Warsaw 1944: Poland's bid for freedom (Campaign) [Paperback]

Robert Forczyk (Author), Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Campaign | Publication Date: March 24, 2009

Osprey's study of the involvement of Poland's Home Army in World War II (1939-1945). Poland had apparently lain dormant under the Nazi heel for nearly five years, suffering the waves of genocidal round-ups, organized looting and the brutal suppression of its culture. The Poles, however, had in fact formed an underground army, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), and waited for the moment when German weakness would offer the opportunity for a successful rising. That moment seemed to have arrived in July 1944. As the Soviet armies began to advance into eastern Poland following the destruction of the German Army Group Centre in the successful Bagration offensive, the AK launched its revolt in Warsaw on August 1, 1944. Though its 5,000 fighters achieved some initial successes, the Germans were able to retain control over both the Vistula River bridges and the airbase, which ultimately doomed the revolt to isolation and defeat. The SS was put in charge of suppressing the rebellion, beginning another wave of atrocities, shocking even by Eastern Front standards.

By the beginning of September, it was clear that the rebellion was doomed. The Western Allies attempted to fly weapons and supplies to Warsaw, but their efforts were undermined by Stalin's unwillingness to provide airbases. Stalin himself waited until the rebellion was approaching its death throes before allowing the First Polish Army (part of the Red Army) to cross the Vistula River to aid the rebellion. Although these reinforcements succeeded in briefly establishing a link-up, it was too late. The AK finally agreed to surrender on October 2.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Throughout the book, author Robert Forczyk has used available archival materials to bring this story to us. Thanks to a goodly number of period photos from all sides of the conflict as well as the superb illustrations of Peter Dennis, we are able to visualize what it was like during the insurrection. It is a gripping tale of bravery, tactical errors, and a look that what could have been were not the Allies so callous in their unwillingness to provide assistance. It is a book that I think every scholar of WWII should have on their shelves." -Scott Van Aken, www.modelingmadness.com (April 2009)

"Reading this book is a humbling experience. It gives one strong insight into what courage and defiance are all about... This highly recommended book is a must-read for students of modern history as well as anyone interested in German armor." -Peter Terry, Toy Soldier and Model Figure

About the Author

Dr Robert A. Forczyk has a PhD in International Relations and National Security from the University of Maryland and a strong background in European and Asian military history. He is currently a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserves and has served 18 years as an armor officer in the US 2nd and 4th Infantry Divisions and as an intelligence officer in the 29th Infantry Division (Light).

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing; First Edition edition (March 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846033527
• ISBN-13: 978-1846033520
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant book - to read absolutely!, April 7, 2009

By 

Maciej "Darth Maciek" (Darth Maciek is out there...) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warsaw 1944: Poland's bid for freedom (Campaign) (Paperback)

Warsaw uprising in 1944 is a page of history still hardly known in the western world - most people never heard of it and easily confuse it with Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943. Publications in English on this topic are still surprisingly scarce. This Osprey Campaign is therefore particularly precious, especially considering its high quality level.

Robert Forczyk, who already wrote the highly successful titles on "Sevastopol 1942" and "Moscow 1941", reached here a new high. This book is particularly well written, making its lecture an easy and yet passionate experience. The account of events is very clear and easy to follow. The quite complicated agendas of Polish Home Army and Stalin are very well analyzed and explained (German agenda was in comparison simple - destroy the city, kill the population, have a schnapps). Illustrations are excellent, maps very precise and the three color plates by Peter Dennis simply splendid - although the first one, showing the extermination of Polish civilians in Wola quarter of Warsaw on 5 August by the SS, is also horribly shocking. Military enthusiasts will certainly appreciate the second plate, showing the incredibly intense close quarter street fight between Polish Home Army insurgents and Waffen SS soldiers from the Dirlewanger brigade. Even more surprising is the third plate, showing insurgent armored vehicles (yes, Home Army insurgents in Warsaw had some armor, including two Panther tanks!) attacking at night a German fortified position in center of Warsaw.

This book stresses very well the fact, that Stalin left Polish insurgents without any help, as their destruction by Germans suited him well, in order to better submit Poland after war. Author is very right to remind that many Polish resistance fighters, who survived five years of German occupation and helped Red Army in its progress through Poland, were then arrested and executed by Soviet secret police NKVD. The situation of Home Army, trapped between two equally dangerous foes, was dire indeed and this book shows it very well.

All the important episodes of the 63 days of uprising (1 August - 2 October) are described in this book, none being forgotten: the horrible Wola massacre (5-8 August 1944), in which us much as 30 thousand Polish civilians were exterminated, the use of Polish civilians as human shields by German troops, the capture of PASTA fortified complex by the Home Army insurgents thanks to the massif use of flamethrowers, the ordeal of insurgents and civilians using the sewers to evacuate from areas taken back by Germans, and many many others.

For any military equipment passionate, this book will be a delight, as it describes the use of such weapons as remote controlled armored mobile mines ("Goliaths"), super heavy 600 mm siege mortar "Karl" or gaseous explosives "Taifun". On insurgent side you will be probably surprised by the Polish submachine gun "Blyskawica" (Lightning), produced by hundreds in hidden underground facilities during Nazi occupation (together with pistols, grenades, flame throwers and 80 mm mortars).

The scope of tragedy that was Warsaw uprising is illustrated the best by the number of civilians massacred by SS and killed by shelling and bombing by German artillery and aviation - no less than 220 000 (two hundred and twenty thousand). This is more than the combined number of civilians killed in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden bombing in 1945! This book stresses this point well, together with the fate of survivors, many of whom were deported to concentration camps, most of the remaining having been send to Germany as slave laborers. The book ends with the description of systematic destruction of Warsaw, once emptied from its population by the SS, house by house. Before WWII, Warsaw had one million habitants - 17 January 1945 advancing Soviet soldiers found a city destroyed at 95% and only two hundred hiding survivors...

This is a precious and brilliantly written book about a great tragedy - to buy, read and keep. If you want to know more about Warsaw uprising, I recommend Norman Davies book "Rising 44" and also the incredible movie "Kanal" (Canal) by Oscar winning Polish director Andrzej Wajda (part of "War Trilogy").

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and readable book, June 19, 2009

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warsaw 1944: Poland's bid for freedom (Campaign) (Paperback)

I must say that I totally agreed with the previous reviewer regarding this book. I have just finished reading Rising '44 by Norman Davies and that book gave me an excellent understanding of the Warsaw Uprising. But it took that book 635 pages plus another 100 pages of appendix to do the job that Robert Forczyk did in 93 pages. I am continually amazed at Dr. Forczyk's ability to write so much in so little space as he has shown in the past Osprey books that bears his name. He definitely does not waste words in his narrative. While this book may not be as detail as Davies' book, any reader who read Dr. Forczyk's book will have a clear understanding of the Warsaw Uprising 1944. If they wish, they can move on to the more detail version by Davies. I am also pleased that this author choose to keep the Polish names intact in its narrative, a direct contrast to Davies' book (and Davies' contention that English speaking readers will be turned off by Polish names).

This book allows you to followed step by step the military actions of this uprising that saw the utter destruction of the city of Warsaw and its huge civilian losses. Mistakes made by both sides were clearly pointed out in the book and I found the conclusion made by the author to be in agreement with what I believe. I found the maps, photographs and colorful prints to be quite excellent in portraying and supporting the narrative. Only distraction I can see for some people about this book, probably has to do with the fact that majority of the narrative take the perception from the German point of view then the Polish.

Overall, this book is an excellent addition to the Osprey Campaign series. Anyone who even have a passing interest in this subject will no doubt find the book quite readable and informative in nature.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Concise History of the Warsaw Uprising in Outline Format, December 5, 2009

By 

Jan Peczkis "Scholar and Thinker" (Chicago IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Warsaw 1944: Poland's bid for freedom (Campaign) (Paperback)

This work is quite compact. There are separate chapters on the origins of the campaign, the opposing forces, the opposing leaders, the opposing plans, the battle itself, etc. The actual 63-day combat is divided into 2-5 day segments. Old pictures are included, as well as novel 3-D block diagrams depicting some of the combat actions.

Forczyk unmasks the argument about Poland being "too far" from England for substantive airdrops of arms and ammunition. He points out that 170 Lancaster bombers had recently traversed the 1,354 km distance from Lincolnshire to Koenigsberg, each dropping 2.5 tons of bombs, then returning home. The distance was only 74 km less than that of Lincolnshire to Warsaw. (p. 62).

Now consider the Soviet betrayal of the Uprising. Forczyk rejects any attempts at creating a false ambiguity about Soviet conduct towards it. The fact that the Soviets wanted the Uprising to fail is obvious by such things as their refusal (until the very end, when the Uprising was already doomed) to allow Uprising-aiding Allied planes to land on Soviet-held territories. (p. 37). Also, temporary setbacks for the Red Army, just east of Warsaw in early August 1944, were no excuse for them not taking Warsaw long before the Uprising ended. (p. 50).

As soon as the Uprising began, the Germans began murderous reprisals against Polish civilians. Forczyk puts this in perspective: "During the course of 5-6 August, Reinefarth's troops murdered between 30,000 and 40,000 civilians at Wola--exceeding the total of 33,741 Jews killed at Babi Yar outside Kiev in two days in September 1941. The Wola Massacre was the worst single battlefield atrocity committed in Europe in World War II, but it did not produce the effect that Hitler had intended. Instead of terrorizing the population, the indiscriminate murder of thousands of civilians drove the rest of the population into full-hearted support of the AK." (p. 54). The Germans subsequently scaled back their murders of Polish civilians, realizing that the Varsovians would not surrender if they knew that they would all die anyway.

Forczyk traces the battles step by step. He also comments: "Polish snipers became adept at firing from concealed positions within buildings, which made them very difficult for the Germans to spot and suppress." (p. 61). In the end, the overwhelming German superiority in arms and ammunition and the absence of substantive outside assistance made the defeat of the Uprising an inevitability. Forczyk believes that the Uprising softened the intensity of the Communist puppet government subsequently forced on Poland. (p. 92).

The end of the book contains a list of books and websites devoted to the Uprising. [For additional materials, see the Peczkis Listmania: THE FORGOTTEN WARSAW UPRISING (POLES AGAINST GERMANS) IN 1944].