On August 1, 1944, the Armia Krajowa - the Polish Underground - liberated large portions of
Warsaw from the German occupiers. Thus started the Warsaw Uprising. By then the Soviets had reached
Warsaw's eastern suburbs and, as allies, should have joined with the Poles to speed Germany's
defeat. Instead the Red Army halted its attack and, for 63 days, watched as the
Poles fought against overwhelming German might.
A major battle of the Second World War, fiercer than Stalingrad - it involved a loss of
life of over 200,000 - the Uprising is considered by historians to have changed the course and
outcome of the war, allowing the Allies to meet the Soviets on the Elbe River rather than the Rhine |
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