Operation “Storm” – in connection with the 80th anniversary
Newsletter of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers
The coming year 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of two major national uprisings carried out in 1944 by the Home Army.
– Operation “Storm” and the Warsaw Uprising, which is an integral part of it.
Both were unleashed against the advancing front from the east and against the Germans – who were defeated and retreated all along the line under Soviet attack.
The Home Army, which is the armed arm and political representation of the only legal government of the Republic of Poland-in-exile in London, carried out military operations aimed, among other things, at confirming the existence of a legitimate Polish government in the territories occupied by Poland since 1939.
A nation that loses its memory ceases to be a nation – it becomes only a collection of people who temporarily occupy a given territory – quoting the words of Józef Piłsudski, next year we will try to celebrate the upcoming anniversaries with a call in the “Bulletin”. “The widest knowledge of these events with glorious but tragic consequences for the country.”
As Dr. Andrzej Chmielarczy writes, in mid-1944, the lack of political effect of Bursa's actions forced the commander of the Home Army and the delegate of the Polish government to throw Warsaw into the fray.
The Warsaw Uprising, due to its magnitude, is often not considered as an element of Operation Storm, even though it occurred within it and was organically connected to it.
This was confirmed at the end of 1944 by General Leopold Okulich, one of the instigators of the uprising.
The Western countries, informed by the Polish authorities about Soviet actions against the Home Army and the Poles, did not react, giving Stalin a virtually free hand in Polish affairs and taking into account his cynical statements that belittle the actions of the Home Army.
Without a doubt, Operation Storm was the largest operation of the main army. The soldiers of the Home Army achieved many spectacular successes.
The activity of “Burza”, taking into account its military aspect, demonstrated the high efficiency of preparatory work during the conspiracy period and the considerable effectiveness and efficiency of the underground army.
From a political point of view, “Hurricane” was a lost operation and would not have changed the course of Polish slavery in the slightest.
Notification of the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Army on issuing instructions to the Commander-in-Chief in case of disarmament of the units of the Home Army.
despite. That many volumes have already been written on this topic, new facts are constantly emerging from the archives and the depths of history, often radically changing the current state of knowledge.
They even become the subject of heated discussions and conflicts that undermine national pride. During half a century of communist disinformation, these matters of myth were often far from the truth, which can finally be reached based on documents, orders, reports and other artifacts in archives, museums and private collections. domestic and foreign.
It is often a tedious comparison of seemingly irrelevant data, such as quantities of supplies, food, uniforms, weapons, or equipment, from which a picture of the actual equipment of both armies emerges that confirms or fundamentally corrects their operational capabilities.
In the last few months, they have appeared on the pages
Publications of the “AK Newsletter” showing the operational realities of the Eastern Front through Poland in 1944, the implementation of Operation “Storm”, as well as what happened in the so-called Warsaw Bridge and the capital itself.
In the materials below you will also find references to other publications and websites that develop the topics covered here:
As a result of the concentration of significant German forces, the Home Army attempted to conduct Operation Storm in the areas between the San and the Vistula.
(In January 1945, they drowned while crossing the river trying to get out of Gars on Polish soil during one of the biggest armored battles that was going on in the area of the Baranów-Sandomier bridge near Tradomice.
The knowledge in the above articles can provide a broader perspective to understand the military situation of Operation Storm and the decisions made at the time.
In the turbulent reality we now once again experience, knowing where we live and where we are going can inform our future decisions, and drawing the right conclusions from history will allow us to avoid mistakes.
Andrzej Chmielarc
Operation “Hurricane” advance
BI 12/2023, p. 3
Andrzej Chmielarc
Operation Storm
BI 12/2023, p. 13
Andrzej Chmielarc – The Warsaw Uprising had no chance
BI 10/2023, p. 13
A document dated September 4, 1944, found in the Bundesarchiv, describes the shocking scale of weapons losses suffered by the Home Army between January and June 1944 in Warsaw.
Andrzej Borch – “Burza” of the Home Army in Lankut district; BI 12/2023, p. 29
Gzhegozh Yasinsky
Did the Red Army not help the Warsaw rebels? German-Soviet battles on the Warsaw Bridge between July and August 1944 in the context of the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising.
BI 10/2023, p. 5
Mateusz Kwiatek, ed. Ed.
Excavation of further armor from the Zarna Nida River; BI 11/2023, p. 40.
Prepared by Alexander Shumansky