74 years ago today - good battled evil to the death for 63 days.
Excerpts from link below.
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The WARSAW UPRISING was a struggle of the Polish underground which, between August 1, 1944 and October 2, 1944, conducted an armed struggle aimed at liberating Warsaw and its 1,000,000 inhabitants from the German occupation at the time the Soviet army was approaching the city limits from the east. The 38,000 Polish Home Army augmented by 2,000-strong nationalist and communist units initially controlled a majority of Warsaw's left bank. However, with the German determination for a complete destruction of the city and its Home Army, the Warsaw Uprising ended after 63 days of struggle at the cost of 15,200 dead or missing and 5,000 wounded insurgents and over 200,000 Polish civilians dead. German losses were 16,000 dead and missing and 9,000 wounded.
All of the surviving inhabitants were expelled from the city and many of them sent to death, labor or POW camps. The remaining, still-standing, buildings were systematically destroyed. More than three months later, in January of 1945, the Red Army and Gen. Berling's Polish First Army entered a deserted and ruined city.
General 'Bor' Komorowski, commander of the Polish Underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), sets the beginning of the uprising in Warsaw against the German occupying forces at 'W-hour'; 5:00 p.m. on August 1, 1944. The uprising is expected to last about a week and have the character of mopping up and disarming operation. The insurgents, however, are unaware that the Germans have decided to defend 'fortress' Warsaw and to counter-attack Red Army forces to the east of the city.
Warsaw's insurgents an estimated 40,000 soldiers, including 4,000 women, have only enough weapons for 2,500 fighters. They are facing a 15,000-strong German garrison which will grow to a force of 30,000, armed with tanks, planes, and artillery.
http://www.warsawuprising.com/timeline.htm
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