Polish Home Army Attacks Treblinka, 1942

[MerryPrankster]

I'm reading through the history book "Bloodlands," which is about Eastern Europe between Hitler and Stalin. It's not cheerful reading.

The book references how the Polish Home Army discussed attacking the Treblinka extermination camp, but did not carry them out. The timeframe isn't specified, but the section ends with a discussion of transportation from Warsaw to Treblinka resuming on September 3, 1942, so I would guess the planned assault on the camp would be in the summer.

So what if the Polish Home Army goes through with the plan? I'm not familiar with the weaponry and numbers of the HA had in the region at the time, but the Wikipedia article said the camp had 20-25 overseers (German and Austrian) and 80 to 120 guards. If the HA could muster a company or two worth of men, they could (temporarily) overrun it, key word being "if."

Could the works of the Holocaust be sufficiently gummed up? The camp was ultimately shut down a year later after a prisoner revolt trashed the place.

 

[KACKO]

AK was very weak a 1942. Mostly concentrating their efforts towards gathering military intelligence, counter Gestapo efforts to eliminate them, etc. Bu let say they concentrate enough men, sufficient weapons and ammo 9no hunting rifles) and they overrun the camp. Question is what are they going to do with all these liberated prisoners. Prisoners are weak, sick. Polish home army doesn't have transportation and abilities to hide all this inmates? How are they going to transport them to prepared hiding places with all Nazi ocuppational forces on their tracks?

Anyway, what was the reason in the book commanders of AK decided agaisnt the operation?

 

[MerryPrankster]

It doesn't say. If they weren't strong enough to successfully attack Treblinka without gutting themselves, that might explain it though.

 

[M79]

It would make one heck of a movie after the war either way. Plus photographic evidence of what Germany was doing to its prisoners that early in the war would have a tremendous impact on world events should it get out into the general public. I think if you have a Polish Home Army that can maneuver itself into the spotlight earlier it might give them a stronger place at the negotiating table for free elections after the war. The flip side is that when the USSR takes over the place anyway they will be quite mindful of gutsy Poles who are willing to raid military instillations.

Set it up like this and maybe it works (No way I can write a TL since I do not know much about it and do not have the time to do it justice):

Prior to raid:
a. estimate number of prisoners - categorize based on age and health
b. have stockpile of food and weapons for healthy recruits
c. organize transportation for women, children, and elderly
d. Arrange through UK for transit out of the country via Sweden

For raid itself:
1. Knock out communications
2. Have scouts in German uniforms deter traffic for about 2 hours
3. Snipers take out guard tower positions
4. Feint to one side of camp
5. Main attack from other side of camp to catch it off guard
6. Few-no German military can survive
7. Dispose of bodies, raid offices for usable intelligence to pass to UK
8. For the aftermath:
-----Burn the place down or
-----Leave it totally intact but empty and
-----Prepare for reprisals against civilian population in either case

Healthy male survivors can be organized to fight against the Germans while photographs and other survivors can testify against the crimes of the German regime at the Nuremberg trials. It also gives the Polish significant media press that the might not have had during the war, and if they can repeat this a few times it will give pause for the world once Eastern Europe is decided at the peace conferences. Free Poland is not impossible, but very unlikely since the USSR considers it necessary for its own defenses as a cordon sanitare to the West.

 

[deathscompanion1]

That sounds nice but the allies had a pretty damn good idea what was going on in those camps and a few resistance fighters smuggled out evidence to the west OTL nobody really gave much of a damn it took the massive and frequent exposure at the end of the war to really get the ball rolling.

Also the poles could be quite anti sematic themselves with many groups turning away Jewish volunteers so risking their lives to liberate the camp may prove unpopular.

And the Poland's fate won't change much from OTL, the West didn't have the will or ability to really force Stalin to do anything in his sphere with the Red army already occupying Poland.

 

[seraphim74]

Originally posted by M79

a. estimate number of prisoners - categorize based on age and health
b. have stockpile of food and weapons for healthy recruits
c. organize transportation for women, children, and elderly
d. Arrange through UK for transit out of the country via Sweden

b. Polish Home Army didn't lack willing recruits, but weapons were serious problem until the end. And food also wasn't that easy to procure.
c. Transportation to where, exactly? German were perfectly capable to lockdown and search whole region - small groups might survive, but hundreds of them? Not.
d. You're kidding, right? Arrange a transit to UK? And what would Germans be doing all that time? In 1942 Treblinka was in the middle of the Nazi empire.

The problem is there were actually 2 camps in Treblinka. Treblinka I was a "regular" concentration camp, were inmates were worked to death in local gravel pit (although executions happened daily).
Treblinka II was a death camp. The "permanent" prisoners were relatively few (800-1200, AFAIK, with big rotation); most of prisoners were murdered right after arriving to the camp.

Now, I'm assuming the attack is supposed to liberate Treblinka II. It was guarded by 120-150 Germans and Ukrainians. Theoreticaly Home Army might have been capable organize a force capable of dealing with such a number of well armed men, especially with prisoners' help. However, the guards would have immediately called from help, and even if they were unable to, shooting would have alerted guards in the Treblinka I. So the HA force would need to be able to:
- overcome guards of Treblinka I
- deal with any help from Treblinka II and any other place Germans might have sent help from
- organize freed prisoners, feed them and transport them to safe locations (Sweden is out of the question)

We're talking about well armed force, which might have been forced to face even a batalion of German troops. But assuming they deal with that batalion, what would stop Germans from sending 3 more batalions? IMHO Home Army wasn't able to field a force like that, especially since it would have been a suicide mission.
Then the HA force would have had to organize hundreds of traumatized, often starved and sick people and transport them to... WHERE EXACTLY? In Nazi-occupied Poland hiding a Jew was punished with death, quite often not only the "guilty" party, but also their neighbours - there were cases of whole villages erased for helping Jews. No wonder many peoples refused not only because of antisemitism (which indeed was a serious problem in Poland) but because of fear for themselves and their families. Finding a safe location for such a large number of people would have been next to impossible, and getting them there would have been completely impossible. What could have Poles done, prepare hundreds of cars or wagons? Such a convoy or even a large number or small groups would have been very quickly spotted already in the preparation phase. Even in pre-war Poland cars private cars weren't so many, and during the war, with fuel harshly rationed and many cars confiscated by the Germans organizing transport of so many people would have been impossible. And horse wagons were simply too slow.

Anoter thing - German reprisals. Even assuming the HA by some miracle managed to free and hide the prisoners it is pretty much certain that German vengeance would have been terrifying. Mass executions of Poles in the region, extermination of villages etc. Number of Poles executed might have very well exceeded the numbers of freed prisoners.

In short it really was the impossible mission. I'm not surprised the Home Army command gave up the idea.