| Insurgents - Warsaw UprisingAugust 1 - October 2, 1944 |
Translated excerpt from the book (in polish):
"135 Pluton AK VII Zgrupowania "Ruczaj" i jego kadeckie korzenie"
(135 Platoon AK of the VII Concentration Group "Ruczaj" and its Officer Cadet roots).
Collected and edited by Andrzej Dlawichowski. Publishing House of Dorota Karaszewska, Warszawa 1994. (ISBN 83-86920-05-9).
"Besides the Karuk, Malowaniec and Reich families, the Wajszczuk family made an enormous sacrifice of blood on the Homeland altar. The parents, Edmund and Maria nee Bieguńska, came from Siedlce. They had four children, Danuta, Antoni, Barbara and Wojciech. The father was a physician, working initially in Wyrozęby near Siedlce, then in Żółkiewka, and during the occupation in Krasnystaw. The mother moved with the children in 1942 to Warsaw to her brother Tadeusz Biegunski, who lived at 23 Ogrodowa street. The father died (or was murdered - circumstances are not known) in 1943 in Krasnystaw. Antoni, Barbara and Wojciech become engaged in the underground activities and all three of them participated in the Uprising. Antoni ps. "Toni", who served in the 135 Platoon, was killed in a fight for control of the building of the Cavalry Department on August 1 or 3, 1944. Wojciech ps. "Wojtek" participated in the Uprising in the Ochota district. On August 2, 1944, while the formations attempted to break through from Ochota to the Sekocin forests, he was captured by the Germans and executed in a group of 60 persons near Pecice. Barbara ps. "Basia", "Baska" was a Girl Scout with a sanitary training and served as a nurse in the Scout Company of the "Gustaw" Batalion of the "Rog" Concentration Group. On August 13, 1944 she was severily wounded during the explosion of a tank-trap. She was placed in the insurgent hospital at 3 Kilinskiego street and perished on August 26, 1944 under the rubble after bombardment of the hospital by the "Stuka" bombers. She was buried at the Powazki Military Cemetery in the Quarters A - 25. Her name is memorized on the wall of the symbolic grave of the "Gustaw" Battalion in the Quarters B - 24.
Explanations: AK (Armia Krajowa) = "Home Army" - an underground military resistance organization in Poland during World War II.
FRONT COVER: "To arms" poster announcing the outbrake of the Polish Warsaw Uprising on August 1, 1944. The poster was designed and printed in the underground print shops of the Home Army prior to the uprising. | Recommended reading: Poland in World War II. An illustrated Military History by Andrew Hempel. Hippocrene Books, Inc., New York 2000. ISBN 0-7818-0758-1 Andrew Hempel
Poland's participation in World War II is generally little known in the West and is often reduced to stereotypes advanced by the media: German planes attacking the civilian population in 1939 and Polish cavalry charging German tanks. In actuality, it was not an easy victory for the Germans in 1939, and after the conquest of Poland, the Poles continued to fight in their homeland, on all European fronts, and in North Africa. This illustrated history is a concise presentation of the Polish military war effort in World War II. Intermingled with factual human interest stories and 50 black-and white photos and illustrations.
Andrew Hempel was born in Warsaw, Poland. In 1944 he was arrested in German-occupied Warsaw by the Gestapo for attending an underground high school and was sent to a German labor camp. After the war. He graduated from the University of London and worked in England, Canada, and the Untied States. He currently resides in Reading, Pennsylvania. |
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