Warszawa II by Norbert Bacyk

coordinating all the divisions’ operations. General von Saucken also received a report to the effect that the 4th Panzer-Division forces were en route in the direction of Wyszlów. However, because of rain and the length of the division’s transport, they could not join the fighting for an additional 48 hours.
    Two pictures which show 2 Sd Kfz 138’s ausf H “Grille” belonging to the 9th Panzergrenadier-Regiment 12, 4th Panzer-Division, on the move east of Warsaw, July – August 1944. (Leandoer & Ekholm Archive)
    On July 31, south of Wołomin, the Soviet side continued to carry out attacks with tanks from the 60th and the 58th Tank Guards Brigades. The 8th Tank Guards Corps attacked Okuniew, which was captured during the evening hours. Their next objective was to capture the village of Ossów which was under siege on the outskirts of Wołomin. But this manoeuvre was checked by the stubborn defence mounted there by the grenadiers of the division “Herman Göring”. The terrain favoured the Germans. Despite the 3rd Tank Corps holding Wołomin, and the 60th Tank Brigade from the 8th Tank Guards Corps holding itself in wait the nearby village of Okuniew; the two areas remained separated due to the wet lands, forests and two streams, the Długa Struga and the Czarna Struga, between them. The 3rd Tank Corps, which was the first unit to attack, got around these natural obstacles by travelling in a wide arc towards the east near Stanisłwów. Now, with the nearest connection with Vjedjenjev’s corps having been blocked, General Popov decided to imitate this tactic. With the aim of broadening the wedge which the 8th Tank Guards Corps had created; he attacked Mińsk Mazowiecki together with Colonel Vasilj Bjelgakov’s, 260th Rifle Division which was en route from the south. After a short engagement, in which the 3rd Battalion out of the Home Army’s 22nd Regiment, also actively participated; the town fell into Soviet hands. The 16th Tank Corps also pressed on with their assault operations, driving the German 73rd Infantry-Division into the area around Radość.
    At the same time this was taking place, the battle for Siedlce, east of Warsaw, neared its end: The city was captured by General Krjukov’s soldiers on July 30. Marshal Rokossovskij’s new orders, which were issued the very next day, meant that the crippled 11th Tank Corps was to move south to Puławay. The commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, in accord with the wishes of HQ, intended to support the 69th Army’s frontline troops at Wisła with this tank force. Other offensives towards the north, that is to say, on a direct line towards Poland’s capital city, were to be carried out by the 2nd Cavalry Guards Corps. This meant that the rapid response force was dissolved. New support for Krujkov’s cavalry troops would now be provided by the 70th Army. Following the seizure of Brest and the 2nd Army’s redeployment towards the west; General Vasilij Popov’s army, which included two rifle corps, lost contact with the enemy. At this time, Marshal Rokossovskij gave the order that after the regrouping had been carried out, they were to march in the direction of Kałuszyn and, from there, begin to participate in the storming of Praga together with the 47th Army. In addition, adjacent to the Bugs lower flow near Siemiatycz; the 28th Army, along with support troops from 1st Mechanised Corps and the 9th Tank Corps, began to prepare for an assault. These formations were to attack positioned on the right side of the 2nd Cavalry Guards Corps in the direction of Sokołow Podlaski and onward toward Wyszków.
    An armoured transport vehicle, model Sd Kfz Ausf. D, from Panzergrenadier-Regiment 12, 4th Panzer-Division, in Poland at the end of July 1944. (MWP)
    The 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf’s” withdrawal clearly sealed the loss of Siedlce, however, only some 10km west