The military situation as perceived by the command of the Home Army on July 31, 1944. [Soviet forces in red, German ones in blue.] The Soviet Red Army was pressing the Germans just east of Warsaw and a massive attack by Marshal Rokossowsky was expected to start very soon. From the south east the powerful Herman Goering SS armored division was making its way towards Warsaw, having been sent from the Italian front to counter the Soviet advance. At 2:00 p.m. on July 31, the Home Army Command decided that it would be premature to start the Uprising on August 1, or even August 2. At 5:00 p.m. on July 31 a report was received, however, that Soviet tanks had reached the Praga suburb on the eastern bank of the Vistula. It was then that the decision was made that the Uprising would start at 5:00 p.m. on August 1. At 6:00 p.m. on July 31 additional reports were received that the Germans had started a contraoffensive, but by then it was too late to withdraw the order starting the Uprising.