# Tweets Victory: Warsaw is set free! 1945 real-time events

In August 1944, the Polish population of Warsaw rebelled against the Nazi occupiers. The uprising, organized by the command of the Home Army (AK) and the Polish government in exile (having fled to London), began on August 1 and continued through October 2.

Upon receiving news of the uprising, Adolf Hitler ordered Warsaw to be wiped off the face of the earth, destroying its entire population.

In July, the Red Army reached the approaches of Warsaw as part of the Bagration operation. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, under the command of a native of Warsaw, Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky during the battles of September 10-15, 1944 liberated the right bank of the Vistula - a suburb of Warsaw called Prague. In September, the centers of the uprising were localized, and the bridges across the Vistula were blown up.

• The Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 July - early August 1944. Wars on the outskirts of Warsaw
• RIA News
• © George Zelma

The Soviet leadership pointed to the complete surprise of the uprising and the inconsistency of the actions of his leadership with the Red Army, which could not enter the city.

The uprising was crushed by the Nazis by October. About 17 thousand participants of the Polish resistance died and about 6 thousand were seriously injured. After the suppression of these uprisings, on October 12, the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler gave the order to destroy all the buildings in the city, preserving only the necessary infrastructure for defense. The Germans destroyed more than 80% of the city’s buildings.

The Red Army, which took up positions on the Vistula River, was building up its forces and conducting reconnaissance raids during the fall-winter of 1944-45, preparing for the offensive, which was scheduled for January 20, 1945.

# Novikov45 Our reconnaissance aircraft opened the enemy defenses beyond the Vistula to a depth of 500 km: 7 defenses. bands, 6 anti-tank. moats with a length of 20-60 km; identified areas of concentration of enemy reserves and artillery. In preparation for the offensive, 3,500 sorties were made.

On January 6, due to the unsuccessful development of events in the Ardennes for the anti-Hitler coalition, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin to begin a major operation in the coming days on the German-Soviet sector of the front.

• Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Right - Marshals Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov and Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky
• RIA News
• © RIA News

# Commander-in-Chief45 to Prime Minister W. Churchill: “We are preparing for the offensive, but the weather is not favorable. However, given the position of our allies on the Western Front, # Stavka VGK45 decided to launch widespread offensive operations against the Germans no later than the second half of January. ”

# Commander-in-Chief45 The British Prime Minister W. Churchill was promised: we will do our best to assist our glorious allied forces; open widespread offensive against the Germans throughout the center. front no later than the second half of January.

# The Commander-in-Chief45 W. Churchill wrote to me: “I am very grateful to you for your exciting message. I sent his gene. Eisenhower is for his personal information only. Let your noble enterprise be lucky! The message you have given me will greatly encourage the gene. Eisenhower. "

# Konev45 Just called on treble # Antonov45, said that our offensive should begin in 3 days, and not on January 20, due to the difficult situation of the Allies in the Ardennes. I realized that this was an order, and replied that I would fulfill it. This is not bravado, but a sober assessment of events: basically we are ready. pic.twitter.com/4VnZrdWSdt

The task of liberating Poland with access to the borders of Germany was assigned to the 1st Belorussian (commander — Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov) and the 1st Ukrainian Fronts (Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Konev), in which there were 2 million 200 thousand people, more than 32 thousand guns and mortars, about 6500 tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts and a little less than 5000 combat aircraft. This amounted to half the tanks and approximately one third of the guns and aircraft of the Red Army.

• Tanks entered the breakthrough on the bridgehead beyond the Vistula River. 1st Belorussian Front
• RIA News
• © Alexander Kapustyansky

The Warsaw-Poznan offensive operation was part of the Wisło-Oder operation. It started on January 14th.

# Headquarters VGK45 # 1 Bel45 under the command of # Zhukov45 begins the Warsaw-Poznan operation. Purpose: the dismemberment and subsequent defeat of the opposing forces of the Germans in parts, the liberation of the capital of Poland.

“On January 14, 1945, the 47th and 61st Soviet armies delivered a powerful blow to the enemy simultaneously. At six o’clock in the morning, the cavalry brigade and the 6th Polish Infantry Division also began intensive fire processing of the front line of their defense.

Then, when the units of the southern grouping of the 1st Polish Army, having driven the enemy away from Góra Kalvarya, went to Warsaw, the ulans had to join them and follow in the second echelon of the army, covering the joint between the 4th and 6th Polish infantry divisions. The circumstances, however, changed, and the Polish cavalry brigade played a more honorable and active role in the Warsaw operation, ”recalled Major General, commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Revived Polish Army, V. A. Radzivanovich.

# Zhukov45 In the morning there is fog in the area of ​​the upcoming breakthrough, the aircraft will not be able to work, it will be difficult for the gunners to correct the fire. But the commander of the 5th shock army, Berzarin, reported full readiness for the offensive.

# 1Bel45 1950 tanks and 1245 self-propelled guns are ready for the offensive. The offensive of the 5th shock army of Berzarin from the Magnushevsky bridgehead will be supported by 100 tanks and 126 self-propelled guns (of which 18 ISU-152 and 108 SU-76). Attack of the 8th Guards. armies will support 69 tanks and 165 self-propelled guns (41 ISU-152 and 124 SU-76).

# 1Bel45 Artillery training along the 1st line of the German defense lasted only 25 minutes, then the “fire rampart” began to roll inland, the advancing units went directly behind it. Enemy defense is struck to a depth of 6-8 km. The enemy did not expect attacks simultaneously with shelling. pic.twitter.com/kFrtxup87M

# 1Bel45 The Germans fled from the 1st line of defense by 10:00, unable to withstand the hurricane shelling and not expecting our attack to begin before it ends. Panic indentation. the enemy is ruthlessly destroyed. fire from machine guns and machine guns. Prisoners report the death of ¾ personnel in their units. pic.twitter.com/9rfYwP5yV1

# 1Bel45 Front troops with the forces of the 61st, 5th shock, 8th guards, 69th and 33rd armies, after artillery preparations lasting 1 hour 10 minutes, went on the offensive from the bridgeheads of the river. Wisla Northwest and south of the city of Demblin in the general direction of Radom, broke through the enemy’s defenses and advanced 12-18 km.

“By the morning of January 16, the resistance of the Germans on both flanks was broken by Soviet troops. Soviet tanks cut communications in the deep rear of the 9th German army. The enemy’s front wavered and hesitated. In fact, the Warsaw operation was already won by units of the Soviet Army. Realizing the impossibility of holding Warsaw, the Nazis began to gradually withdraw their garrisons from Lazenok, Zholiborz, Vloch and the city center, ”recalled Radzivanovich.

# 1Bel45 The assault on Warsaw began with artillery preparation at 7:55 a.m., then units of the 1st Army of the Polish Army ran across the Wisla broken by shells under the enemy’s chaotic fire and stormed the dam on the left bank. pic.twitter.com/6yMB3n2vsY

“The honor of entering the Polish capital was granted to the 1st Polish army, led by Lieutenant General S. G. Poplavsky. Her military operations were based on the results of the offensive of the main forces of the 1st Belorussian Front, Marshal G.K. Zhukov, which included the 1st Polish Army at that time. The main forces of the front were eager for Kutno, Lodz, having in front the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies M.E. Katukov and S.P. Bogdanov. After breaking through the defenses and defeating the opposing units of Army Group Center, they quickly went to the rear of the Warsaw group of enemy troops, ”writes S.M. Shtemenko.

# 1Bel45 Warsaw operation is developing more rapidly. This is facilitated by tank armies, having escaped into the operational space and wedging slice groups of enemy troops. The main thing now is the speed of advancement. The offensive is already taking the form of persecution in columns. pic.twitter.com/dTEwoMLUtB

# Zhukov45 Troops # 1Bel45 liberated the city of Radom. The German front on the section from the Nida River to the Pilica River is no longer a single entity. The 9th Wehrmacht Army, defending Warsaw, completely lost reserves.

# 1Bel45 Polish cavalry conquers Warsaw's districts and suburbs one after another. The 2nd Guards Tank Army made an 80-kilometer attack bypassing Warsaw from the south, crushing communications and causing panic among the rear German units.

“The southern outskirts of the city were cleared of Nazi warriors by soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Tank Brigade. Tanks with infantry on armor also broke through in the direction of the Main Station. The reference point was the skeleton of a burnt seventeen-story building - a Warsaw skyscraper. His skeleton with the flag that survived at the top with a swastika rose above the defeated Warsaw. Having thrown off the enemy flag, the Polish soldiers erected in its place the two-color banner of the national Poland. A fresh frosty wind unfolded the banner, and it fluttered high above the city, announcing the inhabitants of the long-awaited freedom, ”writes Lieutenant General of the 1st Polish Army S. G. Poplavsky.

# 1Bel45 The commander of the 1st Polish Army, General Poplavsky, sent a telegram to the Provisional Polish Government in Lublin: “Warsaw has been taken!”

LIGHTNING # SovInformBuro45 Attention! Says Moscow! Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front # 1Bel45, with the assistance of the 1st Army, Polish troops liberated the capital of Poland, the city of WARSAW! # TweetsWinning # PagesWinningpic.twitter.com / 8Srd1yXHGn

“We are walking along the streets of Warsaw. Smoke swirls over ruined buildings, stands haze above the ashes. On Marshalkovskaya street and Erozolimsk alley, the skeletons of palaces and houses turn black. Residents resembling shadows began to appear. They went out uncertainly, looking fearfully. They have bloodless faces, mournful looks, ”recalls Poplavsky.

In the evening of January 17, Moscow solemnly saluted the Soviet and Polish soldiers with twenty-four artillery salvoes.

• Warsaw, 1945

Warsaw underwent sophisticated destruction. The Germans did not leave a single building intact, they mined the relatively surviving buildings and even the ruins.

“Traces of human casualties were visible throughout the city. The bodies of the tortured and torn were found in ditches and sewers. The attitude of the residents of the city towards the soldiers of the Red Army is joyful, friendly, but wary, since the fascist propaganda presented the Soviet warrior as a barbarian whose goal was to rob and kill, ”the political note of the First Belarusian Front on life in Warsaw says.

“Listening to the stories of the atrocities committed by the German fascists during the occupation and especially before the retreat, it was difficult to even understand the psychology and moral character of the enemy troops. The Polish soldiers and officers were especially hard hit by the destruction of Warsaw. I saw how war-hardened soldiers cried and took an oath to punish the enemy who had lost his human form. As for the Soviet soldiers, we were all fierce to the extreme and determined to punish the Nazis hard for all the atrocities ... ”, writes Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov in his memoirs.

The liberation of Warsaw was of great strategic importance and a very high price in human losses. The Red Army was able to expel the Nazis from Poland and establish a bridgehead for an attack on Germany. About 600 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers died in the battles for the liberation of Poland.

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