Above: Warsaw, Poland, 6 December 2019. Monument to the Warsaw Insurgents. Monument on the square in front of the Supreme Court in Warsaw. (Click image to expand)

Right: Warsaw, Poland, September, 1944. German soldiers fighting the Polish resistance at Theater Square. (Click image to expand)

The Uprising was a major World War II event let by the Polish Home Army against German occupation forces. The battle coincided with the German retreat as the Soviet Red Army's advance to the edge of the city halted. The Red Army stopped ground  operations long enough for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe to ultimately crush the Polish resistance after 63 days of fighting. Historians estimate between 15,000-16,000 Polish fighters died and over 150,000-200,000 civilians became casualties. Estimates of German losses were up to 17,000 killed or missing. (Meng, 2011, p.63)

Left: Warsaw, Poland, September, 1944. Home Army soldiers from Kolegium "A" of Kedyw formation on Stawki Street in the Wola District. (Click image to expand)

In Halik Kochanski's The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, the author writes that upon hearing of the uprising, Hitler issued "an order to 'raze Warsaw completely' from the air, using the Luftwaffe present on the Eastern Front." (Kochanski, 2012, p. 406) Himmler and Guderian advised this would result in mass German casualties, and were ordered to kill everyone--no prisoners. "The SS units were responsible for terrible atrocities in the suburb of Wola, where they went from house to house pulling out all inhabitants regardless of age or sex and slaughtering them." (Kochanski, Ibid.) The author notes that "on one day alone, 'Black Saturday', 5 August, it is estimated  that 40,000 civilians were murdered." (Kochanski, Ibid.)

Right: August 1944, Warsaw, Poland. Rare Agfacolor photo (invention from 1936) dated August 1944 taken in the Old Town Market Place (Zakrzewski's Side) during the fight of Poles against the German Nazis. Author Ewa Faryaszewska was corporal in Polish Home Army and shot 31 color photos during the Warsaw Uprising. This photo was not colorized.(Click image to expand)