Survey protocol
Establishing contact with Polish resistance.
21.09.1944.: I have landed in the central part of Warsaw city, street Gozha.
It appeared that in this region units of
Armia Ludowa
were operating. I was
immediately escorted to the commander of the AL, Major “Senk” and his chief
of staff “Roman” who received me.
Major “Senk” has received me well
and described the overall situation in Warsaw. As he said, the situation was
rather difficult. The inhabitants and the rebels were starving. The uprising
dragged on for an unforeseen period. “Senk” said that he is very pleased
that I, as a representative of the Red Army have arrived. Also he has warned
me that I should not trust the representatives of
Armia Krajowa
who are hostile to
the Red Army and the Soviet Union [SU].
22.09.1944.: I was received by General Skokovsky who commands the units of
AL, PAL (Polish Armia Ludowa), the Security Corps
. Skokovsky has
promised me full support and created lists of needed weapons, ammo and food
as well as warned me about the necessity of being careful with AK.
After that I was routed to the command of the central rebel district
to the staff of general “Monter”
{“Fitter” if translated from Russian}.
General “Monter” has received me accompanied by his deputy, colonel Vakhnowsky and staff head colonel “Hirurg” {“Surgeon” if translated from Russian}. There was also a third person, unknown to me, wearing civilian clothes, who was actually leading the meeting. “Monter” would not answer without consulting this person.
After I introduced myself as a communications representative of the Red Army , the first question from “Monter” was: “Do you have an authority to solve political questions?”. After my negative answer, “Monter” disappointingly answered: “You have not arrived as a political representative? Pity. Then there are few things for us to talk about!”
I underlined once more that I have arrived as a military representative and communications officer to solve the questions of dropping food, weapons and ammo, exchanging information about the enemy as well as sending rebel plans and wishes to the RA.
During the talk, “Monter” has said: “We only need ammo and weapons. We do not ask for food as those will be supplied by England and America.” “Monter” has promised to prepare a written request for the necessary supplies and promised to share information about the enemy. The talk was carried out in a restrained tone. A malevolent, suspicious attitude was evident towards me as a representative of the RA.
After the talk, I received a separate guarded room. During the radio contact my radio operator, who was heavily injured during the landing, was fatally wounded by a mine explosion.
The plans and progress of the uprising in Warsaw.
The uprising has been prepared for a long time. Weapons and supplies were shipped from England and stored in secret places. AK, controlled by the government in London, was in the leading role. Other organizations including democratic ones were not aware of the uprising.
The aim of the uprising was capturing the city before the Red Army. After capturing Warsaw the Polish government led by Mikolachik should have immediately arrived here. One of the high priority objectives set by the AK was to clear the government and ministry buildings.
At 5 oclock on 1st of August 1944 AK started the armed uprising which was supported by the entire population of Warsaw. Democratic organizations - AL, PAL, SC were presented with a fact, but however decided to support the uprising.
The rebels initially had success and successfully cleared the central part
from the German forces, including the ministry buildings, government
buildings and were counting on taking the entire Warsaw soon. Seeing the
rapid advance of the AR in the Sedletz area, the command of the AK has
accelerated the uprising.
The preparation and execution of the
uprising was led by the representatives of the London government, including
some ministers that were in Poland all the time. Also Mikolaichik’s deputy
prime-minister has arrived and was in Warsaw (I was unable to find out his
surname).
General Bor (real surname - count Komarowsky) was performing
as an official leader of the uprising. This personality is extremely secret.
None of the soldiers and officers has ever seen him. Only “Monter” and some
colonels had access to him. His personal signs were kept in secret, so no
one really knew whether or not he was in Warsaw.
General Gutek (short,
about 55 years old, wearing civilian clothes), Bor’s adjutant, spoke on his
behalf. Gutek led the official press conferences, where he informed
everyone, including Bor himself about the instructions of the government in
London.
General Skakowsky has never been accepted by Bor.
The
official intelligence reports which I was receiving while in “Monter” staff
were marked “p/p division general Bor”.
By 10th of September the failure of the uprising had become evident. Supplies of food and weapons were dwindling. Contradictions between various organizations and most of all between AL and AK did not allow to put up an effective fight against the Germans. To solve those issues the leaders of AK and AL have come into contact in purely military form. Initially, the leadership of AL was afraid to go against the more powerful AK as it was threatening to eliminate them completely. However, after continuous fierce fighting, the leadership of AK was forced to establish a military contact with the AL. Units of AL obeyed the general leadership of “Monter”. At first, each region had both AL and AK companies, but later AL and AK have gotten a separate region of defence for each of them.
The civilian population was on the AK side at first, but then during the
fighting, saw the collapse of the AK plans. It became clear for the
civilians the uprising started without any agreement with the Red Army. The
anti soviet propaganda, deployed by the reactive elements, began to lose its
popularity. Panic, requests for capitulation and protests against the
leadership of AK were spreading.
On 18.09 there was a military protest
of the civilian groups against the AK. The civilians tried to eliminate AK
as an element which was preventing the Red Army from entering Warsaw or
supporting the civilians.
By the moment of my arrival to Warsaw, the city was in hunger. The soldiers instead of food were receiving: hot water in the morning; ersatz coffee in the midday and in the evening. There was no bread or grain. The civilians did not receive any food whatsoever. At the same time, there was a lot of product speculation: anything could be bought at the bazaar, including fat and bread. The prices were in gold or dollars. It was known that factory owners and landlords who were in the city have full stocks of food which were guarded by the armed guardsmen. The city government, led by the government in London did not do anything to regulate the supply of the population. Hundreds of people were dying each day of hunger and illnesses.
The official propaganda of the leadership of AK in their daily leaflets was claiming the effectiveness of English-American food and equipment drops for civilians and military. In reality the English-AMerican planes had no effect. On 14.09 a demonstrative flight of 80 heavy aircraft was organized, during which a lot of supplies were dropped from heights of up to 3000m. Of these supplies no less than 95% fell on German territory.
Source: ЦАМО РФ. Ф. 233. Оп. 2380. Д. 22. Л. 238–244.
Source: warsaw75.mil.ru
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