The Warsaw Commune: Betrayed by Stalin, Massacred by Hitler. Zygmunt Zaremba 1947
In the course of his capture of Mokotów, the German commander renewed his proposal to evacuate the civilian population. He declared himself ready to discuss the conditions for a military surrender. In the tragic situation that the encircled capital found itself, the insurgent High Command began negotiations that for a moment were limited to the evacuation of non-combatants. The question of surrender was kept in the background, in order to obtain a quick and decisive response to the eternal question: could Warsaw hope for effective aid?
The insurgents asked the London government, the Western Allies and the Soviet authorities by telegram whether they could count on reinforcements. They proposed 1 October as the final date for their resistance. In the meantime, General Bór was to-ing and fro-ing with the German command, and merely discussing the conditions under which surrender could take place.
The German armistice conditions assured the soldiers of the Home Army all the rights of combatants as well as all the honours of war. The enemy also promised not to take revenge upon the civilian population. But it was intransigent as regards the complete evacuation of the city, which it planned to turn into a fortress. It referred to comparable precedents applied to the German cities that were placed in the area of the front.
Military activity lessened during the discussions to allow the evacuation of those who wanted to leave Warsaw. On the other hand, the artillery thundered during the night, causing severe losses. It was a constant reminder that a hurricane of fire and iron could fall upon the city once more at any time.
This hurricane did not cease to rage against the Żoliborz area, where the German attack was concentrated. The symbolic firing of Russian artillery aiming at the enemy’s rear took no pressure off us. Żoliborz suffered the same fate as Mokotów. The insurgent command was not in a position to spare these final victims. Bound by the promise given to the Allies and the USSR, it waited for the date of 1 October, so that nobody could accuse us of having surrendered a quarter of an hour before the arrival of reinforcements.
The first of October came. Since no satisfactory reply had reached Warsaw, the command agreed to surrender. The battle came to an end. It was the Commune’s last tragic act, the final act of Warsaw’s existence. Its population was scattered to the four winds, and its walls and houses were abandoned to the mercy of the German army. Those people went off without hearth or home, with their entire fortunes in little bundles, hoping that in spite of the lost battle, that in spite of the suffering they had witnessed, Poland would live again. They believed that such an incomparable sacrifice of possessions and blood would serve the cause of Poland, and assure the independence and unity of the republic.