The full text is about 4200 words, thank you for your patience. Author: Sakura Suzuli, the original of this article, refuse to be reproduced commercially, and the fat goose is published with the exclusive authorization of the original author
If, in history, the Soviet High Command (Stalin, Zhukov) and the commanders of the First Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) were able to order the Soviet army to defend the entire front with a cool head and correct political considerations, "to see death and not save", then the exhausted First Belorussian Front, which had been in a long battle, could get a precious time to fully rest and replenish. It will not be so bad that while sacrificing a large number of Red Army soldiers in a fierce battle without preparation, it will not be flattering to end up in the black cauldron of "seeing death and not saving".
Unfortunately, however, history cannot assume that since 1 August 1944, when the Soviet 3rd Tank Corps was ambushed on three sides and nearly annihilated, the Soviet army failed to keep a cool head and a correct understanding of the anti-Soviet and anti-communist political nature of the main instigator of the Warsaw Uprising: the British-controlled London government-in-exile. The High Command still ordered the 1st Belorussian Front to attack in full force, and the Germans who held the defensive line paid a great price.
Situation map of the Belorussian Offensive Campaign (23 June 1944 – 29 August 1944).
On June 22, 1944, the four fronts of the Red Army launched the Battle of Baghraten, attacking northern Germany and Army Group Center. On 29 June, the German encirclement of Bobruisk was eliminated, and on 3 July Minsk was captured and the Germans were encircled here. A 400-kilometer-wide strategic breakthrough to Poland and East Prussia, Germany, was torn open.
On 17 July 1944, the Red Army reached the front west of Svesloch, Vidomlia and Drogychin.
On July 22, 1944, the Red Army captured Haeum.
On 23 July 1944, the Red Army's 2nd Tank Army and the Guards 8th Army captured Lublin.
On July 25, 1944, the government-in-exile authorized Jankowski to decide on the date of the uprising.
On 26 July 1944, Boole reported the date and timing of the uprising to the London Government-in-Exile.
Map of the Lublin-Brest Offensive Campaign
Combat operations from 18 July to 2 August 1944. Under the city of Warsaw, the Soviet army faced an extremely complex and difficult battlefield geography and enemy and enemy situation.
At the same time, the German army was also intensively dispatching troops to the newly promoted commander of Army Group Center, Modell, to support the table. 19th Panzer Division (transferred from the Netherlands), WSS (Waffen-SS) "Viking" Panzer Division WSS "Skull" Panzer Division (transferred from Romania), Luftwaffe "Grand Marshal Hermann Goering" Panzer Division (transferred from Italy) and 4th Panzer Division.
The five armored divisions (and a 501st Heavy Armored Battalion, including 44 Tiger King) arrived in and around the city of Warsaw by rail and road. Also arriving in Warsaw during the same period were a large number of infantry divisions and independent brigades and battalions. In the presence of the Soviet Guards Eighth Army alone, in addition to the Goering Air Panzer Division and the 19th Panzer Division, the 17th Infantry Division, the 45th National Grenadier Division, the 1132nd National Grenadier Brigade, the 902nd Tank Destroyer Battalion and other units were found. A large number of German troops retreating from the direction of Belarus also received reinforcements and technical equipment in the area around Warsaw.
However, it is strange that such a large-scale concentration is carried out through railways and highways for mobilization, unloading, assembly, deployment and replenishment. The Polish National Army Command and Boer, Sosnkov and others did not take into account the plan of action and the time when they drew up their plans of action.
Of course, it is difficult to say that the Polish condors in London were indeed aware of and aware of the arrival of these troops—even Mikoraydzyk, head of the Polish government-in-exile in London, learned from the mouth of Stalin, the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Union, on August 9 that there were three German armored divisions and two infantry divisions in the Prague district alone.
It seems that the Showa trick of the national army is quite happy.
For very strange reasons, the "National Army" controlled by the Provisional Government-in-Exile in London did not consider carrying out sabotage operations on the bridges, railways, stations, and shunting yards on which the Germans relied to mobilize troops and transport supplies, whether in advance planning or actual operations.
Although the London government-in-exile claimed to have 300,000 guerrillas in Poland, the Germans were utterly spared the terrible scene of fighting the swarming guerrillas in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and the Karelia-Finnish Soviet Republic.
During the fighting from July to September 1944, despite the threat of the Soviet Air Force, the German lines of communication and logistics were safe and reliable, and the wind and waves were calm, effectively ensuring their battle with the Soviets on the Vistula River.
On July 27, 1944, the 28th Army of the Red Army arrived at the Sibug River.
On 29 July 1944, the German 19th Panzer Division launched a counterattack.
The Red Army's 2nd Tank Army attacked the Praga area here, and the Germans counterattacked the "Goering" division and the "Viking" division. The 3rd Tank Corps was surrounded by 2 tank brigades, and the Tank Army switched to the defensive, countering the powerful enemy's attack with constant counter-shocks and counterattacks, hoping to rescue the 2 besieged brigades.
Two officers of the Waffen-SS Skeleton Division, set against the backdrop of a destroyed tank 2nd Army T-34-85 tank, are said to be one of the famous Tiger ace Hubert-Erwin Meierdress.
On August 1, 1944, the Warsaw Uprising broke out. The Red Army's 3rd Tank Corps was attacked in three directions by the Germans and was forced to retreat, and the Germans declared annihilation of the army. At the same time, the Germans launched a large-scale counterattack, and several German troops even invaded the Soviet rear.
On 1 August 1944, Trikov's Guards 8th Army established a bridgehead 15 km wide and 10 km deep; this bridgehead was originally planned as a starting point for the siege and liberation of Warsaw.
On August 2, 1944, the Red Army received news of the Warsaw Uprising and began to fight back against the Germans. South of Warsaw, the Red Army opened the Valka-Magnusev landing field and the Pravi bridgehead.
On August 3, 1944, the 3rd Tank Corps lost more than half of its strength, with 8,628 men and 74 tanks and self-propelled guns. The tank 2nd Army's plan to quickly break into the vicinity of Warsaw collapsed.
On August 4, 1944, the 8th Guards Army continued to expand the bridgehead, and the pontoon bridge capable of carrying heavy weapons and equipment was completed, and a large number of troops and weapons entered the bridgehead.
Time and events have reached this point, and we will first turn to the state of the Soviet army participating in the war.
At this time, the 1st Belorussian Front fought hard in Operation Bagration, attacking the forests and swamps of Belarus for 600 kilometers. When the front's troops entered Poland, the air bases, logistics depots and rear organs remained in the territory of Belarus and Russia, and the troops suffered heavy losses and exhaustion in the arduous battles and marches.
The main assault forces of the 1st Belorussian Front were the 2nd Tank Army and 3 cavalry corps.
The 2nd Tank Army consisted of the Guards Tank Corps 8th, the 3rd Tank Army, and the Tank 16th Army.
On June 15, 1944, the 2nd Tank Army was transferred from the High Command to the 1st Belorussian Front, which at this time had 32,000 officers and men and 425 tank self-propelled guns. He also participated in the Battle of Lublin-Brest in the second phase of Operation Bagration.
In the last days of the end of July, the 3rd Tank Corps under the army group was ambushed and counterattacked by a powerful German army while attacking Warsaw, and the fierce fighting continued until August 6, when the army lost 284 tanks and suffered heavy losses.
The 3 cavalry corps were also in a bad situation, they joined the battle from June 22, trekking 500-600 kilometers all the way forward, and the 4th Guards Cavalry Army was even surrounded by German troops in late July and early August!
The 8th Guards Army fought in Operation Bagration for more than a month, fighting several vicious battles in a row, and the troops were extremely tired.
The Soviet 28th, 47th, 69th, and 70th Armies, the 16th Army of the Air Force, and the Polish 1st Army, which fought under the city of Warsaw, were all tired divisions that had fought in the Belorussian War without rest. The 28th and 47th Armies entered the fighting on 22 June.
The state of the 1st Belorussian Front deteriorated to such an extent, but the fierce fighting continued, partly because the Germans were desperate to hold Warsaw and the Vistula River and send strong troops to attack. On the other hand, it was also because the Soviets themselves wanted to attack Warsaw under the enemy's offensive.
From 1 August 1944 to 14 August 1944, the Germans mobilized the 19th Panzer Division, one each from the 45th and 19th Infantry Divisions, to attack the Guards 8th Army from the south of the landing field. The 8th Guards Army stabilized the situation after receiving substantial assistance at the Valka-Magnushev landing field.
From 1 August 1944 to 27 August 1944, the 69th Army was still expanding its frontal bridgehead for the offensive against Warsaw, bringing the bridgehead to a front of 30 km and a depth of 10 km.
On August 29, 1944, under the continuous and powerful counterattack and attack of the German armored group, Stalin and Antonov were forced to order the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front to turn to the defensive.
The German Tiger tanks that replenished their ammunition under the city of Warsaw and the fighting between the Soviet and German armies under the city of Warsaw were so fierce that many tank groups often ran out of ammunition in a single battle.
In early September 1944, Soviet reconnaissance found that one of Praga's armored divisions and other units had been transferred to the Soviet bridgehead on the Vistula River.
On 7 September 1944, Germany continued its concentration of weapons in Warsaw.
On September 10, 1944, the Soviet 47th Army launched its first offensive. The Soviet Union informed the United States that it had agreed to provide an air base for shuttle flights to airdrop supplies to Warsaw.
In mid-September, against the backdrop of a fierce German attack on the left and right bridgeheads, the Soviets attempted to infiltrate the Front of Warsaw with the strength of the Soviet 69th Army and the Polish Army to establish a bridgehead.
But the Germans then attacked, and on September 20, 1944, the Germans attacked the bridgehead between the two bridges in the south. The Polish forces defending the bridge were suppressed, and the 514 and 516 blocks of the city abandoned some blocks.
On September 22, 1944, after suffering heavy losses, the Soviets ordered polish troops to withdraw to the east bank.
On 24 September 1944, the remnants of the Polish army withdrew to the east bank, and the military operations on the front line in Warsaw ended.
Bloody loss with upside down black and white
August and September 1944:
The 8th Guards Army lost 35,000 men in the brutal battle near Warsaw, the entire Army Group suffered more than half of the casualties, and countless veterans from Stalingrad and Ukraine were buried in this battle that should not have anything to do with them.
After the disastrous defeat of the 2nd Tank Army in early August, due to the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, the badly wounded Tank Army had to continue its offensive until September 6 before it had to withdraw to the Minsk area to regroup, and they ran out most of their officers and tanks, and did not return to the 1st Belorussian Front until October 30, when they were able to enter the war in 1945.
The Belorussian 1st Front lost 170,000 men under the city of Warsaw (combat operations in August-September), of which 30,000 were killed.
(The capture of Berlin only sacrificed more than 80,000 people)
Soviet Martyrs' Cemetery in Warsaw
A corner of the Soviet Martyrs' Cemetery in Warsaw
However, what they sacrifice is a ruthless black cauldron and dirty water.
"Watching the fire from the other side"!
Their sacrifices were desecrated and the blood of their heroes was trampled.
Stalin and Rokossovsky made a striking mistake – they wanted to say a little about "righteousness", "benevolence" and "morality" for some people; they did some "internationalist obligations".
Unfortunately, however, benevolence to the enemy was often cruelty to the people, and the 1st Belorussian Front wasted 2 months under the city of Warsaw for no reason, losing 170,000 people and a lot of weapons and equipment, and the price paid was large enough for Manstein to brush the Kharkov counterattack several times!
A large number of elite Soviet troops who had been in the battlefield for a long time were injured and maimed; the storage and scheduling plan for the rest and replenishment of troops and logistics supplies was also completely disrupted.
If the senior generals of the Soviet army can settle their hearts and minds, really achieve "see death and do not save", "watch the fire from the other side", let the German army let go to suppress the Warsaw Uprising without touching the slightest...
(No one would be an idiot enough to believe that the tens of thousands of Polish rebels in Warsaw alone, with no food, no food, no food, no weapons, many factions, intrigues and tm could be trapped in the black market, could hold on to a dozen Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS panzer divisions and infantry divisions for nearly two months.) In fact, the failure of the Soviet offensive ended with the death penalty of the Warsaw Uprising. ）
If "it is really impossible to save death", for the Soviet army, not only is it experienced, but more than 100,000 veterans who have been in the battlefield for a long time can be saved, and the temporary pause can give them enough time to deal with logistical matters; the Battle of the Vistula River, which was launched in history in 1945, can also be launched several months in advance, and then seize more initiative from the British and American coalition forces, and can determine the entire balance of power in Central Europe with greater discourse.
In a sense, the adventurism and defeat on the Vistula River was also an important factor in Rokossovsky's abdication to Zhukov, and he had to go to East Prussia to gnaw on the bunkers - as a Pole, he lost the opportunity to liberate Warsaw forever.
When the Red Army liberated Warsaw the following year, the people of Warsaw were welcomed by the middle of the road
In February 1945, under Zhukov's command, the Soviet and Polish armies of the powerful Belorussian 1st Front invaded Warsaw, liberating the nearly dead city of suffering and being warmly welcomed by the citizens of Warsaw.