The Warsaw Uprising began
On this day · 1 August 1944
At 5 p.m. on a summer afternoon, Warsaw's underground army rose against German occupiers in a revolt meant to last days that stretched to 63.
At 5 p.m. on August 1, 1944, the Polish underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa) launched an open revolt to seize Warsaw from German occupiers before the advancing Soviet army arrived. Commanded by General Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, the rising was part of a nationwide plan to liberate Polish soil and assert independence.
The odds were brutal. Only a fraction of the roughly 50,000 fighters had weapons, and they faced a far better-armed garrison. Planned as a short military action, the uprising instead ground on for 63 days.
Soviet forces halted on the Vistula’s far bank, and promised Western airdrops proved meager. When the Home Army capitulated in early October, the Germans systematically razed much of the city. Casualties ran to the tens of thousands of fighters and far more civilians, a sacrifice that became a lasting symbol of Polish resistance.
Sources & references
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