Warszawa II by Norbert Bacyk Page A

Tłuszcz and Łochów. The Soviet infantry with the support of tanks and assault guns overran the German positions at Jadów, just where the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” and the 5th Jäger-Division connected. Without pause, the infantry continued their assault-march reaching the suburbs of Tłuszcz in hard fighting, with at least 400 armoured vehicles participating on the Soviet side alone.
    The crew of a Soviet ZiS-3 firing against German tanks on the eastern front, August 1944.(WAF)
    SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Gille received orders instructing him to conduct counter-attacks in the direction of Łochów. This was an impossible mission to execute since all the units in his corps were already engaged in battle. On that same day, August 18, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 incurred heavy losses at Jadów, and the tanks which had been spared were sent speedily away in the direction of Tłusczc. Their presence made it possible for the soldiers from SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 “Germania” – exhausting the last of their strength – to hold back the enemy’s attacks.
    On August 19, the German front began to collapse. Attacking Soviet columns along the Liwiec River split both German corps and advanced to the Bug River. The 5th Jäger-Division had been destroyed. General Weiß ordered a rapid evacuation of the XX Army-Corps to the other side of the Bug River, where he would take up new positions north of Wyszków. In other words, 2nd Army had withdrawn from Warsaw, and consequently, the entire burden of its defence was turned over to the 9th Army and the IV SS-Panzer-Corps.
    A “Tiger” tank nr. 912 from the 9th SS-Panzer-Regiment “Totenkopf” in the Slupno region, August 1944. (Bundes Archive)
    The west- European volunteers in the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking,” who were defending Tłuszcz at this time, found themselves under deadly bombardment from “Katjusha” rockets – the Soviet air force controlled the air, virtually unopposed. Wave after wave of infantry units and tanks washed over the unyielding defenders. The 47th Army stormed Wołomin; and the 70th Army, Tłusczc. The 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” which fought on the left flank was forced to shorten its front to the Tłusczc and Wyszów line, and take up positions along the railway line there. That day, they successfully withstood the violent attacks against Wyszków by the 28th Army’s frontline troops, solely thanks to a timely intervention carried out by all the panzer division’s regiments. Tank crews reported enemy losses mounting to 20 destroyed tanks – on the other hand, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 also lost two vehicles to the marsh-terrain near the village of Skuszew by the Bug. This sort of incident, where the Germans themselves blew-up their tanks after having become hopelessly trapped in the muddy banks of a river, would be repeated on further occasions,
    The situation for both SS- panzer divisions now became critical. Opposing them were three armies (more concretely: six rifle corps, as the 70th Army had only two; one corps from the 28th Army fought against the XX Army-Corps, while the 47th Army’s 125th Rifle Corps stood inactive across from the 73rd Infanterie-Division) and two armoured corps, plus countless artillery and combat aircraft. The losses were enormous and only some tens of tanks per-regiment were battle-worthy. The 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” had been driven out of Tłuszcz and organised a new defence line along the main road to Białystok between Trojany and Zabrodzie. With the aim of reinforcing Gille’s ever weaker corps, General Reinhart ordered that the Hungarian reserve, the 1st Cavalry Division, be re-deployed to Praga. Also ordered to arrive in Praga was the 1145th Grenadier-Regiment from Warsaw, which up until that time been part of von dem Bach’s corps and had helped to crush the