page_title: Warsaw Uprising
section_title: Capitulation
hierarchical_section_title: Warsaw Uprising / Aftermath / Capitulation
caption_attribution_description: English: Firing Warsaw house by house by German firing units during and after the Warsaw Uprising Polski: Powstanie Warszawskie: podpalacze z Technische Nothilfe., ul. Leszno 24 i 22
context_page_description: The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II attack by the Polish resistance Home Army. The resistance wanted to free Warsaw from Nazi Germany.
  The attack happened at the same time as the Soviet Union's Red Army got close to the east of the city and the German forces retreated. However, the Soviets stopped moving forward. This allowed the Germans to destroy the city and defeat the Polish resistance.
  The resistance fought for 63 days with little help from other Allied armies. The Uprising was the largest attack done by any European resistance movement of World War II.
  The uprising began on 1 August 1944. It was part of a big plan, Operation Tempest, which started when the Soviet Army got near Warsaw. The goals of the Polish resistance were to push the German troops out of the city. They also wanted to free Warsaw before the Soviets arrived. This would help the Polish Underground State to take control of the city.
  At the start of the battle, the Polish resistance got control over most of central Warsaw. The Soviets did not move into the city to help the resistance troops.
  By 14 September, Polish forces under Soviet command captured the east bank of the Vistula river.
context_section_description: "The 9th Army has crushed the final resistance in the southern Vistula circle. The insurgents fought to the very last bullet." – German report, 23 September (T 4924/44)
  By the first week of September both German and Polish commanders realized that the Soviet army was not going to attack and break the stalemate. The Germans thought that a longer insurgency would make it hard to hold Warsaw as the frontline. The Poles were worried that continued resistance would lead to many deaths. On 7 September, General Rohr proposed to talk, which Bór-Komorowski agreed to discuss the following day.
  Over 8, 9 and 10 September about 20,000 civilians were allowed to leave the city. Rohr recognized the right of Home Army insurgents to be treated as fighters. The Poles stopped talks on the 11th, as they received news that the Soviets were advancing through Praga. A few days later, the arrival of the 1st Polish gave the resistance confidence and the talks stopped.
  However, by the morning of 27 September, the Germans had recaptured Mokotów. Talks restarted on 28 September. In the evening of 30 September, Żoliborz was captured by the Germans. The Poles were being pushed into a smaller area and they were at risk of being killed. On the 30th, Hitler decorated von dem Bach, Dirlewanger and Reinefarth, while in London General Sosnkowski was dismissed as Polish commander-in-chief. Bór-Komorowski was promoted to commander-in-chief, even though he was trapped in Warsaw.
  Bór-Komorowski and Prime Minister Mikołajczyk again asked Rokossovky and Stalin for Soviet help. None came. According to Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who was by this time at the Vistula front, both he and Rokossovsky advised Stalin against an attack because of heavy Soviet losses.
  The surrender order of the remaining Polish forces was signed on 2 October. All fighting ceased that evening. According to the agreement, the Wehrmacht promised to treat Home Army soldiers in accordance with the Geneva Convention, and to treat the civilian population humanely.
  The next day the Germans began to disarm the Home Army soldiers. They later sent 15,000 of them to POW camps in various parts of Germany. Between 5,000 and 6,000 insurgents decided to blend into the civilian population hoping to continue the fight later. The entire civilian population of Warsaw was removed from the city and sent to camp Durchgangslager 121 in Pruszków.
  Out of 350,000–550,000 civilians who passed through the camp, 90,000 were sent to labour camps in the Third Reich, 60,000 were shipped to death and concentration camps (including Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, and Mauthausen, among others). The rest were transported to various locations in the General Government and released.
  The Eastern Front did not change in the Vistula sector. The Soviets made no attempt to push forward, until the Vistula–Oder Offensive began on 12 January 1945. Almost entirely destroyed, Warsaw was liberated from the Germans on 17 January 1945 by the Red Army and the First Polish Army.
caption: German Brennkommando burn Warsaw. {Taken on Leszno street. From left: building No. 24, 22 & part of 20.}[132]
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