Evening star., 1955-05-18

w Of SOW VtOSSQ&TC ~
With reference to the column
of May 2 by Dorothy Thompson
entitled WARSAW Massacre
In Memoriam," it seems ap-
pirate to recall another tragedy
of Warsaw which followed the
first one by some IS months
the Insurrection of Warsaw OF
August October, 1914, when
the earnest desire of the
Polish people to regain free
dom and control of their land
precipitated a deadly combat
with the occupying Nazis. /
saw the horror of both battles
and survived to tell their story.
In the Warsaw uprising of
1914, the Poles took to arms in
the spirit of "Give me liberty
or give me death" Odds were
heavy, but there seemed to be
a good chance for success. The
Soviet army had reached
Praga. a suburb of Warsaw on
the eastern bank of the Wis
tula River, and even had es-
tabiished a bridgehead on its
western bank. Partly disinte-
grating German divisions were
in hasty retreat. Nazi admins
traitors and police fed War
saw in panic. Polish combat
units swept the entire city,
underground army reinforce
ments and supplies were being
rushed from the neighboring
provinces. All that was needed
for a complete Warsaw victory
was single local Soviet push.
But that was not in accord
ance with Soviet plans. The
success of the Warsaw upris-
ing would spread and enco'ir-
age the flame most dreaded by
the Germans-guerrilla war
fare throughout Poland and
neighboring occupied coun-
tries. Moreover, it would en-
tail recognition by the Soviets
of Polish and other genuine
and representative govern
ments and combat forces. And
this was the last thing the
Soviets were prepared to do,
accept the role of co-liberators.
Such an action would wreck
their already-made plans for
enslavement of the present
satellite states.
So the Soviet Army led by
General Rokossovsky (who
later ironically was designated
by Stain as war minister for
his puppet Polish regime) sud-
denly halted it's operations by
Moscow orders and even tenn
porarily withdrew from the
Warsaw suburbs, thus leaving
the fighting Poles victims of
the furious and undisturbed
onslaught of the NaZis, who
had caught their breath after
the initial shock and rightly
interpreted the Russian ma
neuver.
In vain Churchill and Roose-
velt tried to make Stain
change. his attitude and aid the
embattled Poles. Even air
bases in the Soviet-held Polish
territory were denied to the
Polish and Allied planes which
thus were compelled to operate
from distant Italian and Eng
lish bases, suffering heavy
losses while trying to bring re-
lief to Warsaw. Across the Wis
tula lay the idle Soviet Army
watching Warsaw in flames.
Over 100 American superforts
one day in September filled the
ai1 with their drone and glitter
as they dropped supplies. The
sky was beautiful, dotted with
chutes of all colors. They drew
the German fire thus bringing
temporary relief to besieged.
The fight was high, however,
and the area then held too
small to receive all supplies
dropped. Much fell into en-
emy hands. Even so, it revived
the spirits and hopes of the
Poles for weeks. But, still the
Soviets would not move
Thus Warsaw was doomed to
its fate, broken by bombs and
blasted into separate sectors,
which collapsed one after an
other under the heaviest of
blows by modern means of de-
struction So burned and died
all that was left of the proud
and beautiful capital-heart of
the Polish land, the Paris of
central Europe, Thus fell the
center of our sister republic;
and Poland's hope for freedom
was frustrated again!
Some 100, 900 people perished
in that battle; the remnant
Of the Underground Army
marched out with sorrowful
triumph in their hearts TO Ger
man imprisonment. Those who
survived captivity had no free
homeland to which they could