This Week in World War II - The Liberation of Warsaw

This Week's Historical Theme: World War II

 

17 January 1945

 

A significant event throughout the history of World War II that occurred in January was the liberation of Warsaw from German occupation. Warsaw had served as a battleground since the opening day of fighting in Europe. Germany had declared war by launching an air raid in September 1939, which was followed up with a siege that killed tens of thousands of Polish civilians. Warsaw was forced to surrender to the Germans soon after, as they were deprived of electricity, water, and food, with also 25% of the city's homes being destroyed.

 

Since the Soviets had snatched a part of Poland in the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, they soon found themselves at war with their 'ally'. In August 1944, the Soviets attempted to push the Germans west, and advance on Warsaw. An uprising was led against the German occupiers by the Polish Home Army, hoping to defeat the Germans themselves and not have the Soviets set up a post-war communist government. The Soviets, rather than aiding the Polish uprising, stood by and watched as the Germans slaughtered the Poles, thus destroying any Polish resistance to a pro-Soviet government. The city was finally later liberated from the Germans by Georgy Zhukov's troops.

 

Want to find out more about the liberation of Warsaw? Click here for more information, or here for more about communist Warsaw during the Cold War.

303 Squadron

Channel Four have been busy with history documentaries this week and have also produced a fascinating account (which you can watch here) of the contribution of Polish Pilots to the Battle of Britain. When it became clear that Poland would fall to the Nazis, over 8000 Polish airmen escaped to Britain at the beginning of the Second World War, and a Polish government was set up in exile. The Royal Air Force was initially indifferent to the skills of these pilots, but they quickly proved themselves as the pressure from the Luftwaffe mounted. 303 Squadron was formed specifically for Polish pilots, and by the end of war had one of the most impressive records of any squadron, including the shooting down of 126 planes during the Battle of Britain. The programme is based on the diary of one of the pilots on the squadron, who recorded his experiences until his death in 1942. His son is interviewed for the programme here. He is very proud of his father's contribution, but angry at how an image of a Spitfire has been used by the BNP despite the fact the markings show that the pilot is clearly Polish... (See image below - many thanks to Dr Dixon for this)



PS: More information here from a website about the Polish contribution to World War II

PPS: Here are pages on the Battle of Britain from the RAF, the BBC and Robert Fisk in the Independent.