender of Paris overwhelmed and humiliated him, but before Napoleon understood his words as approval of plans to attack the city, the Marshal declared that his soldiers did not want to turn Paris into a second Moscow. Then he gave a detailed description of the unenviable state of his troops and suggested what would happen to them if they encountered colossal enemy forces in the open field.

Ney promised to give a speech to Napoleon, and two veterans volunteered to accompany him: Lefebvre and Monsey. They immediately went to the emperor, the others began to wait for them on the terrace.

Napoleon accepted the marshals and tried to persuade them to his plan, but Ney refused on behalf of the others. Realizing that it was hopeless to call these people with him, Napoleon threatened to turn directly to the army. Then Ney flared up. "The army," he shouted, "will not go! The army will obey its marshals!"

In the old days, this would have been followed by an explosion that would have swept everyone out of the room, but now there is only a thoughtful pause. Then Napoleon quietly said: "What do you want from me?"

The question was addressed to all those present. And they answered him without hesitation: "Renounce."

But these people - among the marshals there were Jean-Etienne MacDonald, Michel Ney, Louis-Alexander Berthier, François-Joseph Lefebvre, Adrien Monsey, Charles-Nicolas Oudinot - who would accuse of cowardice or disrespect for Bonaparte? But even for them it seemed too high a price to sacrifice their capital.

The next year, when Napoleon finally abdicated the throne, and the allies again occupied Paris, after Waterloo, the Prussian commandant of the city decided to blow up the symbol of past defeats - Jena Bridge. And then Louis XVIII, this fat and stupid Bourbon, to whom the cult of the hated emperor was alien, rushed to Tsar Alexander I and, with tears in his eyes, begged him to stop such barbarism. Alexander in his carriage galloped to the Jena Bridge:

- Explode, but only with me!

The case smelled like a diplomatic scandal ...

- Do Your Imperial Majesty protect such symbols ?!

- It's not about symbols! I will not let you destroy Paris!

Let's go back to August 1944 ... Simultaneously with the uprising in Warsaw, an uprising broke out in Paris. But his picture was completely different ... The Parisians waited until the Allied army had only one day to go to the city and there was no serious water barrier between them and Paris. The assault groups were ordered in advance to capture only important strategic points (although barricades arose throughout the city, most of them unnecessarily). She went over to the side of the rebels from weapons in the hands of the Vichy police. All the time, high-quality and constant radio communication was maintained between the assault groups, as well as between the headquarters of the uprising and the command of the allies. 0,02% of city buildings were damaged in the battles!

In the same August 1944, the Italians had good reasons to use armed means, even if purely symbolically, to wash away the stain of fascism and meet in Rome as allies as liberators. But no - it never even occurred to them. Instead, they did everything possible through behind-the-scenes negotiations to withdraw German troops from the Eternal City without a shot and declare it open.

Say, the examples given here are not comparable? Did they arise under completely different military-political circumstances? This is not about historical, military or political parallels, but about the way of thinking.

Generations of Polish schoolchildren are hammered into their heads with the thesis that the tragedy of Poles is that they shoot pearls at their enemies. This pathetic phrase contains grief for the young and talented poets, Krzysztof Kamil Baczynski and Tadeusz Gajca, who died in the Warsaw Uprising. But isn't that the same as digging trenches in cemeteries, placing machine-gun nests in libraries, infirmaries in palaces, and turning churches into heaps of rubble? This is somehow much more difficult to understand for minds poisoned by patriotic frenzy. They understand much more clearly the scene from Stefan eromski's Ashes, in which General Michal Sokolnitsky orders the shooting of the ancient Church of St. James in Sandomierz in order to prevent the Austrians from placing an artillery battery in it:

Gintult rushed to him.
- What do you want? - shouted Sokolnitsky.
- Will the Church of St. James be destroyed?
- Who called you to me?
- Nobody called me.
- So what's the deal?
- I came to ask ...
- Fire! - commanded Sokolnitsky, removing the annoying person.
Before the officers had time to repeat the command, Gintult grabbed the general by the arm, by the shoulder ...
- Look! He shouted pleadingly. - The whole temple is glowing ...
The first shot rang out.
- Stop, General. Gather all your strength, strike at this position, you will still wrest it from the enemy!
- I have no soldiers ... - grumbled the puzzled general.
- You have five thousand people!
- Go away!
A second salvo rang out, then a third.
- You destroy and trample the sacred dust! Can't you see what your cores are destroying? Look!
- I see it is no worse than yours. And yet, I will turn this sacred dust to ashes to save the living city. Have you heard?
- You will not destroy!
New volleys rang out.
Grabbing Sokolnitsky by the chest, Gintult shouted that he ordered to stop the shelling. The officers accompanying the general, forcibly tore off and pushed the prince away from him. Then, seized with insane torment, he jumped to the guns, pulled out the lit fuse from the gunner and threw it on the ground. The soldier was numb and froze in place. The prince rushed to another ... But the officer in command of the squad poked him in the chest with his sword. The soldiers drove away the distraught prince with banniki. The guns groaned again with the shots.
- Soldiers! - Lying on the ground, shouted Gintult, - do not listen to this order! Soldiers, soldiers ...
The thunder of shots was his answer.

And who does Prince Jan Gintult appear in "Ashes"? He is an intellectual aristocrat, gourmet and adventurer, and also a Lithuanian and a Mason, i.e. the embodiment of all the features that are alien to the mentality of a society obsessed with local values.

And I, traveling across Europe, admire the festival of splendor of palace ensembles, the austere beauty of art galleries, scattering of Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque churches, the freshness of medieval Renaissance city quarters untouched by time, which leave the army of stage designers of historical films without work, because everything is standing and waiting ready , and I regret that there are still places where ambition and daring are valued higher than respect for the work and achievements of generations of compatriots.

Sources of
Kisielewski S., Abecadlo Kisiela... Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1990.
Delderfield R.F., The collapse of the empire of Napoleon. Military-ist. chronicles... Centerpolygraph, 2001.
Delderfield R.F., Marshals of Napoleon... Centerpolygraph, 2002.
Eromski S., Selected Works: Translated from Polish... State publishing house art. literature, 1957.

Comments

[Basil50]

The author touched on a very important topic. Thanks to him. The planned destruction of the city, and the city * of his *, together with fellow citizens, unless it was planned * by the rebels * to hide behind the citizens from the Germans. If you read the generals * rebels * then this is exactly what pops up.

[hagen]

The Polish government in London and the leadership of the Home Army deliberately did not interact with the Red Army, for the uprising was carried out as part of Operation Tempest, according to the plans of which a part of the Poles hostile to the USSR was to meet the Red Army in Warsaw as a result of the uprising and declare the presence and priority of the Polish power in Poland over the Soviet, so that later, after the complete liberation of Poland, to remain at the helm of the state. Therefore, the failure of the uprising was its natural end. To be honest, I have no particular pity for this uprising. Otherwise, if Rokossovsky had managed to effectively help the rebels, we would have got a hostile state in our rear. And if suddenly sometime suddenly emerging archives prove that Stalin deliberately held back our troops (there is no evidence of which today), then I would appreciate these actions of his genius and prophetic. But in general, the topic is chewed by many authors. The issues of the primacy of the material over their own freedom and independence for Europeans have also been repeatedly discussed. Therefore, when they talk about some of their "European values", you immediately start looking for some kind of catch under these phrases. They have conceived something insidious ... For their main primary value today is material prosperity achieved by any means, even at the expense of neighbors. In a word - complete .... National Socialism.

[The leader of the Redskins]

My grandfather, an officer who took part in the battles for the liberation of Poland, told something similar.
Poles were in a hurry themselves liberate Warsaw, so that later with ambition to declare this. But it didn’t work out the way they wanted. The bloodless units of the Red Army were physically unable to help the rebels. Had the Poles suffered a little and it would have turned out as with Paris, but ... Arrogance and pride ...

[Pereira]

It didn't work out with Warsaw. But there is a new cause for universal pride.
"The Polish army took Berlin, and the Russian one helped."

[sevtrash]

Quote: Hagen

The Polish government in London and the leadership of the Home Army deliberately did not interact with the Red Army, for the uprising was carried out as part of Operation Tempest, according to the plans of which a part of the Poles hostile to the USSR was to meet the Red Army in Warsaw as a result of the uprising and declare the presence and priority of the Polish power in Poland over the Soviet, so that later, after the complete liberation of Poland, to remain at the helm of the state.

Yes, this uprising was actually an anti-Soviet action directed against the Soviet Union. I do not think that the Poles themselves decided on this, most likely there was support from at least the British in terms of development, time frames, etc. Given the location of the London government, I have no doubt that the British controlled it well. Did you do without the Americans? Probably not either, even then they ruled, if not everything, then almost everything. And the Poles themselves could hardly have dared to undertake such an action without the allies' cover. So, rather, it was such an attempt by the allies to make the Soviet Union such a pig for the future - in fact, a hostile state in the rear, and then on the border in the future. And, perhaps, with the success of the Warsaw Uprising, according to the results for the allies, such uprisings could have been carried out in other places.
But Stalin understood all this of course (and it’s hard not to understand), as well as the possible prospects of this action and did what he did. Nothing, that is. Nothing to help the allies cheat him.
So, rather, it was an allied action against the USSR. But unsuccessful.

[Olgovich]

Quote: Hagen

To be honest, I have no particular pity for this uprising.

Exactly so: they took a risk, putting everything at stake, and - lost. All-YOURSELF.

Therefore, all claims are only to yourself

[chenia]

Quote: Hagen

so that later, after the complete liberation of Poland, to remain at the helm of the state.

In view of recent events, maybe it would be better. Let me explain. Stalin would not have fought desperately with Churchill for Poland in Potsdam. And ... All of Prussia would be the RSFSR. And surrounded by the GDR, Czechoslovakia and us, it would not have been very hostile (and would have provided a corridor for supplying the GSVG), as neutral as Finland.

[DMB_95]

Quote: Hagen

The Polish government in London and the leadership of the Home Army deliberately did not interact with the Red Army, for the uprising was carried out as part of Operation Tempest, according to the plans of which a part of the Poles hostile to the USSR was to meet the Red Army in Warsaw as a result of the uprising and declare the presence and priority of the Polish power in Poland over the Soviet, so that later, after the complete liberation of Poland, to remain at the helm of the state.

The priority of the Polish power over the Soviet and the "rudder of the state" after the Soviet Army knocks out the Germans from the territory of Poland, having lost hundreds of thousands (!) Of their soldiers and officers ?? And at that time, and now "Polish power" meant the power of the Anglo-Saxons, and Stalin in 1944-45. was not at all the kind of person who would agree to such conditions, even under pressure from the United States and Britain, and even in the conditions of the War. Therefore, the "Polish government" became Soviet.

[hagen]

Quote: DMB_95

Stalin in 1944-45 was not at all the kind of person who would agree to such conditions, even under pressure from the United States and Britain, and even during the War. Therefore, the "Polish government" became Soviet.

This is all logic. There are no documents confirming this version.

[DMB_95]

There are facts.

[hagen]

Quote: DMB_95

There are facts.

Share, if not difficult ...

[DMB_95]

After all, Poland became a state with a pro-Soviet leadership and corresponding foreign and domestic policies for several decades. An excellent buffer in case of the War with the West on the territory of Europe, which was to break out according to the plans of the same Churchill. All the same, during the Warsaw Uprising, the Soviet leadership did everything right. And after - too.

[parusnik]

What can't you do for the sake of seizing power ...

[depressant]

Author...
Delightful article! This is something! Congratulations!...
The war is started by villains, cultural values ​​are destroyed by the savages led by them. The uprising is being started by idealists, cultural values ​​are being destroyed ... all the same savages! They, savages, from two sides become a single whole, as if idealists and villains alternately resort to the services of one or another group of them, rent them as consumables for the instant transformation of the culture developed by tens of generations of bright minds into it. And then the waves extinguish the wind, but after extinguishing, they disappear by themselves, and the calm calm dissolves the thin foam of culture, which was carried by the shafts of dirty water. Calm culture does not produce! It remains only to sadly recall the lost values ​​of the Alexandria Library, the sunken ships that exported its truly colossal archival deposits from Malta, the burnt Moscow, the Buddha shot by Afghan savages, the plundered museums of Baghdad, Cairo, the temple complexes of India, the bombed-out architecture of Syria a symbol of the cumulative poverty of the mind of human civilization. And only the Antikythera mechanism, accidentally found by subsequent savages, becomes a sign of a distant, gone into oblivion era, and the new savages say in surprise: "Wow, there were ..."
A stirring curiosity drives them in the footsteps of the past, and there, among the sands and temple ruins, there is only the wind, which no longer raises waves, but drives the savage to himself: "Look, this is you - on a new round of civilization, but this is waiting for you or worse! " And there are no theorists who would attend to the creation of a social mechanism capable of interrupting the bad infinity of self-destruction.

[Doliva63]

Quote: parusnik

What can't you do for the sake of seizing power ...

Well yes. Warsaw is more, Warsaw is less ... Capitalism, it is.

[akunin]

in this whole story I am oppressed by only one thing, that despite the sacrifices ours had to tear to Warsaw and pay with the blood of our grandfathers for the mediocrity of the Poles. Now we are receiving "gratitude" for 600 thousand of our compatriots who died for the liberation of Poland.

[Pereira]

It is ridiculous to expect gratitude from the Poles.
They claim they were sandwiched between two villains not wanting to understand that for us Hitler = Pilsudski.
I am sure that if the German-Polish alliance had happened (for the war with which the Red Army was preparing Tukhachevsky), the concentration camps organized by the Poles would have been more terrible than those organized by the Germans.
Thanks to Comrade Stalin for 39 years.

[DMB_95]

Quote: Pereira

Thanks to Comrade Stalin for 39 years.

If you are talking about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the short victorious War with Japan in 1939, then Thank you to Stalin and a low bow.

[Bolo]

How disgusting it is to read these pink snot about the European decadent tossing against the background of how mercilessly and monstrously were destroyed and destroyed cities in Russia, which are even more valuable culturally and civilizationally!

[Martin]

Quote: Bolo

How disgusting it is to read these pink snot about the European decadent tossing against the background of how mercilessly and monstrously were destroyed and destroyed cities in Russia, which are even more valuable culturally and civilizationally!

So I drew attention. The author focuses not on the anti-Soviet nature of the uprising, not on its inopportune for the sake of ambitions, but on "the inadmissibility of the destruction of the European capital."
No, I am only “for” the preservation of the cultural heritage of any nation. But during a terrible war, is this the main priority?

[zenion]

The author of the book "Siren with a Sword" was a participant in this uprising, in addition to shooting, carrying out assignments from one strongpoint to another. I heard and understood everything well. A siren with a sword is a statue, a symbol of Warsaw. The author, with a part of the partisans of the Ludova army, managed to escape from Warsaw, when the commanders of the regional army agreed with the Germans and surrender. They knew that the Germans would certainly shoot them, because lists of those who were in the human army were prepared for the Germans. Those who managed to escape were warned all parts of this army that they had been betrayed. In order to stay alive, they had to leave their habitable places in the surrounding forests and go to meet the Red Army. Then the author of the book about which it was written above, I do not remember the author, the book was published only in Ukraine and was sold in Kiev in 1988. So the author was called a traitor, because he wrote how it really was, because he was a messenger and took notes about what the commanders of the uprising said and they did not care how many Warsaw residents would die. The book is probably banned in Poland now. You can't write the truth so frankly.

[Koshak]

"How disgusting it is to read these pink snot about the European decadent tossing against the background of how mercilessly and monstrously were destroyed and destroyed cities in Russia, which are culturally and civilizationally even more valuable!"

Not only cities, but also villages and villages, from which burnt furnaces remain You can live without Gothic cathedrals (yes, this is cynicism!), But without bread - IMHO.

[iouris]

Warsaw anti-Soviet sabotage on orders from London. Before that, there was already a precedent in Vilnius (if the Poles consider Vilnius theirs).

[boris epstein]

How many lives of soldiers and officers did the Red Army pay for the assaults of Krakow and Vienna WITHOUT the use of tanks and artillery? And how are they "thankful" for this now? And how did the "civilized" British and Americans take the French cities? After the carpet bombing, they destroyed Leipzig, Nuremberg, Dresden, Hamburg in this way, but the factories, the shares of which were held by the American tycoons, did not suffer.

[wow]

Ah! What are we, all gentle Europoids! Well, we do not want to destroy our well-fed existence! Let the Russian Vanya from the east break the backbone and all the other bones of the Nazis. He himself dies, but he will leave us a loaf of butter.

[Olddetractor]

From the time of my service in the Northern Group of Forces, I remember that three Poles and the main property of their character were called the causes of the tragedy in Warsaw:
Tadeusz Komorowski, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, Konstantin Rokossovsky and Polish ambition
Tadeusz Bor Komorowski,
Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski,
Konstanty Rokossowski
i honor polski

[Tochilka]

Konstantin Konstantinovich is clearly superfluous as a reason.

[Olddetractor]

I didn’t come up with it. As for the marshal, it seems to me that it was not the main one, but it was still the reason. And his character trait was present and even as present

[Gloomy skeptic]

It is thanks to the Poles themselves that the state of Poland has repeatedly disappeared from the world map, and it is in spite of the Poles that it has appeared on the world map again. This is a tradition.

[iouris]

Resistance had to be organized in September 1939 before the government left for London, not in 1944. I think so.

[zenion]

It was written very well in the Polish book "Siren with a Sword". The book was translated into Ukrainian, published in a small print run and everything died out. It is scary to read a book in which it is written how the Polish leadership and the Krajow army threw the people of Warsaw into the grave.

[basal]

Tired of the Polish lamentations. Remind me how shortly before this, about 3 years, the much greater European capital was systematically destroyed? How did its inhabitants die of hunger and cold? The difference is that the Capital of the Russian Empire withstood and won. Well, and chew snot ... that's so Polish.