Warsaw, the capital of Poland, destroyed by German Nazis, January 1945. Public Domain (Wikipedia)
On 2 October 1944 the Warsaw Uprising came to an end with the surrender of surviving Polish rebels to German forces. The uprising began two months earlier when the Red Army was approaching Warsaw. The rebels supported the Polish government-in-exile and hoped to gain control of the city before the Soviets arrived. They did not want the Russians to gain the city and establish a communist regime in Poland.
While the rebels had initial gains, they were poorly supplied. Hitler sent reinforcements and the rebels and German soldiers engaged in brutal street fights. The Red Army did take a suburb of Warsaw but proceeded no further. Stalin ordered the Red Army not to assist the rebels and denied a request to use their airbases to supply the rebels. This would be remembered down the road by the Polish people. Both Churchill and Roosevelt asked for his assistance. Churchill, without Soviet approval, had supplies dropped by the RAF, the South African Air Force, and the Polish Air Force. Stalin finally relented and gave air clearance for the U.S. Army Air Force to make supply drops. However, it was too late by the time the supplies came.
Out of arms, supplies and food, there was no choice. After 63 days, they had no choice but to surrender. In retaliation for this uprising, the remaining population of Warsaw was deported. The Polish people were always meant to be eradicated as were the Jews. Plans had been drawn up before the war to turn Poland into a German colony. Warsaw was to be Germanized. Once the remaining population was deported, German destruction of Warsaw was sped up. They had started after the earlier Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Using flamethrowers and explosives, special teams went to work destroying whole neighborhoods, historical monuments, archives, and any place of interest.
By January 1945, 85% of the buildings in Warsaw were gone. Approximately 25% was done during the Warsaw Uprising. The losses are staggering to consider:
10,455 buildings
923 historical buildings (94% of these were destroyed)
25 churches
14 libraries which includes the National Library
81 schools
64 high schools
The University of Warsaw and Warsaw University of Technology
Of course, prior to these all-Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were seized, looted and destroyed as well.
Aftermath
The Soviets took the position that the rebels did not coordinate their plans with them. Of course, the chief reason they did not aid them is that they supported the democratic Polish government-in-exile in London. And Stalin was not interested in supporting them. His goal had been before the war to allow the west to fight themselves to exhaustion allowing for the Soviet Union to expand in their direction. Those that led the uprising and members of the Home Army were persecuted by the Soviets after the war. They were arrested, tried, and deported to Soviet gulags. They had a show trial, not unlike ones during the Great Purge, where confessions were introduced to show they were actually in league with the Germans!
Fortunately, those captured by the Germans and freed by American-British forces were spared this. Stalin and his propaganda machine twisted the facts to show the failings of the Home Army and the Polish government-in-exile. All criticism of the Red Army and Soviet Union by Polish people were forbidden. All references to the Home Army were censored, all books and movies on the Warsaw Uprising were either banned or edited out the Home Army. When that did not work, they made the Home Army soldiers into heroes that were betrayed by their corrupt officers. This would remain in effect until the 1980’s with the rise of Solidarity that challenged the Soviet backed regime. It was not until 1989 that a monument was built in Poland.
Warsaw Uprising Monument Source: Dhirad 2004
In the West, stories of the heroism of the Home Army were told. They were valiant heroes fighting against the Germans. The Soviets were criticized for their non-involvement and that it helped them get rid of partisans that would have opposed them. Despite all the official censorship that existed, many Poles knew what happened and led to growing anti-Soviet sentiment that manifested into the Polish labor movement Solidarity. This peaceful movement in the 1980’s would effect change in Poland and later, as the days of the Soviet Union waned, Poland would gain back the freedom it had lost in 1939.
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[This was updated for 2024 correcting for grammar, punctuation, and revising source information and details.]
On 8 Sep 1941, German forces began their siege of Leningrad that would last 872 days making it one of the most grueling sieges in modern warfare. Let’s find out more about it.
The fire of anti-aircraft guns deployed in the neighborhood of St. Isaac’s cathedral during the defense of Leningrad (now called St. Petersburg, its pre-Soviet name) in 1941. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Leningrad (formerly known as St. Petersburg and capital of Russia before the Communist takeover in 1918), was a major industrial center and the Soviet Union’s second largest city. When Germany in June 1941, many of the city’s industrial plants and inhabitants were relocated far to the east to prevent capture. Two million were left behind though to face the rapidly moving German army. Everyone who could lift a shovel (men, women, and children) were conscripted to build anti-tank fortifications around the city’s edge. The railway to Moscow was cut off at the end of July by German forces and they were starting to penetrate the outer fortifications of the city. On 8 September, German forces began besieging the city but were held back by the fortifications and the tenacity of the defenders, some 200,000 Red Army soldiers. German bombers destroyed a warehouse containing food making life more difficult for the defenders.
Germans next moved to seal off the remaining highways and rail lines south of the city. Finnish forces joined the Germans by coming down the Karelian Isthmus in the north so that by November the entire city was encircled. German bombings intensified with raids several times a day. Most people were reduced to eating one slice of bread per day and starvation was rampant. One of the coldest winters on record would set in as well adding to the misery of the inhabitants. Many continued to work to produce arms to help defeat the Germans despite the lack of food and warmth as well. Just about anything that could be burned for heat was used from books to furniture. Pets (dogs and cats) were eaten along with animals from the city zoo. Wallpaper paste was used for food and leather boiled to make an edible jelly. Plants, grasses and weeds were put to use to produce vitamin supplements. Cannabilizing the dead was a major issue resulting in the Leningrad police department having a special unit to handle it.
Some supplies were able to be brought in over Lake Ladoga, but it was very small and not enough to alleviate the conditions in the city. Some were evacuated-mostly elderly and children-but many were unable to leave and starved and or froze to death. In June 1943 the Soviet Army was able break through the German blockade and establish a better supply line along the shores of Lake Ladoga. The city was kept alive through this and later an oil pipeline and electric cables were connected to the city despite the ongoing siege. When spring came in 1943, land was put to use so that by summer produce could be grown. The siege would end when the Soviet Army forced the German army to retreat in January 1944. The siege ended but the human toll was enormous. Over a million died. Survivors got the Order of Lenin in 1945. The population of Leningrad (now renamed to St. Petersburg) did not regain its former population of three million until the 1960’s.
St. Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad?
St. Petersburg was found in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great and named after the apostle St. Peter. Until 1918, it served as capital of the Russian Empire when it was moved by the Bolsheviks to Moscow. The city was both a cultural center as well as the capital in old Russia. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the city was renamed Petrograd because of the strong anti-German sentiment and the fact its name contained two German words. In 1924 after Lenin’s death, the city was renamed for him, Leningrad. In 1991 a public referendum approved the renaming of the city back to St. Petersburg. The city is a major tourist destination owing to its cultural and historical significance. An old guidebook reminds the city is spread out, so be prepared to spend time going to and from the various historical sites. Summers can be warm and sometimes rainy (bring waterproof jackets and something to wear if it gets chilly as well). Winters are cold, so bring cold gear. Surprisingly St. Petersburg is not as cold as Moscow during the winter.
St. Petersburg, Russia. View from the visitor’s gallery at the Colonnade of the St. Isaac’s Cathedral. 2012 A.Savin via Wikimedia Commons
On 23 August 1939 it was announced that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression treaty. The announcement was a complete surprise since Hitler had both in his writings and public speaking had denounced Communism and the Soviet Union. So why did this happen and what were its effects? Let’s find out.
Map of Europe and Western Asia in 1923 after World War I. Image via Wikimedia Commons
Both Germany and Russia had suffered in World War I. Germany was defeated by the Allies, lost its monarchy and colonial territories, and was ordered to pay huge reparations per the Versailles Treaty. Russia had gotten into the war to protect Serbia but was ill-equipped for a major war due to its limited resources and industrial capability. It suffered humiliating defeats during the war and its people suffered with reduced goods and services. This fed to unrest which led to Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate and allow a more democratic government to take over. Alas, that did not last as it continued in the war despite its unpopularity. This allowed the Communists, led by Lenin (who had been sent back to the country by Germany to foment chaos) to seize power and overturn the entire social and political structure of the country. In Germany, after a decade of vacillating leadership and discontent over inflation and Germany’s loss of status in the world, Adolf Hitler would lead the Nazi Party to victory after he was given the chancellorship in in 1933. Both Germany and Russia (now called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or just Soviet Union), were led by authoritarian governments that ruled with an iron fist.
The Soviet Union in its early days sought a promised world-wide revolution that never happened causing its leader Lenin and later Stalin to realize that building up the country first was needed before worldwide revolution. Hitler and the Nazi’s had a different view as they wanted to expand their country and restore pride in Germany. A new Germany was being formed with a clear ideology they were the people that would lead to change Europe and the world. By 1939, Germany was making its moves in Europe by invading Czechoslovakia. In 1938, they demanded and got a piece of Czechoslovakia when Britain and France, desperate to avoid war, forced Czechoslovakia to accept the deal breaking a treaty they had signed to defend it. Germany also annexed Austria that year as well uniting both countries. The invasion of Czechoslovakia told Britain and France that Hitler would not honor his agreements.
On the Russian side, Stalin had instituted programs to industrialize the country, but his brutal dictatorship had resulted in people being denounced, tried, and either imprisoned for years or executed. A climate of fear existed and not knowing whether someone had denounced you in secret made you wonder if you would come home that night. The Great Purge of 1936-1938 saw its officer corps depleted. The German Gestapo, feeding on Stalin’s paranoia, used the situation to use create documents that implicated many in the officer corps but also in government as well. The era became known for its show trials where the accused would be brought in, tried of a crime they didn’t commit, and faced imprisonment or death depending on the severity of the charge. Those who had become important members of government or close to Stalin that had been purged would be removed from the public record as well. Photos were retouched to show they were no longer walking, standing, or near Stalin or other people.
Stalin looked at expanding the Soviet Union by stealth or force into Europe. He hoped the war between the European nations would so weaken them so he could achieve his aims. Poland was, like Czechoslovakia a means to an end for both powers. Germany’s racial theory held the Polish people were, like the Jews, to be eliminated. For all the bad reasons, both Hitler and Stalin would come to terms and agree to a treaty that divided Poland into two spheres. Secret protocols to the pact indicated the demarcation lines and other things as well. The countries of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland were secretly divided up as well giving both Germany and the Soviet Union access to raw materials. This allowed Hitler to invade Poland in September. Russia would move to claim its share of Poland, which the German military was not quite happy about since in some areas they had to withdraw back to the lines agreed to in the secret protocols.
“Nothing more unbelievable could be imagined. Astonishment and skepticism turned quickly to consternation and alarm”. (Gunther, John (1940). Inside Europe. New York: Harper & Brothers.)
Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking hands over the newly signed pact between Germany and Soviet Union. August 23,1939 Source: German Federal Archive
The news of the agreement, popularly called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, stunned the world. No one expected that Hitler would make a deal with Stalin. There had been some leaks suggesting of it, but no one thought it credible this would occur. The British and French had been in negotiations with the Soviets for months and were blindsided. Soviet propaganda heralded the agreement while others questioned secret protocols that were signed. Italy and the U.S. were given some limited information about them, but the full details were not disclosed. Soviet propaganda downplayed the previous attacks on Germany and Molotov himself made it clear they harbored no ill will. Nazi propaganda also had to do an about face as well. The Nazi’s had shut down the German Communist Party, imprisoned its leaders, and shut down its press. And they had nothing good to say about the Soviet Union either. Now they had to say everything was good with the hated Communist state.
Meanwhile the Baltic States began to worry how the rumored secret protocols would soon impact them. British and French attempts to meet with the Soviet negotiator over the agreement were rebuffed. Hitler said that with the treaty in place Britain should recognize Germany’s claims over Poland since it changed the situation from that of World War I. Instead, and to the German leader’s surprise, Britain announced a defense pact with Poland on 25 August 1939. Needless to say, Poland now realized it was being divided up by the two powers and war was coming.
How Central Europe would be divided up according the agreement. And what actually happened before Germany broke the treaty and attacked the Soviet Union. Author: Peter Hanula via Wikimedia Commons
The British and French governments had reached their end with Hitler; they no longer trusted him. In both countries the appeasement supporters diminished as reality set in that war was most certainly coming now with Germany. Neville Chamberlain, the chief supporter of the Munich Agreement a year before to avoid war, now realized his failure. He made it clear to Germany it would stand by Britain’s agreement to defend Poland. Hitler considered Chamberlain a fool and ordered the military to invade Poland as planned. The only question the Germans really had was whether those powers would do anything while they were attacking Poland. Both the British and French declared war on Germany when it invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 but took no immediate military action. It was a mistake that would prove costly for both countries later.
Aftermath
Stalin gambled that Hitler would focus on Europe and not on Russia. His goal was to build up the Soviet Union for war or to move in when his forces had subverted the country they wanted to take. Like many (including the German military high command) a two-front war was to be avoided. All of that went out of the window when Hitler decided he would invade Russia in 1941 under Operation Barbarossa. The goal of the operation was to remove and execute the leadership of Russia, take control of Russia, and make it a place for German resettlement. Stalin was not prepared for war and had discounted warnings Germany was about to invade as an attempt to get Russia to scuttle the treaty. Germany got the initial success and took territory easily defeating the military forces it encountered. However, they never took Moscow despite being twenty miles from it. And as time went on, faced more stiffer resistance and a military helped by American military equipment sent to help Russia defeat Hitler.
A vicious war broke out between the German and Russian forces creating now an Eastern Front that began to demand more resources than initially thought needed. The Soviet Union was getting supplies from the Allies using the dangerous North Atlantic to Murmansk route. And when the Allies landed in Europe in June 1944, this caused even more strain already on the limited resources Germany had. The Soviet troops started pushing back and ultimately forced Germany into retreat and ultimately to Berlin in 1945 where Hitler would commit suicide rather than be captured.
Stalin though did achieve his war aims in the end. Now with their troops in Poland and throughout Central Europe in countries they had liberated from Nazi rule, they would undermine the return of its former governments and subverted their political structure to ensure Communists would take charge. Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia all came to be controlled by the Soviet Union through governments that were installed and supported by them. It gave them access to sources of raw materials they had not had before and created a buffer around Russia. For people that had survived living under the yoke of Nazi controlled governments, it was simply swapping out one ideology for another with the same type of tyranny running things. Yugoslavia under Tito did break away from Moscow (he was fiercely independent but Communist) but that was about it.
The Iron Curtain, in black. Countries to the East of it are noted in Red and Warsaw Pact countries. NATO countries are blue, neutral states gray. Green depicts Yugoslavia which broke away from Moscow in 1948. Albania also had its own split starting in 1961 and in 1968 withdrew from the Pact but remained Communist. While a small part of Austria was occupied by the Soviet Union from 1945-1955, it did not join the Warsaw Pact and declared its neutrality. The small black dot in East Germany indicates West Berlin which was circled with the infamous Berlin Wall starting in 1961. Image: Sémhur via Wikimedia Commons
Until the fall of Communism began in 1991, these countries would remain either directly or indirectly controlled by Moscow through their governments. Some countries such as Czechoslovakia would break up (Czech Republic and Slovakia) after Communism ended. Yugoslavia would also break up as well into Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Romania had the most violent uprising (Poland had strikes that forced out the Communists) that ended with its leader being executed in the end. East Germany would be unified with West Germany ending the separation that had begun in 1945.
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Rare Agfacolor photo (invention from 1936) dated August 1944 taken in Warsaw, Poland in the Old Town Market Place during Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 Ewa Faryaszewska (1920-1944) Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
On 1 Aug 1944 Poles in Warsaw launched a major uprising against the Nazi occupation. The Soviet Army had advanced to the Vistula River on the eastern suburb of Warsaw prompting the revolt. Polish General Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, commander of the Home Army (an underground resistance group of around 40,000). The Home Army had ties to the government-in-exile in London, which was anti-communist. The hope was to gain at least partial control of Warsaw before the Soviets arrived.
By this time, the German Army had been pushed back considerably from its gains in Russia. And their taking Warsaw seemed likely. Despite this, Adolf Hitler ordered that the uprising be suppressed at all costs. The Nazi SS directed the defense force and engaged in brutal street fighting. The Polish Home Army fought back hard despite having limited supplies and no support from the Soviet Army (which cause friction between Poland and the Soviet Union for years).
The Red Army did capture several bridgeheads across the Vistula River in preparation to take Warsaw but held back doing anything more. Only under intense pressure from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin Roosevelt did Stalin relent and allow Allies to drop supplies to the rebels. But it was too late as by that time, both the rebels and the citizens ran out of food, supplies, and medical supplies. The uprising came to an end on 2 October when the remaining forces surrendered. The revolt had lasted 63 days but the cost for both sides was high. An estimated three-fourths of the Home Army died along with 200,000 civilians. The Germans suffered 10,000 dead, 9,000 wounded, and 7,000 missing. In keeping with their dislike of the Polish people (they were seen as just a notch above the Jews but were slated for either slavery or death by the Nazis) the survivors were deported.
Deploying demolition squads, most of the remaining intact buildings in Warsaw would be destroyed over the next several months. All of Warsaw’s treasures were looted, burned, or destroyed. Meanwhile the Red Army sitting outside Warsaw did nothing to stop the Germans. They would not move until January 1945 when their final offensive was launched. On 17 January 1945, the ruins of Warsaw were liberated by the Soviets who faced little or no opposition. Thus, making it easy for them to establish a Communist state in Poland. After suffering from Nazi occupation, the Polish people would suffer a longer one under the Communists.
The fire of anti-aircraft guns deployed in the neighborhood of St. Isaac’s cathedral during the defense of Leningrad (now called St. Petersburg, its pre-Soviet name) in 1941. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
After German troops invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, one of their top cities to take control of was Leningrad (former St. Petersburg, then Petrograd). As the second largest city in the Soviet Union (and its capital under the Tsar’s), it held significant importance. In August 1941, German troops surrounded the city so nothing could get in or out. This also cut off the Leningrad-Moscow railway. The residents built anti-tank fortifications and defended the city with the resources they had. Hitler decided to wait them out in a siege hoping to break down the will of the residents. Some limited supplies were able to get in but not enough for all its residents. Starvation, disease, and injuries mounted up. They did manage to evacuate about a million elderly and young people out of the city but that left 2 million to deal with the dire situation.
Food was rationed and any open space was used to plant food. On 12 January 1943, Soviet troops punched a hole rupturing the German siege allowing supplies to come in one Lake Ledoga. A Soviet counteroffensive on 27 Jan 1944 brought the siege to a complete end after 872 days. The Russian army lost, captured or missing 1,017,881 and 2,418,185 wounded or sick. 642,000 civilians died during the siege and, 400,000 during evacuations.
Fire at the corner of Lönnrot and Abraham Streets after the first bombing of Helsinki during the Winter War 30 Nov 1939 Source:Military Museum,Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture
On 30 November 1939, in what later be called the Winter War, the Soviet Union invaded neighboring Finland. The objectives were both strategic and territorial. Under the (secret)terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in August, Finland was placed into their sphere of influence. Prior to the invasion, the Soviet Union wanted Finland to cede land that would provide more security for Leningrad (formerly known as St. Petersburg, changed to Petrograd during World War I, and renamed Leningrad in 1924 after Lenin’s death).
Everyone, including the Russians, believed it would be easy. The Soviet Union had more troops and aircraft. It was expected the Finns would easily surrender. It did not turn out that way at all. After the initial attack and bombing of Helsinki where 61 would die, the Finns instead showed remarkable resistance. The Finnish government used pictures of the raid showing women with dead babies and those crippled by the bombings to engender sympathy from the outside world and to generate the Finnish resistance to the Russians. The Soviet Army, dressed in summer clothing as winter started to set in, quickly realized they were facing stiff opposition. President Roosevelt extended $10 million in credit to Finland (they paid it back after the war). The League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union for its invasion.
The Soviet Union though reorganized and came with different tactics in February 1940. Finnish defenses were overcome and resistance, though still strong, was up against a better organized Soviet Army this time. In March 1940 the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed. The Soviet Union got what it initially demanded and more as well. Finland’s sovereignty was preserved but it came at a cost for the Soviet Union. Most Western governments considered the Soviet Red Army as poorly led.
Aftermath
Hitler and his generals viewed the Red Army as weak and that an attack on it would be successful. They would invade Russia in June 1941. Finland though would go to war with the Soviet Union. as well. There are different views as to why but generally it was to get back the land lost in the peace treaty of 1940. Unfortunately, a faction of Finnish military and political leaders decided to work closely with the German Wehrmacht for a joint attack. While never signing formally the Tripartite Pact that made them an ally of Nazi Germany, the did sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. This pact signed by Germany, Japan and other countries created an alliance against the Soviet Union.
Finland would retake the territories given to Russia but continued on. They participated in the siege of Leningrad by cutting its northern supply. The Soviet Army would eventually push them back and a ceasefire was called on 5 September 1944. The resulting agreement would require the expulsion or disarming of German troops in their territory. Under pressure from the Soviets to expel German forces, Finnish troops fired on German soldiers resulting in exchanges between the two. By November 1944 nearly all German troops had withdrawn. With the end of the war in 1945, the borders were restored to the 1940 treaty. Finland had to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union. Since they fought with Germany, they had to accept responsibility for their part in the war and acknowledge they had been a German ally.
Warsaw, the capital of Poland, destroyed by German Nazis, January 1945. Public Domain (Wikipedia)
On 2 October 1944 the Warsaw Uprising came to an end with the surrender of surviving Polish rebels to German forces. The uprising began two months earlier when the Red Army was approaching Warsaw. The rebels supported the Polish government-in-exile and hoped to gain control of the city before the Soviets arrived. They did not want the Russians to gain the city and establish a communist regime in Poland.
While the rebels had initial gains, they were poorly supplied. Hitler sent reinforcements and the rebels and German soldiers engaged in brutal street fights. The Red Army did take a suburb of Warsaw but proceeded no further. Stalin ordered the Red Army not to assist the rebels and denied a request to use their airbases to supply the rebels. This would be remembered down the road by the Polish people. Both Churchill and Roosevelt asked for his assistance. Churchill, without Soviet approval, had supplies dropped by the RAF, the South African Air Force, and the Polish Air Force. Stalin finally relented and gave air clearance for the U.S. Army Air Force to make supply drops. However, it was too late by the time the supplies came.
Out of arms, supplies and food, there was no choice. After 63 days, they had no choice but to surrender. In retaliation for this uprising, the remaining population of Warsaw was deported. The Polish people were always meant to be eradicated as were the Jews. Plans had been drawn up before the war to turn Poland into a German colony. Warsaw was to be Germanized. Once the remaining population was deported, German destruction of Warsaw was sped up. They had started after the earlier Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Using flamethrowers and explosives, special teams went to work destroying whole neighborhoods, historical monuments, archives, and any place of interest.
By January 1945, 85% of the buildings in Warsaw were gone. Approximately 25% was done during the Warsaw Uprising. The losses are staggering to consider:
10,455 buildings
923 historical buildings (94% of these were destroyed)
25 churches
14 libraries which includes the National Library
81 schools
64 high schools
The University of Warsaw and Warsaw University of Technology
Of course, prior to these all-Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were seized, looted and destroyed as well.
Aftermath
The Soviets took the position that the rebels did not coordinate their plans with them. Of course, the chief reason they did not aid them is that they supported the democratic Polish government-in-exile in London. And Stalin was not interested in supporting them. His goal had been before the war to allow the west to fight themselves to exhaustion allowing for the Soviet Union to expand in their direction. Those that led the uprising and members of the Home Army were persecuted by the Soviets after the war. They were arrested, tried, and deported to Soviet gulags. They had a show trial, not unlike ones during the Great Purge, where confessions were introduced to show they were actually in league with the Germans!
Fortunately, those captured by the Germans and freed by American-British forces were spared this. Stalin and his propaganda machine twisted the facts to show the failings of the Home Army and the Polish government-in-exile. All criticism of the Red Army and Soviet Union by Polish people were forbidden. All references to the Home Army were censored, all books and movies on the Warsaw Uprising were either banned or edited out the Home Army. When that did not work, they made the Home Army soldiers into heroes that were betrayed by their corrupt officers. This would remain in effect until the 1980’s with the rise of Solidarity that challenged the Soviet backed regime. It was not until 1989 that a monument was built in Poland.
Warsaw Uprising Monument Source: Dhirad 2004
In the West, stories of the heroism of the Home Army were told. They were valiant heroes fighting against the Germans. The Soviets were criticized for their non-involvement and that it helped them get rid of partisans that would have opposed them. Despite all the official censorship that existed, many Poles knew what happened and led to growing anti-Soviet sentiment that manifested into the Polish labor movement Solidarity. This peaceful movement in the 1980’s would effect change in Poland and later, as the days of the Soviet Union waned, Poland would gain back the freedom it had lost in 1939.
Rare Agfacolor photo (invention from 1936) dated August 1944 taken in Warsaw, Poland in the Old Town Market Place during Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 Ewa Faryaszewska (1920-1944) Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
On 1 Aug 1944 Poles in Warsaw launched a major uprising against the Nazi occupation. The Soviet Army had advanced to the Vistula River on the eastern suburb of Warsaw prompting the revolt. Polish General Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, commander of the Home Army (an underground resistance group of around 40,000). The Home Army had ties to the government-in-exile in London, which was anti-communist. The hope was to gain at least partial control of Warsaw before the Soviets arrived.
By this time, the German Army had been pushed back considerably from its gains in Russia. And their taking Warsaw seemed likely. Despite this, Adolf Hitler ordered that the uprising be suppressed at all costs. The Nazi SS directed the defense force and engaged in brutal street fighting. The Polish Home Army fought back hard despite having limited supplies and no support from the Soviet Army (which cause friction between Poland and the Soviet Union for years).
The Red Army did capture several bridgeheads across the Vistula River in preparation to take Warsaw but held back doing anything more. Only under intense pressure from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin Roosevelt did Stalin relent and allow Allies to drop supplies to the rebels. But it was too late as by that time, both the rebels and the citizens ran out of food, supplies, and medical supplies. The uprising came to an end on 2 October when the remaining forces surrendered. The revolt had lasted 63 days but the cost for both sides was high. An estimated three-fourths of the Home Army died along with 200,000 civilians. The Germans suffered 10,000 dead, 9,000 wounded, and 7,000 missing. In keeping with their dislike of the Polish people (they were seen as just a notch above the Jews but were slated for either slavery or death by the Nazis) the survivors were deported.
Deploying demolition squads, most of the remaining intact buildings in Warsaw would be destroyed over the next several months. All of Warsaw’s treasures were looted, burned, or destroyed. Meanwhile the Red Army sitting outside Warsaw did nothing to stop the Germans. They would not move until January 1945 when their final offensive was launched. On 17 January 1945, the ruins of Warsaw were liberated by the Soviets who faced little or no opposition. Thus, making it easy for them to establish a Communist state in Poland. After suffering from Nazi occupation, the Polish people would suffer a longer one under the Communists.
The fire of anti-aircraft guns deployed in the neighborhood of St. Isaac’s cathedral during the defense of Leningrad (now called St. Petersburg, its pre-Soviet name) in 1941. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
After German troops invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, one of their top cities to take control of was Leningrad (former St. Petersburg, then Petrograd). As the second largest city in the Soviet Union (and its capital under the Tsar’s), it held significant importance. In August 1941, German troops surrounded the city so nothing could get in or out. This also cut off the Leningrad-Moscow railway. The residents built anti-tank fortifications and defended the city with the resources they had. Hitler decided to wait them out in a siege hoping to break down the will of the residents. Some limited supplies were able to get in but not enough for all its residents. Starvation, disease, and injuries mounted up. They did manage to evacuate about a million elderly and young people out of the city but that left 2 million to deal with the dire situation.
Food was rationed and any open space was used to plant food. On 12 January 1943, Soviet troops punched a hole rupturing the German siege allowing supplies to come in one Lake Ledoga. A Soviet counteroffensive on 27 Jan 1944 brought the siege to a complete end after 872 days. The Russian army lost, captured or missing 1,017,881 and 2,418,185 wounded or sick. 642,000 civilians died during the siege and, 400,000 during evacuations.
Fire at the corner of Lönnrot and Abraham Streets after the first bombing of Helsinki during the Winter War 30 Nov 1939 Source:Military Museum,Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture
On 30 November 1939, in what later be called the Winter War, the Soviet Union invaded neighboring Finland. The objectives were both strategic and territorial. Under the (secret)terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in August, Finland was placed into their sphere of influence. Prior to the invasion, the Soviet Union wanted Finland to cede land that would provide more security for Leningrad (formerly known as St. Petersburg, changed to Petrograd during World War I, and renamed Leningrad in 1924 after Lenin’s death).
Everyone, including the Russians, believed it would be easy. The Soviet Union had more troops and aircraft. It was expected the Finns would easily surrender. It did not turn out that way at all. After the initial attack and bombing of Helsinki where 61 would die, the Finns instead showed remarkable resistance. The Finnish government used pictures of the raid showing women with dead babies and those crippled by the bombings to engender sympathy from the outside world and to generate the Finnish resistance to the Russians. The Soviet Army, dressed in summer clothing as winter started to set in, quickly realized they were facing stiff opposition. President Roosevelt extended $10 million in credit to Finland (they paid it back after the war). The League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union for its invasion.
The Soviet Union though reorganized and came with different tactics in February 1940. Finnish defenses were overcome and resistance, though still strong, was up against a better organized Soviet Army this time. In March 1940 the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed. The Soviet Union got what it initially demanded and more as well. Finland’s sovereignty was preserved but it came at a cost for the Soviet Union. Most Western governments considered the Soviet Red Army as poorly led.
Aftermath
Hitler and his generals viewed the Red Army as weak and that an attack on it would be successful. They would invade Russia in June 1941. Finland though would go to war with the Soviet Union. as well. There are different views as to why but generally it was to get back the land lost in the peace treaty of 1940. Unfortunately, a faction of Finnish military and political leaders decided to work closely with the German Wehrmacht for a joint attack. While never signing formally the Tripartite Pact that made them an ally of Nazi Germany, the did sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. This pact signed by Germany, Japan and other countries created an alliance against the Soviet Union.
Finland would retake the territories given to Russia but continued on. They participated in the siege of Leningrad by cutting its northern supply. The Soviet Army would eventually push them back and a ceasefire was called on 5 September 1944. The resulting agreement would require the expulsion or disarming of German troops in their territory. Under pressure from the Soviets to expel German forces, Finnish troops fired on German soldiers resulting in exchanges between the two. By November 1944 nearly all German troops had withdrawn. With the end of the war in 1945, the borders were restored to the 1940 treaty. Finland had to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union. Since they fought with Germany, they had to accept responsibility for their part in the war and acknowledge they had been a German ally.
