page_title: Warsaw Uprising
section_title: Limited outside support
hierarchical_section_title: Warsaw Uprising / Limited outside support
caption_attribution_description: English: WarsawUprising: Soldiers of tank platoon "Wacek" of "Zośka" Battalion on a German Panther tank around Okopowa Street. Sitting from the left: Zdzisław Moszczeński "Ryk" [2] (according to source [1] „Ryk” is standing first from left facing the tank), unknown, Jan Uniewski „Lumeński" [2] („Łuniewski” according to source [1]), Mieczysław Kijewski "Jordan", Jan Myszkowski Bagiński "Bajan" and Jan Zenka "Walek". Polski: Powstanie Warszawskie: Żołnierze plutonu pancernego "Wacek" batalionu "Zośka" na zdobytym niemieckim czołgu typu "Pantera" w okolicach ulicy Okopowej. O lewej siedzą: ppor. Zdzisław Moszczeński "Ryk"[2] (Wedle [1] „Ryk” stoi tyłem pierwszy z lewej), NN, Jan Uniewski „Lumeński" [2] („Łuniewski” [1]), plut.pchor. Mieczysław Kijewski "Jordan", sierżant pchor. Jan Myszkowski Bagiński "Bajan", kapral Jan Zenka "Walek".
context_page_description: The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation, in the summer of 1944, by the Polish underground resistance, led by the Polish resistance Home Army, to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. The uprising was timed to coincide with the retreat of the German forces from Poland ahead of the Soviet advance. While approaching the eastern suburbs of the city, the Red Army temporarily halted combat operations, enabling the Germans to regroup and defeat the Polish resistance and to destroy the city in retaliation. The Uprising was fought for 63 days with little outside support. It was the single largest military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II.
  The Uprising began on 1 August 1944 as part of a nationwide Operation Tempest, launched at the time of the Soviet Lublin–Brest Offensive. The main Polish objectives were to drive the Germans out of Warsaw while helping the Allies defeat Germany. An additional, political goal of the Polish Underground State was to liberate Poland's capital and assert Polish sovereignty before the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation could assume control.
context_section_description: According to many historians, a major cause of the eventual failure of the uprising was the almost complete lack of outside support and the late arrival of that which did arrive. The Polish government-in-exile carried out frantic diplomatic efforts to gain support from the Western Allies prior to the start of battle but the allies would not act without Soviet approval. The Polish government in London asked the British several times to send an allied mission to Poland. However, the British mission did not arrive until December 1944. Shortly after their arrival, they met up with Soviet authorities, who arrested and imprisoned them. In the words of the mission's deputy commander, it was "a complete failure". Nevertheless, from August 1943 to July 1944, over 200 British Royal Air Force (RAF) flights dropped an estimated 146 Polish personnel trained in Great Britain, over 4,000 containers of supplies, and $16 million in banknotes and gold to the Home Army.
  The only support operation which ran continuously for the duration of the Uprising were night supply drops by long-range planes of the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, and units of the Polish Air Force, which had to use distant airfields in Italy, reducing the amount of supplies they could carry. The RAF made 223 sorties and lost 34 aircraft. The effect of these airdrops was mostly psychological—they delivered too few supplies for the needs of the resistance, and many airdrops landed outside Polish-controlled territory.
caption: Captured German Panther tank by resistance fighters from "Zośka" Battalion under the command of Wacław Micuta, 2 August 1944
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