Week 258 - The Warsaw Uprising Begins! - WW2 - August 5, 1944

As the Red Army closes in on Warsaw, the Polish Home Army in the city rises up against the German forces. Up in the north the Red Army takes Kaunas. The Allies take Florence in Italy this week, well, half of it, and in France break out of Normandy and into Brittany. The Allies also finally take Myitkyina in Burma after many weeks of siege, and in the Marianas take Tinian and nearly finish taking Guam. And in Finland the President resigns, which could have serious implications for Finland remaining in the war.

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Hosted by: Indy Neidell,
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: Indy Neidell,
Research by: Indy Neidell,
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński

Image sources:
National Archives of Norway
SA-kuva
IWM BU 556, IWM TR 2292
Mikołaj Uchman
Daniel Weiss
Election1960 from Wiki Commons

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Easy Target - Rannar Sillard
Break Free - Fabien Tell
Darkness Closing In - Max Anson
The Story Begins STEMS INSTRUMENTS - Hampus Naeselius
Heroes On Horses - Gunnar Johnsén
Dark Beginning - Johan Hynynen
Leave It All Here - Fabien Tell
Let Go of Fear - Howard Harper-Barnes
It's Not a Game - Philip Ayers
Rivers Run Red - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Dragon King - Jo Wandrini
Heroes On Horses - Gunnar Johnsén
Rivers Run Red - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Secret Cargo - Craft Case

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

[WorldWarTwo]

With the Red Army so close to the city, surely Stalin's troops with come to Warsaw's aid. Right?

[Its__Good]

258 weeks in and you're still delivering all these stories with a freshness and excitement. It's an amazing achievement guys.

[edlawn]

Every August 1st at 5:00 PM (Godzina "W"), all of Warsaw stops and the sirens go off to commemorate the start of The Uprising.

[billy]

Happened to run into a man on the side of the road my senior year in high school. Turns out he was Mr. Clyde Miller, and he was on his way to Washington for the reunion of Merrill’s Marauders. We became pen pals and he even sent me some of his memorabilia. He passed away a few years ago. Incredible man with incredible stories. RIP Miller. Until next time.

[Paladin]

One of the two Marauders who remained unwounded and uninjured was its commander, Colonel Charles Hunter.

[NaturalLanguageLearning]

The Uprising Museum in Warsaw is definitely worth visiting.

I also recommend Norman Davies' book on it.

[Kubinda]

Spartacus' episode about the Nazi crimes during the Warsaw Uprising is going to be disturbing. He spoke about it on the Sabaton History channel and it was really something truly disgusting.

[alfrancisbuada]

To all the brave souls who gave their lives to be free.

[omahapt]

As a teenager, I used to play war games with 1:76 models.
Now in my 50s, the one thing that strikes me the most is the number of casualties on all sides. So many lives lost, so much suffering. It's all in the thousands, week after week. One would think lessons had been learned.

[gunman]

An interesting side note this week on August 2 1944 is that Leutnant Erich Sommer will fly an Arado Ar 234 V7 prototype jet aircraft over the Allied Normandy beachheads in France while the two Rb 50/30 cameras on board took a photograph every 11 seconds. This would become the first jet aircraft reconnaissance mission in aviation history.

[bookaufman]

It's strange how often Hitler would demand no retreat and almost always allow the soldiers to retreat. He just forced them to wait until they lost a lot of men and would have to break out or face other harrowing odds.

[jayburn]

Funny that Stalin called anyone a bandit, considering he started as a bank robber.

[lightbox]

Two years ago, I was priveledged to spend six weeks in Florence. I walked, Daily, across Pont Del Vecchio and Amerigo Vespucci. The views of the Arno, the racing shells at practice and the great (CHEAP) restaurants along the way to museums made me love the place.

[gunman]

This week may be a good week to watch the 2002 film *The Pianist* with the start of the Warsaw Uprising on August 1 1944 being portrayed and the impact that is felt on the pianist Władysław Szpilman as he is forced to constantly shelter and supplies amidst the ongoing fighting. There are also other notable films about the Warsaw Uprising, such at the 2014 Polish film *Warsaw 44* as well as the 2001 television film *Uprising* .

[Robbi]

Indy's ability to pronounce Slavic, Russian and German names a amazing!

[Artur_M.]

Just as the Uprising began in Warsaw, the 1st Polish Armoured Division was deployed to Normandy. You can see it appear on the map at 14:22. I have a hunch we might hear about this unit in the future.

[jayburn]

My grandfather participated in the Warsaw uprising (and had previously been a message runner to the ghetto during the ghetto uprising). He was captured by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp, but ironically this saved his life (though severely scarring him, both literally and figuratively, the Germans actually partly skinned him alive, some of this I only found out through inference and piecing things together immediately before and after he died, as he deflected sometimes with euphemisms). He was to be executed by the Soviets as he was on a list of theirs, but fortunately his camp was liberated by American forces.

[LightFykki]

Man, it is astonishing just through what the Marauders went through and what kind of an unit it was. Everyone was so deep into the fighting, being soldier or officer.. Those few that survived sure had many stories to tell

[huma]

Single best WW2 documentary out there.

[samuelkatz]

Another excellent episode. Bagration was covered excellently by your team, but I'm still surprised the Soviets are now crossing the Vistula - this past month really has thrown the eastern front into chaos.

The Warsaw uprising, much like the one on the ghetto is being given its fair respect. I look forward to Sparty's episodes.