Warszawa II by Norbert Bacyk

would also effectively sever contact between the 9th and 2nd Armies as well as both corps defending the routes entering Warsaw. On August 15, after repeated bombardment in connection with air attacks by the Ił-2 assault wing, the Soviet infantry entered Wołomin and Tłusczc. The German and the west-European volunteers from the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” responded with a series of heavy counter-attacks in which all of the tanks and assault-guns (StuG’s) from both of the SS armoured regiments participated. Throughout the entire day, bloody close-quarter combat took place – including actual hand-to-hand use of the bayonet – and the 47th Army’s two rifle corps retreated to their start-out positions. Troops from the IV SS-Panzer-Corps together with the XX Army-Corps managed to avoid being totally crushed. Nonetheless, between August 10 and 15; they were pressed back almost as far as the Bug. The front now ran precisely along the railway line between Warsaw and Białystok. On the evening of August 15, they inflicted such heavy losses on the Soviet side that it ceased its assault, but this pause lasted only 48 hours. It was only along the stretch between Sulejówek and Radóśc, on the direct approaches to Praga, that calm continued to reign.
    An assault gun of model StuG 40 Sd Kfz 142/1 Ausf. G moving towards the eastern front, summer 1944. (CAW)
    In the middle of August, vital changes were made in the command positions of the German side. Hitler was impressed by Model’s effectiveness when it came to “taping” gaps in the front and was also highly aware of his dedication. For these two commendable reasons, he was awarded the prestigious post of Oberbefehlhaber “West” – commander in chief over all military forces in the west. Model would go on to organise the retreat of the defeated troops in Normandy over the Seine, simultaneously resolving sensitive political questions in the Wehrmacht staff related to lingering suspicions regarding his contacts with the July 20 conspirators. On August 16, General Georg Hans Reinhardt was appointed as the commander of Heeresgruppe “Mitte” – and General Josef Harpe was selected commander of Heeresgruppe “Nord Ukraine.” The Germans were very conscious of the weaknesses along their front, especially in the Warsaw region, therefore they decided to again send the Hungarian unit from the II Reserve Corps into combat. General von Vormann regarded this type of support as highly dubious, not just because their number was low and their weaponry light. His main objection was grounded in signs indicating they “fraternise with the Poles”, as he wrote of in his reports. Despite this, the Hungarian 12th Reserve Division took up combat positions between the Warsaw section of Å»oliborz and the Kampinos-reservation (to battle against the partisans), while the 5th Reserve Division reinforced the VIII Army-Corps outside Warsaw. These units began to regroup on August 19.
    A day earlier in Warsaw (with the exception of the stretch of area passing through Praga), the 47th Army, the 70th Army, the 8th Guards Tank Corps, and the 28th Army resumed the assault directed against the IV SS-Panzer-Corps and the XX Army-Corps. The opposing German troop forces were as follows: along the Radość-Solejówek line – the 73rd Infantry-Division; the Sulejówek-Ossów line – the 1131st Grenadier-Brigade; the Wołomin-Tłuszcz line – the 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf”; in the Tłuszcz region – the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” ; and along the Łochów-Małkinia line, in the following order – the 5th Jäger-Division, the 211th Infantry-Division and the 102nd Infantry-Division. Once again, the Soviet offensive was preceded by massive bombing runs and hurricanes of artillery fire. The main assault was carried out by the 70th and the 28th Armies between