A message of the Prime I.V.Stalin to the Prime Minister of Great Britain Mr. W.Churchill

Secret and personal.
5th of August 1944

I have received your message about Warsaw.
I think that your information about the Polish is very exaggerated and is not trustworthy. That is something one can conclude from the claims of Polish who say that some Armia Krayowi units have already taken Vilno, which they even announced on the radio. This without doubt is not true. Polish Armia Krajowa consists of several units which are incorrectly named “divisions”. They don’t have artillery, tanks or aviation. I have no idea how such units can take Warsaw which is defended by four full German tank divisions including the “German Goring” division.

Source: Correspondence of the head of the Minister Council of the USSR with the Presidents of the United States and Prime Ministers of Great Britain during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. 2nd edition 1989 Vol.1 p. 290-291

Survey Protocol (part 5). Warsaw uprising. Capitulation.

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Attitude of Armia Ludowa regarding the capitulation.

The leadership of Armia Ludowa [AL] and other democratic organizations were not informed by the representatives of Armia Krajowa [AK] about the preparations of the capitulation. The leadership of AL were strictly against it and expressed their protests, requesting to continue the resistance.

On 27.09 during a converstation with me, general Skakowsky has said that: “I will act against the capitulation”. Skakowsky has approved the plans of escaping and uniting with the army of Berling. The unit leaders of the AL awere also supporting the continuation of the struggle and for contacting the Red Army.

However the political leadership of AL was hesitating to break up with the AK considering the difficulty of the situation. AL, which was against surrendering, was joined by the democratic elements from AK and also a considerable number of the civilians, who were counting on the Red Army.

Degradation within AK

The leadership and especially middle and lower ranks of the AK organization were torn apart by big contradictions regarding military and political questions. The anti Soviet policy of the government in London has suffered a complete disaster and has discredited itself within the eyes of the population and ordinary soldiers of AK. London delegates could not hold off sympathy among the rebels towards the Red Army anymore.
I personally know several officers who at first were strictly against any union with the Red Army or Berling, but later claimed that they are ready to join AL.

The terrorist actions of PKB began to cause protests. The leadership of AK began to hesitate to prosecute the Russian prisoners. If earlier, Russians who were in AK captivity did not receive any food, then later the AK leadership was forced to acknowledge their equality. It also allowed major Volkov (from former POWs) to form a unit consisting of Russian POWs.

There were people in the AK who were against surrendering, such as colonel Bogumil the commander of one of the districts. The AK has begun searching for compromise between the policy of government in London and rebel demands to form a stable contact with the Red Army. Willing to reestablish its authority, even such reactionists as Vakhnowsky began talking about the will to find a compromise between Rolya-Zhimersky and London. However at the same time they were preparing the full capitulation.

In the military respect carelessness prevailed among the leadership of AK. Only in the last period trenching was activated. The barricades were not improved. There were drinking and revelry cases among the officers of AK, especially at Mokotuv district.

Within the AK signs of political degradation were evident. It became known that general Sosnowsky was replaced by “Bor”. There were rumors about the forthcoming dismissal of “Bor”. Messages arriving from London testified that there were contradictions within Mikolaichik and the ministers.

In the evening of 29.09 Mikolaichik deputy (allegedly in the rank of colonel) invited general Skakovsky. Two questions were discussed there:

1. Skakowsky’s attitude regarding the capitulation. Skakowsky has replied in a sharply negative manner, demanding struggle till the end.
2. Skakowsky’s attitude regarding his promotion to replace general “Bor”. Mikolaichik’s deputy has underlined that Skakowsky’s candidacy is supported by the government in London and Lyublin. Skakowsky allegedly didn’t respond positively to this matter.

Surrendering

On 29-30.09 the leadership of AK has finished the preparation to surrender. Money reserve of amount up to 1,5 million zloty was buried and respective organization have prepared themselves to go underground.

According to the agreement with Germans, on 30.09 the first exit of the civil population has begun. The time window was established every day from 5:00 till 19:00, military operations continued outside of these hours. AK soldiers and officers started to panic. They were trying to dress as civilians and leave among them. AL was still objecting the capitulation.

In the evening of 28.09 I visited General “Monter”. Colonel Vakhnowsky was present during this meeting as well as chief of staff colonel “Hirurg”.
I said to General “Monter”: “As a Soviet Officer I propose to develop a plan on how to cross Visla. I will coordinate the actions with the Red Army to provide artillery covering fire and infantry support from the other bank. We must concentrate all the rebel forces to perform a strike. We have enough machine guns, ATRs and amoo for them. I ask you to develop a plan and inform me”.
General “Monter” answered: “I will think about this. However it is strange that the Red Army doesn’t come to help us”.
Colonel Vakhnowsky said: “This is a good plan, but we have no ammo”.
When I noted that despite the lack of ammo they still managed to hold on until now, Vakhnowsky answered that the uprising was not planned for such a long period etc.
In that way I didn’t receive an answer to my proposal.

During the talk with colonel Slabvor and Bogumil I also expressed this plan to them. They cheerfully approved it, but said that they will obey the leadership of AK and will not go against its orders.

As noted before, the leadership of AL has agreed with my plan.
On 29.09 I requested answer from “Monter” twice in written form and by telephone, but I received no answer. On this day at “Monter’s” staff they refused to give me the information about the enemy, motivating it with absence of new data.
In the evening of 01.10 I was visited by general “Monter’s” adjutant captain Boguslawsky callsign “Korob” who was very sympathetic towards me and the Red Army.

Boguslawsky has warned me of the following:

1. The leadership of AK has decided to surrender.
2. I must leave immediately, because assasination attempt is being prepared against me as a representative of the Red Army.

After assessing the situation, I made a decision to leave about which I reported on the radio. I went down the manhole, went along the pipes following previously scouted path to Visla, swam across the river and went ashore around the bridge of Ponyatowsky. I notified the members of the Lyublin government in Warsaw about this route.

About the actions of captain Kalugin

After arriving to Warsaw I found out that 3-4 days prior to my arrival captain Kalugin has went to the Soviet side. He was at “Monter’s” staff and was considered an official representative of the Soviet command.

The officers of AL said me that Kalugin was exceptionally trusted by “Monter” and was called “Soviet military attache”. Kalugin has taken part in all the meetings of AK staff.
Kalugin has issued leaflets addressing the Russian cossacks, traitors who were on the German side. He called them to join the Red Army or the rebels. These leaflets were dropped from airplanes.

Of Kalugin’s personal omens I know only that he lacks 2-3 fingers on his hand. Kalugin was sent by “Monter” on the Eastern bank and allegedly had some important plans with him.

Survey performed by: deputy head of intelligence staff of the 1st Belorussian front colonel Ozeryansky and captain Bezimensky.

Source: ЦАМО РФ. Ф. 233. Оп. 2380. Д. 22. Л. 238–244.

Source: warsaw75.mil.ru

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Survey Protocol (part 4). Warsaw uprising. Actions of the government in London and preparation of surrender.

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Survey protocol

“Oleg” a scout of Staff of the Front, who at night from I to 2.10 has escaped from the central region of Warsaw.

Actions of the representatives of the government in London.

In the beginning of the uprising the representatives of the Government in London who were with the Armia Krajowa [AK] including the deputy of Mikolaichik were acting openly. However soon after the failure became evident, they went underground again.
The London delegate was acting through the city government and AK press.
The main directions of their actions were:

1. Mobilising forces of the entire population to help the AK
2. Prosecution of every attempt to contact the Red Army
3. Regulating the questions regarding the civil population

Consequently the representatives of the government in London were the initiators of the transfer of the population to the Germans and the capitulation of the rebels.

Preparation and implementation of the capitulation of Armia Krajowa

Seeing the failure of the uprising, the leadership of AK has begun the preparation of the future capitulation and going underground. The government in London has sent instructions through its delegates to some parts of AK staff to go underground and to prepare secret storages etc. PKB has played a special role in this.

PKB while underground, was given the following task: after the Red Army enters Warsaw, conduct sabotage against the leadership of Polish army of Berling, PKNO and prepare the second uprising in the city. For this the storages of weapons and ammunition from outside of Warsaw were to be used.
Also, the AK units were hiding the supplies that the Soviet aviation was dropping above Warsaw. The “Monter” staff for instance was constantly diminishing the amount of received supplies. After Mokotuv had fallen, the escaping officers of AK were carrying 4-5 Soviet machine guns each, while there were very few machine guns among the operating units.

On 24.09.1944 the Germans began the assault on Mokotuv using up to a regiment of infantry with artillery and tanks. Before that there was a complete disorder and carelessness among the leadership of AK in this region. Mokotuv was not fortified. The officers of AK were claiming: “We don’t need the Red Army, we will free Warsaw by ourselves”. The units were very undisciplined. The consequence of that was total disintegration and fall of Mokotuv by 27.09. The commander of the district, colonel Karol fled to the central region, where allegedly he was to be sent under trial.

The leadership of AK began to spread rumors among soldiers and civilians that the Germans have issued a decisive ultimatum to the rebels. This way AK was preparing the public opinion for the future capitulation. The negotiations with the Germans about the evacuation of the civilians have allegedly begun on behalf of the city government. The AK has already taken attempts to find agreement with the Germans about the evacuation of civilians, in an attempt to impove its authority. On 10.09 up to 30 000 people were allowed to leave Warsaw, all of them were settled in concentration camps within 30-40 km to the West of Warsaw.

However, after the Red Army had taken Prague, the civilians started protesting against the defeatist moods of AK and the latter was forced to stop the negotiations.

On 28.09 the leadership of AK, implementing the instructions of the government in London, renewed the negotiations with the Germans. On the Zheleznaya street the first meeting between the AK and the Germans was held about the forthcoming capitulation. The following people have participated in the meeting: general “Monter”, colonel “Slavbor”, lieutenant colonel Zigmund and also 3 German officers representing the commander of the Warsaw forces police and SS general von dem Bach. The following matters were discussed in the meeting:

1. The conditions of the capitulation
2. Establishing the routes for the German forces to enter
3. Organizing special passes for the AK leadership

At this meeting the leadership of AK has decided to require all officers to take the oath to carry out any AK orders unconditionally, regardless of their content. Also they issued an instruction to accept only the documents signed by the AK representatives.

Officially the leadership of AK was arguing that the negotiations are led by the representatives of the city government regarding the evacuation questions and that they {AK} are not related to those negotiations.

The second meeting was held at the Borman factory and civilian evacuation questions were discussed. The Germans have proposed to create two commissions consisting of Polish organization representatives:

1. The commission, containing London delegates and the Red Cross had to go to the West Warsaw region and visit the camps, created by the Germans for the civilians that had left earlier, to make sure that the conditions were plausible.
2. The commission consisting of the military leadership of the AK to visit the German positions and forces in Warsaw, to witness the German force supremacy.

Both these proposals were accepted. The first commission, after visiting the camps, has reported that the civilians are issued 250 grams of bread per day, have medical hare etc. In reality however it was known that the Germans have created unbearable conditions there. The Gestapo was immediately arresting and shooting all the democratic elements. Younger ones were sent to Germany to forced labour. There was high mortality in those camps.

The second commission was led by “Monter” deputy colonel Vakhnowsky. He, after visiting the German positions, has reported to the command of the AK that German forces are exceptionally strong and it is useless to continue the struggle, thus the surrender is inevitable.

Simultaneously the AK and other reactionist elements have launched a wide campaign among the population and soldiers. They were spreading rumors that allegedly the Germans have made a peace agreement with England and America and are uniting against the USSR. Other rumors claimed that the soviet forces had left Prague.

To prepare the public opinion to the capitulation, the rumors were spread that after surrendering it will be possible to exchange the captured Poles with the help of English and Americans.

The German propaganda was calling Poles for the immediate surrender claiming that they will give them the possibility to turn their weapons against the Red Army.

Given the constant famine, lack of water, constant shelling and bombings, the civilians were leaning towards the capitulation. This mood was supported by the less stable elements among the soldiers, mostly within AK.

Source: ЦАМО РФ. Ф. 233. Оп. 2380. Д. 22. Л. 238–244.

Source: warsaw75.mil.ru

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Survey Protocol (part 3). Warsaw uprising. Relationship between Armia Ludowa and Armia Krajowa.

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Survey protocol

“Oleg” a scout of Staff of the Front, who at night from I to 2.10 has escaped from the central region of Warsaw.

Relationship between Armia Krajowa and Armia Ludowa.

The mainmilitary and political organizations among the rebels were Armia Krajowa [AK] and Armia Ludowa [AL] around which other elements were grouping. Relationships between AK and AL were tense all the time.

Despite the military cooperation between them, AK has never considered AL as an equal organization. AL representatives were not invited to neither military nor political meetings. Major “Senk” was forced to personally search for information about all the situation changes.

Initially, the PKB had instructions to organize terroristic acts against the leadership of AL and infiltrate their agents inside it. The soldiers of AL were arrested and shot for the slightest delinquency.

In the central region the units of AL had up to 2000 men (including PAL{Polish Armia Ludowa} and KB {Security Corps}) while AK had between 5 000 and 6 000 men. Initially AK was not issuing any weapons to the AL from those dropped by the Soviet aviation. Only later the AL got such permission.

General Skakowsky who led the united detachments of AL, PAL and KB was considered a purely military man without clear political orientation. General “Monter” was trying to win Skokowsky over to his side and called him to secret meetings several times. He didn’t have any success though.

As the events unwrapped, the political slogans of AL which were calling to cooperate with the Red Army and Lyublin government were receiving more and more support. Large numbers of soldiers and officers from AK were coming to the AL asking to enlist them. Unwilling to conflict with the AK, the leadership of AL has refused them to join, nevertheless they did account such people. Additionally to this,large amounts of various civilian democratic groups and organisations joined the AL. As a result of this, the AL has considered a possibility to capture the initiative in case the AK leadership betrays them. However AL did not want to use that opportunity in an attempt to preserve the unity which was needed to fight the Germans.
The leadership of AK was pursuing officers and soldiers who swayed to the AL side. For instance major AK Mechislav Nichdetsky for his sympathy towards AL was arrested and put on trial allegedly for his foreign connections before the war.

The AL platform has received wide support among the civilian population. AL, PAL and KB have sent a letter to the Supreme commander Marshal Stalin whom they thanked for the provided support and promised to continue the struggle against the German army together with the Polish Army of the General Lieutenant Rolya-Zhimersky

According to my estimates in the last days up to 80% of soldiers and lower ranked AK officers were willing to join the AL. The leadership of AL had severe problems because of lack of communication with Lublin government. The two members of Lyublin government who were in Warsaw all the time were not connected to Osubka-Morawsky because they didn't have a radio.

In military perspective the units of AL had independent regions under their full responsibility and were in fact independent. They were subordinates to "Monter" as a commander of the garrison. The recon was performed by their own forces and they had to get weapons and food on their own.

Receiving airdropped supplies

The leadership of AK did not organize any uniform system of receiving and spreading the airdropped goods. Initially only the AK units got access to them, but in the last decade of September both AK and AL were organized: those who owned the territory, those owned the supply.

Additionally to that, a lot of supplies, mainly the food, were taken by the civilians among whom the distribution was also not organized. In the last period both the soldiers and the civilians were eating exclusively crackers from the Soviet food drops. Instead of hot water, the units started to receive soup made from concentrates and in some cases - crackers.

Source: ЦАМО РФ. Ф. 233. Оп. 2380. Д. 22. Л. 238–244.

Source: warsaw75.mil.ru

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