Warszawa II (9 page)

Two pictures which show 2 Sd Kfz 138's ausf H “Grille” belonging to the 9th Panzergrenadier-Regiment 12, 4th Panzer-Division, on the move east of Warsaw, July – August 1944. (Leandoer & Ekholm Archive)

On July 31, south of Wołomin, the Soviet side continued to carry out attacks with tanks from the 60th and the 58th Tank Guards Brigades. The 8th Tank Guards Corps attacked Okuniew, which was captured during the evening hours. Their next objective was to capture the village of Ossów which was under siege on the outskirts of Wołomin. But this manoeuvre was checked by the stubborn defence mounted there by the grenadiers of the division “Herman Göring”. The terrain favoured the Germans. Despite the 3rd Tank Corps holding Wołomin, and the 60th Tank Brigade from the 8th Tank Guards Corps holding itself in wait the nearby village of Okuniew; the two areas remained separated due to the wet lands, forests and two streams, the Długa Struga and the Czarna Struga, between them. The 3rd Tank Corps, which was the first unit to attack, got around these natural obstacles by travelling in a wide arc towards the east near Stanisłwów. Now, with the nearest connection with Vjedjenjev's corps having been blocked, General Popov decided to imitate this tactic. With the aim of broadening the wedge which the 8th Tank Guards Corps had created; he attacked Mińsk Mazowiecki together with Colonel Vasilj Bjelgakov's, 260th Rifle Division which was en route from the south. After a short engagement, in which the 3rd Battalion out of the Home Army's 22nd Regiment, also actively participated; the town fell into Soviet hands. The 16th Tank Corps also pressed on with their assault operations, driving the German 73rd Infantry-Division into the area around Radość.

At the same time this was taking place, the battle for Siedlce, east of Warsaw, neared its end: The city was captured by General Krjukov's soldiers on July 30. Marshal Rokossovskij's new orders, which were issued the very next day, meant that the crippled 11th Tank Corps was to move south to Puławay. The commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, in accord with the wishes of HQ, intended to support the 69th Army's frontline troops at Wisła with this tank force. Other offensives towards the north, that is to say, on a direct line towards Poland's capital city, were to be carried out by the 2nd Cavalry Guards Corps. This meant that the rapid response force was dissolved. New support for Krujkov's cavalry troops would now be provided by the 70th Army. Following the seizure of Brest and the 2nd Army's redeployment towards the west; General Vasilij Popov's army, which included two rifle corps, lost contact with the enemy. At this time, Marshal Rokossovskij gave the order that after the regrouping had been carried out, they were to march in the direction of Kałuszyn and, from there, begin to participate in the storming of Praga together with the 47th Army. In addition, adjacent to the Bugs lower flow near Siemiatycz; the 28th Army, along with support troops from 1st Mechanised Corps and the 9th Tank Corps, began to prepare for an assault. These formations were to attack positioned on the right side of the 2nd Cavalry Guards Corps in the direction of Sokołow Podlaski and onward toward Wyszków.

An armoured transport vehicle, model Sd Kfz Ausf. D, from Panzergrenadier-Regiment 12, 4th Panzer-Division, in Poland at the end of July 1944. (MWP)

The 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf's” withdrawal clearly sealed the loss of Siedlce, however, only some 10km west of the city; the Germans built a new defensive line with the intent of retaining the area between Węgrów and Sokołów Podlaski. Model gave General Weiß a special order forbidding him from retreating any further from Warsaw. The German's 2nd Army had also received orders to cease all attacks against the 1st Belorussian Front's right flank along the Nur – Suraż line where the Bug and Narew Rivers joined. Set in to oppose the Soviet 48th and 65th Armies, which were attacking north of the Bug, was the newly formed LV Army-Corps (the 11th Panzer-Division, the 28th Jäger-Division, the 367th Infantry-Division, the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 507, the Calvary-Corps “Harteneck,” with their commander General Gustaw Harteneck – the 4th Panzer-Division ,the 12th. Infantry-Division and the 4th Calvary Brigade) as well as parts of the XXIII Army-Corps that along with the XX Army-Corps also defended the terrain between Nur and Sokołów Podlaski. The XXIII Army-Corps had command of the 35th Infantry-Division, the 292nd Infantry-Division, and the 541st Grenadier-Division, while General Rudolf von Roman's XX Army-Corps had at its disposal, the 7th Infantry-Division, the 102nd Infantry-Division, the 3rd Cavalry-Brigade plus the remnants of the Brest garrison. On July 31, the 2nd Army still had command over both of the Waffen-SS armoured divisions, but these were subsequently redeployed to the 9th Army sector, consisting of the decimated VIII Army-Corps (5th Jäger-Division, 211th.Infantry-Division) under the command of the XX Army-Corps staff and that portion of the II Ersatz-Corps which had remained with the Hungarian Front's rearguard. Within this corps were the 5th, 12th and 23rd Ersatz-Corps, as well as the Hungarian 1st Cavalry Division. The fighting capacity of the Hungarian units was not especially high, however, due to their weak armament and the low morale.

A Soviet reconnaissance unit operating from a BA-64 and two M3A1s conducting operations in eastern Poland, July 1944. (Leandoer & Ekholm Archive)

On the first day of August 1944, three significant events took place at the Warsaw-front. South of the Polish capital near the join of the Pilica and Radomka Rivers, the substantial forces of General Vasil Tjujkov's 8th Guards Army crossed over the Wisła to its western bank. During the course of a single day, Tjujkov transported no less than nine rifle-guard regiments, 341 light guns and mortars, along with 19 tracked artillery vehicles across the river. Once the Soviet forces had crossed the river, they immediately set to work constructing pontoon bridges. By the evening of August 1, the frontline troops stretching between Mniszew and Magnuszew were already 15 km wide and 5 km deep.

An improvised mobile gun battery “Panzerjägertriebwagen 44” from the German armoured train, model BP 44, on the eastern front, Poland July/August 1944. (CAW)

In the face of this new threat, General von Vormann now directed all available reserve troops in the direction the Pilica's discharge. However, with his weak army devoting all its combat strength to the battles raging outside Praga, these reserves were not particularly impressive. Those who left the Warsaw sector were, first and foremost, the 1132nd Grenadier-Brigade and the Ersatz-Sturmgeschütz-Brigade that it worked in co-operation with. Two artillery units, equipped with heavy 8.8cm anti-aircraft guns, also left the country's capital. Infantry-Regiment 95 from the 17th Infantry-Division and a few additional reserve troop battalions ended up outside Deblin. Airplanes from the 6th Luftflotte attacked the pontoon bridges and ferries. The Germans lacked the combat strength needed to carryout a bigger counter-offensive.

This day's second significant event was the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. As it happened, luck fell on the side of the uprising's supporters: It didn't break out until the afternoon, which is to say, until a couple of hours after the city had been deserted by the most vital German forces, which coincidently included the very units that had earlier been earmarked for pacifying an eventual uprising. The commander for the Warsaw region, General Stahel, was forced to go on the defensive and, as late as August 4, the Home Army still retained the initiative. The fighting that burst out in Warsaw also made it more difficult for the division “Hermann Göring” to reach the front. This was particularly the case for Fallschirm-Pz. Gren. Rgt. 2 “Hermann Göring” which had not been involved in the fighting in Praga. However, it should be pointed out that the two, model PzKpfw V “Panther” tanks, which were captured on August 2 by insurgents in the city quarter of Woła, had not hailed from “Hermann Göring” but, instead, came from the 1st Company, I Panzer-Regiment 27. On August 2, this “Herman Göring” unit fought with all the strength at its disposal in Praga's environs and, as earlier noted, had no access to tanks of this model. The Uprising also obstructed the 19th Panzer-Division from carrying out a complete troop consolidation. Namely, it was isolated from its main force which was en route from Holland. The resulting outcome was that the artillery reinforced II Panzer-grenadier-Regiment 73 had to make a detour south around the whole of Warsaw and, on August 1, found themselves in the Wilanów district.

Finally, in the fields outside of Praga, the tank battle reached its culmination. On August 1, a part of the 19th Panzer-Division (Gruppe “Baler”) circled around the Soviet positions outside of Radzymin, and then detoured north through Wysków, Serock and Zegrze along the Bug and Narew Rivers. After having joined together part of the II Panzer-Regiment 27, the I Panzer-grenadier Regiment 74, and the I Battery plus
some smaller divisional formations in the forest adjacent to Nieporęt, the resulting force then went on the attack against Aleksandrów via Wólka Radzymińska. At the same time, the Fallschirm-Pz. Gren. Rgt. 1 “Hermann Göring” made use of the powerful support provided by the division's artillery and tanks (the II Battalion and commandeered Tiger-tanks from the III Battalion arriving from the south) and fought their way from Marki towards Struga. Despite the heavy opposition put up by soldiers from the 50th Tank Brigade, destroying at least ten German tanks, both attacks succeeded. The 19th Panzer-Division seized Aleksandrów and the Luftwaffe grenadiers took Struga. Soviet troops were also forced to abandon the village of Słupno, retreating with heavy casualties toward the inner defensive line surrounding Radzymin. The southern Kampfgruppe, the 19th Panzer-Division (Pz. Gren. Rgt. – I 73rd , II 174th, II Artillery-Regiment), regrouped in the morning at Wesoła, west of the capital, and from there launched an attack against the troop forces defending Okuniew, drawn from the 60th Tank Guards Brigade and the 8th Tank Guards Corps. This counter attack was also crowned with success. Having captured Okuniew; the Germans switched to a defensive war posture while awaiting the arrival of tanks from the Waffen-SS scheduled to arrive from the east.