25/03/44 - Occupied Countries
March 25th, 1944
Germany
A few stars less
Strasbourg (annexed Alsace) - Passing in front of the barracks of what was his very first assignment (the 10th Prussian Field Artillery Regiment), thirty years earlier, Walter Warlimont is delighted. At last! At last, he had accomplished his task as the Führer's messenger, he had made the marshals (and quite a few generals) ensure their loyalty and ensured the stability of the Western Front. Rommel. Von Kluge. Von Rundstedt, etc*.
Since the attack that took place only ten days ago, he has criss-crossed the Reich and occupied France in all directions. But now he can get to work in his new position as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces at the OKW. And there is plenty of work to be done! Warlimont is an expert in logistics and intends to use the skills he developed during his stay in the United States and during his mission to advise Franco during the Spanish Civil War to increase the German war effort. He also intends to meet Speer, as well as Guderian.
Succeeding in convincing "Thunder Heinz", who is more of a tactician than a logistician, does not seem so difficult to Warlimont. By combining their talents, all is not lost: Germany will hold out until the enemy alliance disintegrates by itself. Numerous possibilities are open to him, especially since the Führer seems to be listening to him because of his status of "survivor of the bunker".
The general is so euphoric that he hardly realizes that his driver to avoid running over a careless pedestrian - Warlimont has been badly shaken. Suddenly, his head is spinning, as it often does since the attack... But this time, it's different and...
.........
Walter Warlimont, 1894-1944 - General der Artillerie (...) Returning to Germany after his mission of inspection of the generals on the Western Front, he fell into a coma and died the next day, despite a quick intervention, of an extra-dural hematoma complicating a skull fracture that went unnoticed after the attack.
.........
A few more stars disappear because of the attack of the Wolf's Lair... The German high command was hit hard by the operation Valkyrie. It is now constituted as follows:
- Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW): Heinz Guderian
- Chief of Staff of the OKW: Hans Krebs (former Chief of Staff of the AG Centre, he had been conflict with Model for several months).
- Chief of Staff of the Army High Command (OKH) [the head of the OKH is Hitler himself]: Rudolf Schmundt (former head of the Heer personnel office and first aide-de-camp to the Führer, he was replaced in these functions by his deputy Wilhelm Burgdorf).
Poland
To the dregs
Warsaw-West - Now that the banks of the Vistula are under control and the risk of the Red Army penetrating the city center seems to be over, the Reich does not feel the need to hurry. Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski's forces redeploy calmly from Śródmieście and Powiśle after "securing" this part of the city, thus finally leaving the banks to the XL. PanzerKorps of Eberhard Rodt. The SS is tired of the bloody urban assaults that had been its daily routine in recent weeks - it now plans to simply let the Poles rot by bombing their rat holes until submission or extermination. Or both.
The artillery of the 4. PanzerArmee and the Kampfgruppe Warschau do not delay in bludgeoning the last positions of the insurgency - after having put its own batteries out of reach of the Soviet tubes, in case the Red artillerymen wanted to help the Poles. A deluge of fire falls on the part of the martyred city still more or less controlled by the Armia Krajowa, already ruined by a long month of fighting. For the districts of Żoliborz, Sielce, Steny and Sadyba, days and nights of agony lie ahead... The shells are raining like the rain that has been flooding the streets for several days already. Big box of this orchestra, Ziu resumes his obsessive hammering, crushing one block after another...
.........
Group "Kampinos" (Jaktorów region, west of Warsaw) - After having succeeded with more or less elegance to escape from the Kampinos forest during operation Sternschnuppe, the "Kampinos" group arrives shortly before dawn near the railroad line Warsaw-Żyrardów, which blocks the road to the south and the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. If the facility itself is obviously defended, its periphery is only lightly guarded... At dawn, like a ghost of far more glorious times, uhlans charge into the neighboring village of Budy Zosine and capture a dozen Germans as well as a light tank! The leader of the Wachmistrz unit, Jan Łowicki "Łotysz" (2nd Squadron, 1st Platoon), quickly realizes that there is nothing to fear here, and the group takes possession of the locality.
Major Alfons Kotowski "Okoń" then decides to take a break in this village: eat and sleep a little, if possible under cover of the local alders. Indeed, his column, exhausted by two days and a night of continuous fighting and marching (after many other battles), is showing dangerous signs of disintegration: a stop will allow to reorganize, because the road is still long. And then, like that, the rear guard will be able to rally! The troops welcomed this decision, the officers, much less so. In fact, most of them are concerned by the slowness of the maneuver since Kampinos (we have only done 30 kilometers in two days!) and fear that the Occupier had anticipated the direction the column would take. However, the zone is really not favorable to the defense! Wet meadows, some trees here and there... A perfect open ground to allow the Axis to use its advantage in firepower, in case the group would be caught up.
Alas, the cruel destiny will not be long in proving them right. Before 08:00, a reconnaissance plane (probably in transit from Łódź, the weather does not permit long air travel) passes right over the Poles between two rain laden clouds! Did he see them? Impossible to say, but the cautious ones are quick to urge Kotowski to leave as quickly as possible. The Radziejowice forest is only six kilometers to the south! A last effort, and the group will find a relative safety there... Faced with these recriminations, the major rears his head - worse, he angrily rejects all suggestions, threatening anyone who contradicts him with the worst disciplinary consequences. In fact, Kotowski, like many people here, is at the end of his rope, between nervous tension and extreme physical fatigue accumulated throughout this terrible month of March. And the current events do not help his mood... Hoping to take advantage of his tension, Jerzy Baszkiewicz "Radwan II", chaplain of the Palmyra-Młociny regiment in Pilch, returns to the charge in the name of many and asks that we now go on the attack while preparing sabotage operations. "Okoń" reacts with a volley of insults and points his pistol straight at him!
Finally, only the light company of Lieutenant Tadeusz Gaworski "Lawa" (67 men and three women) is allowed to go undercover for reconnaissance. But while the main part of the force tries sleeping under a thin and humid blanket, some men silently take their packs and disappear, before it is too late.
In fact, the Axis is well and truly on the trail of the group. On the basis of the reports of a night of pursuit and other information extracted from the few prisoners, the German command has perfectly guessed the Polish intentions. Problem: the LXXII. AK is now much too far away. Answer: this is not the case of the SS-Osttürkisher-Freiwilligen Kavalerie-Brigade, which can arrive from the south at full throttle, as well as various disparate elements. With the SS, the 308. Abt. of the security Osttruppen can arrive fast, with the alarm battalions of the Żyrardów and Grodzisk Mazowiecki garrisons, two companies of armored infantry transport companies in transit, reinforced by a platoon of Panzer IVs - and even the armored train n° 30! The orders are quickly given, and it is thus almost 3,000 men and 40 vehicles that converge towards the "Kampinos" group.
At 10:00, the rearguard (Lieutenant Adolf Pilch "Góra") joins the main force. At this moment resounds a new aerial hum - a "Cadre" (nickname of the Fw 189 in the AK)? No, but a marauding Stuka. Apparently not having any bombs, the plane dives on the Partisans; its machine guns cause several deaths and considerable panic among the horses. A roar of small arms fire is unleashed against it - even the Tokarev of an officer - but the aircraft, siren screaming, nevertheless continues to pass...
Until, perhaps victim of a lucky shot**, it stalls and hits the ground under the an avalanche of joy and cheers. Informed of the event, Alfons Kotowski "Okoń" finally gets out of his torpor and decides to advance... not without having presented his plan to the staff.
"Okoń" wants to divide the "Kampinos" group into two columns. The first one, around the "Strzały" infantry battalion, will have to secure the railroad tracks near the level crossing of Budy Zosiny, and then the Żyrardów - Grodzisk road, in order to allow the escape of rolling stock and other infantry units. At the same time, a second column, theoretically mobile because it includes all cavalry and non-combatant personnel, would cross the tracks at the Międzyborów level crossing, about 1.5 km away. The regrouping will take place in the shelter of the forest. The plan, accepted without excessive enthusiasm, is nevertheless prepared in a hurry - there is no time to lose for everyone.
At noon, the "Strzały" battalion successfully attacks Budy Zosiny. The company "Olsza" (Lieutenant Henryk Dobak) breaks through the German defenses and pushes the garrison beyond the embankment. The battalion immediately starts to cross the tracks and to secure a crossing point... At that moment, like a nightmare from Warsaw, a PanzerZug appears in the mist - in fact, it is probably a simple military convoy with tanks on platform cars. But it includes several flak wagons whose tubes make a carnage, before the tanks fire their machine guns from their turrets. Stuck in open ground, the AK retaliates with PIATs without much effectiveness... It is literally decimated. Lieutenant Tadeusz Sumiński "Leszczyca" diverts attention for a brief moment with his single 20 mm shot - he is struck down within a minute.
The Nazi fire is now focused on the second line: waiting infantry, wounded, rolling under the deluge of shells, the ranks are deepening and panic is returning. It is necessary to withdraw and put themselves on the defensive. The southern route is well and truly closed and the "Kampinos" group now seems to be trapped. Kotowski then orders to form a kind of last square, with the infantry on the flanks and the horses in the center, taking advantage of the few obstacles in the area, including several drainage ditches. To gain time, we free the hundred or so German prisoners who run off to their comrades, no doubt surprised that they had not been shot on the spot.
However, the Turks of Standartenführer Arved Theuermann have not yet arrived. And by east or west, even if it means leaving all the equipment here, it would still be possible to escape! However, once again, Kotowski "Okoń" chooses not to move and remains in uncertainty, thinking perhaps to wait for the night to disappear under the cover of darkness. In the face of such passivity, all the AK officers - up to and including Pilch "Góra", who had crossed half of occupied Poland to get here!
At 14:00, the trap is closed by the arrival of the Osttürkisher. The attack is immediately launched against this small area of barely 6 km², bludgeoned by artillery and which quickly becomes a huge slaughterhouse for men, women and horses. The panzers advance to the entrenchments, which they destroy one after the other with a well-placed shot... The Polish position is fragmenting - but the "Kampinos" is still alive and struggling. By dint of courageous actions, the attack deviates even towards Bud Zosine, further east, where the rest of the battalion "Strzały", reinforced with the 23rd and 27th Uhlans Regiments, hangs on behind a muddy pond.
PIATs used at close range succeeded in destroying two tanks and immobilizing a third one. The other panzers then withdraw, only for the infantry to pass in front and immediately relaunch the attack. Under pressure, the Poles, whose ammunition is running out, retreat.
At 16:00, Alfons Kotowski suddenly ordera the battalion "Strzały" to force the passage to the northwest, together with the cavalry. At the same time - it is still unknown why today - he charges the "Zemsta" companies (Lieutenant Stefan Matuszczyk "Porawa") and "Retalation" to do the same... in the opposite direction, towards the railway line. Thus, "Okoń" divides its forces against an already overwhelming opponent! The fact that the major indicates that he will personally take part in the attack towards the east does not reassure anyone! "Porawa" protests strongly against what he considers a real suicide mission... As a punishment, he is placed at the rear-guard!
Finally, this attack will never be launched... The Panzerzug n° 30 appears on the horizon and joins its fire to those of its fellow, strangling the Polish attempts. At this moment, "Kampinos" group disintegrates. Disorganized, the units try to break through in isolation, obey obsolete assault orders or hold on to worthless positions...
At 17:00, Major Alfons Kotowski "Okoń" is seen alive for the last time on the southern line of defense, busy securing ammunition supplies. His body will be found the next morning on the battlefield, perhaps shot by the Germans, perhaps suicide... Perhaps even worse: a persistent rumor attributes his death to a bullet fired into his back by an officer devastated by the rout, due in part to his "bad command".
Szymon Nowak spoke of a "conspiracy of silence" among the survivors...
In the evening, the "Kampinos" group ceases to exist as an organized unit.
During the night, multiple groups will nevertheless try to break through the German lines to escape. Thus, the lieutenant Adolf Pilch "Góra" gathers around him a small hundred or so of his followers. Forcing his way through no less than two German barbed wire lines, he crosses the barrage and reaches the forest of Radziejowice having lost only 12 men! On their side, around 18:00, 300 Uhlans charge the village of Grądy on horseback in a rush worthy of another era. A little more than half of them pass, without their officers. Major Bronisław Lewkowicz "Kurs" then takes the lead of those who remain. At night, they set out again, along the Wiskitki - Oryszew road, only to come across a German fortified outpost in the dark. The small group disperses - sixty survivors finally reach the cover of the forest. There they find Pilch's men, as well as the "Lawa" company.
In the cauldron, it is now the massacre, the rout and the dispersion. Many Partisans manage to hide here and there, in cellars or among the population.
At 22:50, Arved Theuermann reports that a group is still holding out in the ditches northeast of Żyrardów. It will take a hand-to-hand assault to dislodge them. And again - a sign of the Schutzstaffel's lack of energy, about fifty horsemen and 90 infantrymen rallied by Lieutenant Mieczysław Szarek "Czcibor" manage to get through, taking their wounded with them. The others scatter and flee, mostly to the southwest or to the Kampinos forest (no one thought they would dare to return!). There they would meet up with their comrades of the 4th Squadron of Lieutenant Aleksander Pietrucki "Jawor", forgotten it seems by everyone near Żyrardów, and who were able to gallop to the Kampinos forest through paths that nobody was watching!
In the end, the area would not be deemed secure by the Axis until the early morning of the 26th. The biggest confrontation between the AK and the Wehrmacht outside the Warsaw sector, the battle of Jaktorów cost the Secret Army 200 dead, 120 wounded and 150 prisoners - and all the material, stocks and equipment of the "Kampinos" group, which is now totally destroyed. On the other hand, the Heer lost 200 killed.
An interesting detail that augurs well for the future: during the last phases of the battle, the Heer accepted the surrender of the Polish fighters alone, by removing all the SS, and by guaranteeing the Partisans that no captives would be handed over to the Black Order or the Gestapo.
This promise was generally kept - even though there is talk of 30 prisoners killed or executed on the spot. This shows that, although it remains an objectively criminal organization, the German army knows how to be pragmatic when it comes to shortening the confrontations... Although it is also possible that the liberation of the German prisoners at the beginning of the afternoon had a little influence on the attitude of the Heer towards its opponents of the day.
For its part, faced with the intensity of the resistance that the Partisans put up against it and the mediocrity (to put it mildly) of its own performance, the SS remained for a long time convinced that the group had been much more numerous, and that the largest group had managed to escape.
Lieutenant Józef Regulski "Biały", captured wounded, was even to succeed in a nice disinformation campaign by speaking 16,000 well-armed fighters - he went so far as to repeat this lie in front of Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski himself!
However, this lie has a consequence: in the region and the surrounding forests - including Kampinos - the Sternschnuppe operation us to continue. The sweeps lasted for months, without many results (76 partisans or supposed partisans were killed, 44 prisoners), but cost civilians a large number of farms and eight villages burned.
The "Kampinos" group remains the only large AK unit that escaped from Warsaw and was not interned by the Soviets.
The sky doesn't care...
Panatella Air Base - The news of the withdrawal of the Warsaw insurgents east of the Vistula means the allied command logically decidesthe deprogramming of the planned parachute missions over the Polish capital. Indeed, now that all organized resistance has ceased on the west bank - except for a few elements calling for help on the radio, but whose survival is unfortunately counted in days, or even hours - it is no longer worth risking the precious British or South African aircraft.
Only the Poles of the 1586th (Polish) Special Duty Flight are now authorized to try something. If they want to... and when the weather permits.
Opportunism
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) - Informed through various channels of the inevitable final crushing of the Warsaw uprising (only a few pockets remain, with no hope of rescue), the Slovak National Council agrees with London that it is urgent to wait. Preferably to wait for an important event favorable to the Allies, which could distract the Reich and divert German fury. Especially since it must be admitted that, at the same time, the discussions with the Soviets were stalling!
In desperation, Lt-Colonel Ján Golian prepares to send in all discretion a military and political mission to meet directly with the Red Army! As soon as the weather permits, it will take the plane in direction of Ukraine, trying to pass unnoticed...
* The Eastern Front was not spared from this great cleansing. Among the victims was General Rudolf Schmidt, brother of the "Enigma traitor", Hans-Thilo Schmidt.
** Adam Józef Borkiewicz, a journalist and unofficial historian of the AK, will speak of a specific burst by Lt. Andrzej Połoński "Hlebowicz" - this is obviously unverifiable.
Germany
A few stars less
Strasbourg (annexed Alsace) - Passing in front of the barracks of what was his very first assignment (the 10th Prussian Field Artillery Regiment), thirty years earlier, Walter Warlimont is delighted. At last! At last, he had accomplished his task as the Führer's messenger, he had made the marshals (and quite a few generals) ensure their loyalty and ensured the stability of the Western Front. Rommel. Von Kluge. Von Rundstedt, etc*.
Since the attack that took place only ten days ago, he has criss-crossed the Reich and occupied France in all directions. But now he can get to work in his new position as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces at the OKW. And there is plenty of work to be done! Warlimont is an expert in logistics and intends to use the skills he developed during his stay in the United States and during his mission to advise Franco during the Spanish Civil War to increase the German war effort. He also intends to meet Speer, as well as Guderian.
Succeeding in convincing "Thunder Heinz", who is more of a tactician than a logistician, does not seem so difficult to Warlimont. By combining their talents, all is not lost: Germany will hold out until the enemy alliance disintegrates by itself. Numerous possibilities are open to him, especially since the Führer seems to be listening to him because of his status of "survivor of the bunker".
The general is so euphoric that he hardly realizes that his driver to avoid running over a careless pedestrian - Warlimont has been badly shaken. Suddenly, his head is spinning, as it often does since the attack... But this time, it's different and...
.........
Walter Warlimont, 1894-1944 - General der Artillerie (...) Returning to Germany after his mission of inspection of the generals on the Western Front, he fell into a coma and died the next day, despite a quick intervention, of an extra-dural hematoma complicating a skull fracture that went unnoticed after the attack.
.........
A few more stars disappear because of the attack of the Wolf's Lair... The German high command was hit hard by the operation Valkyrie. It is now constituted as follows:
- Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW): Heinz Guderian
- Chief of Staff of the OKW: Hans Krebs (former Chief of Staff of the AG Centre, he had been conflict with Model for several months).
- Chief of Staff of the Army High Command (OKH) [the head of the OKH is Hitler himself]: Rudolf Schmundt (former head of the Heer personnel office and first aide-de-camp to the Führer, he was replaced in these functions by his deputy Wilhelm Burgdorf).
Poland
To the dregs
Warsaw-West - Now that the banks of the Vistula are under control and the risk of the Red Army penetrating the city center seems to be over, the Reich does not feel the need to hurry. Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski's forces redeploy calmly from Śródmieście and Powiśle after "securing" this part of the city, thus finally leaving the banks to the XL. PanzerKorps of Eberhard Rodt. The SS is tired of the bloody urban assaults that had been its daily routine in recent weeks - it now plans to simply let the Poles rot by bombing their rat holes until submission or extermination. Or both.
The artillery of the 4. PanzerArmee and the Kampfgruppe Warschau do not delay in bludgeoning the last positions of the insurgency - after having put its own batteries out of reach of the Soviet tubes, in case the Red artillerymen wanted to help the Poles. A deluge of fire falls on the part of the martyred city still more or less controlled by the Armia Krajowa, already ruined by a long month of fighting. For the districts of Żoliborz, Sielce, Steny and Sadyba, days and nights of agony lie ahead... The shells are raining like the rain that has been flooding the streets for several days already. Big box of this orchestra, Ziu resumes his obsessive hammering, crushing one block after another...
.........
Group "Kampinos" (Jaktorów region, west of Warsaw) - After having succeeded with more or less elegance to escape from the Kampinos forest during operation Sternschnuppe, the "Kampinos" group arrives shortly before dawn near the railroad line Warsaw-Żyrardów, which blocks the road to the south and the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. If the facility itself is obviously defended, its periphery is only lightly guarded... At dawn, like a ghost of far more glorious times, uhlans charge into the neighboring village of Budy Zosine and capture a dozen Germans as well as a light tank! The leader of the Wachmistrz unit, Jan Łowicki "Łotysz" (2nd Squadron, 1st Platoon), quickly realizes that there is nothing to fear here, and the group takes possession of the locality.
Major Alfons Kotowski "Okoń" then decides to take a break in this village: eat and sleep a little, if possible under cover of the local alders. Indeed, his column, exhausted by two days and a night of continuous fighting and marching (after many other battles), is showing dangerous signs of disintegration: a stop will allow to reorganize, because the road is still long. And then, like that, the rear guard will be able to rally! The troops welcomed this decision, the officers, much less so. In fact, most of them are concerned by the slowness of the maneuver since Kampinos (we have only done 30 kilometers in two days!) and fear that the Occupier had anticipated the direction the column would take. However, the zone is really not favorable to the defense! Wet meadows, some trees here and there... A perfect open ground to allow the Axis to use its advantage in firepower, in case the group would be caught up.
Alas, the cruel destiny will not be long in proving them right. Before 08:00, a reconnaissance plane (probably in transit from Łódź, the weather does not permit long air travel) passes right over the Poles between two rain laden clouds! Did he see them? Impossible to say, but the cautious ones are quick to urge Kotowski to leave as quickly as possible. The Radziejowice forest is only six kilometers to the south! A last effort, and the group will find a relative safety there... Faced with these recriminations, the major rears his head - worse, he angrily rejects all suggestions, threatening anyone who contradicts him with the worst disciplinary consequences. In fact, Kotowski, like many people here, is at the end of his rope, between nervous tension and extreme physical fatigue accumulated throughout this terrible month of March. And the current events do not help his mood... Hoping to take advantage of his tension, Jerzy Baszkiewicz "Radwan II", chaplain of the Palmyra-Młociny regiment in Pilch, returns to the charge in the name of many and asks that we now go on the attack while preparing sabotage operations. "Okoń" reacts with a volley of insults and points his pistol straight at him!
Finally, only the light company of Lieutenant Tadeusz Gaworski "Lawa" (67 men and three women) is allowed to go undercover for reconnaissance. But while the main part of the force tries sleeping under a thin and humid blanket, some men silently take their packs and disappear, before it is too late.
In fact, the Axis is well and truly on the trail of the group. On the basis of the reports of a night of pursuit and other information extracted from the few prisoners, the German command has perfectly guessed the Polish intentions. Problem: the LXXII. AK is now much too far away. Answer: this is not the case of the SS-Osttürkisher-Freiwilligen Kavalerie-Brigade, which can arrive from the south at full throttle, as well as various disparate elements. With the SS, the 308. Abt. of the security Osttruppen can arrive fast, with the alarm battalions of the Żyrardów and Grodzisk Mazowiecki garrisons, two companies of armored infantry transport companies in transit, reinforced by a platoon of Panzer IVs - and even the armored train n° 30! The orders are quickly given, and it is thus almost 3,000 men and 40 vehicles that converge towards the "Kampinos" group.
At 10:00, the rearguard (Lieutenant Adolf Pilch "Góra") joins the main force. At this moment resounds a new aerial hum - a "Cadre" (nickname of the Fw 189 in the AK)? No, but a marauding Stuka. Apparently not having any bombs, the plane dives on the Partisans; its machine guns cause several deaths and considerable panic among the horses. A roar of small arms fire is unleashed against it - even the Tokarev of an officer - but the aircraft, siren screaming, nevertheless continues to pass...
Until, perhaps victim of a lucky shot**, it stalls and hits the ground under the an avalanche of joy and cheers. Informed of the event, Alfons Kotowski "Okoń" finally gets out of his torpor and decides to advance... not without having presented his plan to the staff.
"Okoń" wants to divide the "Kampinos" group into two columns. The first one, around the "Strzały" infantry battalion, will have to secure the railroad tracks near the level crossing of Budy Zosiny, and then the Żyrardów - Grodzisk road, in order to allow the escape of rolling stock and other infantry units. At the same time, a second column, theoretically mobile because it includes all cavalry and non-combatant personnel, would cross the tracks at the Międzyborów level crossing, about 1.5 km away. The regrouping will take place in the shelter of the forest. The plan, accepted without excessive enthusiasm, is nevertheless prepared in a hurry - there is no time to lose for everyone.
At noon, the "Strzały" battalion successfully attacks Budy Zosiny. The company "Olsza" (Lieutenant Henryk Dobak) breaks through the German defenses and pushes the garrison beyond the embankment. The battalion immediately starts to cross the tracks and to secure a crossing point... At that moment, like a nightmare from Warsaw, a PanzerZug appears in the mist - in fact, it is probably a simple military convoy with tanks on platform cars. But it includes several flak wagons whose tubes make a carnage, before the tanks fire their machine guns from their turrets. Stuck in open ground, the AK retaliates with PIATs without much effectiveness... It is literally decimated. Lieutenant Tadeusz Sumiński "Leszczyca" diverts attention for a brief moment with his single 20 mm shot - he is struck down within a minute.
The Nazi fire is now focused on the second line: waiting infantry, wounded, rolling under the deluge of shells, the ranks are deepening and panic is returning. It is necessary to withdraw and put themselves on the defensive. The southern route is well and truly closed and the "Kampinos" group now seems to be trapped. Kotowski then orders to form a kind of last square, with the infantry on the flanks and the horses in the center, taking advantage of the few obstacles in the area, including several drainage ditches. To gain time, we free the hundred or so German prisoners who run off to their comrades, no doubt surprised that they had not been shot on the spot.
However, the Turks of Standartenführer Arved Theuermann have not yet arrived. And by east or west, even if it means leaving all the equipment here, it would still be possible to escape! However, once again, Kotowski "Okoń" chooses not to move and remains in uncertainty, thinking perhaps to wait for the night to disappear under the cover of darkness. In the face of such passivity, all the AK officers - up to and including Pilch "Góra", who had crossed half of occupied Poland to get here!
At 14:00, the trap is closed by the arrival of the Osttürkisher. The attack is immediately launched against this small area of barely 6 km², bludgeoned by artillery and which quickly becomes a huge slaughterhouse for men, women and horses. The panzers advance to the entrenchments, which they destroy one after the other with a well-placed shot... The Polish position is fragmenting - but the "Kampinos" is still alive and struggling. By dint of courageous actions, the attack deviates even towards Bud Zosine, further east, where the rest of the battalion "Strzały", reinforced with the 23rd and 27th Uhlans Regiments, hangs on behind a muddy pond.
PIATs used at close range succeeded in destroying two tanks and immobilizing a third one. The other panzers then withdraw, only for the infantry to pass in front and immediately relaunch the attack. Under pressure, the Poles, whose ammunition is running out, retreat.
At 16:00, Alfons Kotowski suddenly ordera the battalion "Strzały" to force the passage to the northwest, together with the cavalry. At the same time - it is still unknown why today - he charges the "Zemsta" companies (Lieutenant Stefan Matuszczyk "Porawa") and "Retalation" to do the same... in the opposite direction, towards the railway line. Thus, "Okoń" divides its forces against an already overwhelming opponent! The fact that the major indicates that he will personally take part in the attack towards the east does not reassure anyone! "Porawa" protests strongly against what he considers a real suicide mission... As a punishment, he is placed at the rear-guard!
Finally, this attack will never be launched... The Panzerzug n° 30 appears on the horizon and joins its fire to those of its fellow, strangling the Polish attempts. At this moment, "Kampinos" group disintegrates. Disorganized, the units try to break through in isolation, obey obsolete assault orders or hold on to worthless positions...
At 17:00, Major Alfons Kotowski "Okoń" is seen alive for the last time on the southern line of defense, busy securing ammunition supplies. His body will be found the next morning on the battlefield, perhaps shot by the Germans, perhaps suicide... Perhaps even worse: a persistent rumor attributes his death to a bullet fired into his back by an officer devastated by the rout, due in part to his "bad command".
Szymon Nowak spoke of a "conspiracy of silence" among the survivors...
In the evening, the "Kampinos" group ceases to exist as an organized unit.
During the night, multiple groups will nevertheless try to break through the German lines to escape. Thus, the lieutenant Adolf Pilch "Góra" gathers around him a small hundred or so of his followers. Forcing his way through no less than two German barbed wire lines, he crosses the barrage and reaches the forest of Radziejowice having lost only 12 men! On their side, around 18:00, 300 Uhlans charge the village of Grądy on horseback in a rush worthy of another era. A little more than half of them pass, without their officers. Major Bronisław Lewkowicz "Kurs" then takes the lead of those who remain. At night, they set out again, along the Wiskitki - Oryszew road, only to come across a German fortified outpost in the dark. The small group disperses - sixty survivors finally reach the cover of the forest. There they find Pilch's men, as well as the "Lawa" company.
In the cauldron, it is now the massacre, the rout and the dispersion. Many Partisans manage to hide here and there, in cellars or among the population.
At 22:50, Arved Theuermann reports that a group is still holding out in the ditches northeast of Żyrardów. It will take a hand-to-hand assault to dislodge them. And again - a sign of the Schutzstaffel's lack of energy, about fifty horsemen and 90 infantrymen rallied by Lieutenant Mieczysław Szarek "Czcibor" manage to get through, taking their wounded with them. The others scatter and flee, mostly to the southwest or to the Kampinos forest (no one thought they would dare to return!). There they would meet up with their comrades of the 4th Squadron of Lieutenant Aleksander Pietrucki "Jawor", forgotten it seems by everyone near Żyrardów, and who were able to gallop to the Kampinos forest through paths that nobody was watching!
In the end, the area would not be deemed secure by the Axis until the early morning of the 26th. The biggest confrontation between the AK and the Wehrmacht outside the Warsaw sector, the battle of Jaktorów cost the Secret Army 200 dead, 120 wounded and 150 prisoners - and all the material, stocks and equipment of the "Kampinos" group, which is now totally destroyed. On the other hand, the Heer lost 200 killed.
An interesting detail that augurs well for the future: during the last phases of the battle, the Heer accepted the surrender of the Polish fighters alone, by removing all the SS, and by guaranteeing the Partisans that no captives would be handed over to the Black Order or the Gestapo.
This promise was generally kept - even though there is talk of 30 prisoners killed or executed on the spot. This shows that, although it remains an objectively criminal organization, the German army knows how to be pragmatic when it comes to shortening the confrontations... Although it is also possible that the liberation of the German prisoners at the beginning of the afternoon had a little influence on the attitude of the Heer towards its opponents of the day.
For its part, faced with the intensity of the resistance that the Partisans put up against it and the mediocrity (to put it mildly) of its own performance, the SS remained for a long time convinced that the group had been much more numerous, and that the largest group had managed to escape.
Lieutenant Józef Regulski "Biały", captured wounded, was even to succeed in a nice disinformation campaign by speaking 16,000 well-armed fighters - he went so far as to repeat this lie in front of Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski himself!
However, this lie has a consequence: in the region and the surrounding forests - including Kampinos - the Sternschnuppe operation us to continue. The sweeps lasted for months, without many results (76 partisans or supposed partisans were killed, 44 prisoners), but cost civilians a large number of farms and eight villages burned.
The "Kampinos" group remains the only large AK unit that escaped from Warsaw and was not interned by the Soviets.
The sky doesn't care...
Panatella Air Base - The news of the withdrawal of the Warsaw insurgents east of the Vistula means the allied command logically decidesthe deprogramming of the planned parachute missions over the Polish capital. Indeed, now that all organized resistance has ceased on the west bank - except for a few elements calling for help on the radio, but whose survival is unfortunately counted in days, or even hours - it is no longer worth risking the precious British or South African aircraft.
Only the Poles of the 1586th (Polish) Special Duty Flight are now authorized to try something. If they want to... and when the weather permits.
Opportunism
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) - Informed through various channels of the inevitable final crushing of the Warsaw uprising (only a few pockets remain, with no hope of rescue), the Slovak National Council agrees with London that it is urgent to wait. Preferably to wait for an important event favorable to the Allies, which could distract the Reich and divert German fury. Especially since it must be admitted that, at the same time, the discussions with the Soviets were stalling!
In desperation, Lt-Colonel Ján Golian prepares to send in all discretion a military and political mission to meet directly with the Red Army! As soon as the weather permits, it will take the plane in direction of Ukraine, trying to pass unnoticed...
* The Eastern Front was not spared from this great cleansing. Among the victims was General Rudolf Schmidt, brother of the "Enigma traitor", Hans-Thilo Schmidt.
** Adam Józef Borkiewicz, a journalist and unofficial historian of the AK, will speak of a specific burst by Lt. Andrzej Połoński "Hlebowicz" - this is obviously unverifiable.
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