Warshaw Uprising - 70 years from today

[Ravage]

Once a year on august 1st, the people of Warsaw pay hommage to the fallen heroes that fought for freedom in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising. The biggest rebellion against German Nazi occupation during WWII cost over 200 000 lives and destruction of the capital.

To find out more go to: http://www.warsawuprising.com/

Polska Walczy

 

[Kraut783]

/Salute

 

[Ravage]

All I ask, is that you remember them.

 

[pardus]

Incredible bravery by the Polish freedom fighters.

Such a tragic story...

We Will Remember Them.

 

[RackMaster]

Never Forgotten.

 

[racing_kitty]

We remember.

 

[pardus]

Filmed the same year they were destroyed. Poor buggers.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

Jesus. Bi-planes and what looked like WW-I era tanks. Those dudes were some brave souls.

 

[Flagg]

The Polish Home Army and Underground State possessed arguably the largest active resistance movement in WWII both in terms of total numbers(roughly the size of the entire Soviet resistance to the Nazis, as well as in per capita terms.

It was pretty nasty of the Soviets to sit back and let the Nazis/Polish Resistance to chew each other apart. Postwar realpolitik and military economy of effort and all that, but not a nice thing to do for folks supposed on the "same side".

And it didn't end with WWII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursed_soldiers

The Poles continued to actively fight against the tide of Communist totalitarianism post war.

Witold Pilecki fought in the Warsaw Uprising, causing the Germans considerable trouble:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki

He's the stud who came up with the plan to infil and recce Auschwitz from the INSIDE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold's_Report

The Communists/Soviets had him executed post war.

He was rehabilitated by a free Poland in 1990, and recognised retrospectively since.

I've got a few books about the Polish resistance in WWII:

The Polish Underground 1939-1947 by David Williamson

Station 43 SOE's Polish Section by Ian Valentine

Thirteen: My 13 years in Polish SMU GROM has been translated into English.

After reading what they've done then and more recently, I'm glad the Poles are officially on our side.

 

[pardus]

Great post @Flagg

The irony of the Polish situation is that WWII started specifically to defend Poland and they were left under yet another brutally oppressive regime.
Not that the west could have done much about it, short of going to war with the Soviets, but still a great shame.

 

[Flagg]

Yeah….Postdam made things pretty obvious…..but at least some of the Cursed Soldiers still had the guts to try…..with the odd bit of futile half hearted western assistance.

Ukraine's resistance carried on even longer into the early 50's and might have some real relevancy to what's going on there today.

I'd love to see a book written about US efforts during the Reagan Administration to shatter the Warsaw Pact through Solidarity and such in Poland.

I reckon the little we know about the Catholic Church tied in with the Reagan Administration during that period is only the tip of the spear.

 

[pardus]

Ukraine's resistance carried on even longer into the early 50's and might have some real relevancy to what's going on there today..

I saw brief mention years ago, of ex Wehrmacht Soldiers fighting in the Ukraine post war against the Soviets. I never head that confirmed or repeated though.