Polish Armored Fighting Vehicles of the Warsaw Uprising August 1st to October 2nd of 1944
Polish Improvised Armored Car "Kubus" on display at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw.
The Warsaw Uprising, was launched on August 1st of 1944 at 5:00pm, by the underground resistance movements AK (Armia Krajowa - The Home Army),
NSZ (Narodowe Sily Zbrojne - National Armed Forces) and AL (Armia Ludowa - People's Army) as Soviet troops approached the city. Although Soviet authorities encouraged this uprising and promised to support it, the aim of the Home Army, loyal to the Polish Government in Exile in London,
was to liberate the city from the Germans before the Soviets could do so and to establish themselves as representatives of the government in London.
AK feared Soviet assumption of direct control over all of Poland. The Warsaw Uprising was led by the General Tadeusz "Bor" Komorowski and
was supported by the Polish Government in Exile in London. In their suppression of the uprising, the Germans killed
tens of thousands of Poles; meanwhile, the Soviet army remained inactive at the city gates across the River Vistula until October 2nd, when the uprising collapsed.
The Germans exacted terrible revenge for the uprising. Virtually the entire remaining population of Warsaw was deported to forced labor or concentration camps,
and its buildings were systematically razed (95% of all buildings on the left bank of Vistula were destroyed).
The Red Army and Polish People's Army then resumed its offensive and liberated the city on January 17th of 1945, beginning the era of Soviet-dominated
government in Poland.
Tanks
German Panzerkampfwagen M14/41 736(i) (Italian Carro Armato M13/41) medium tank
