List of military units in the Warsaw Uprising

This is a list of military units taking part in the Warsaw Uprising, a Polish insurrection during the Second World War that began on August 1, 1944.

Polish units

Many of the Home Army units were formed before the beginning of the Uprising; several were organised in the following days as new volunteers joined.

Units were assigned to given areas, namely:

• Area I (Śródmieście, Stare Miasto)
• Area II (Żoliborz, Marymont, Bielany)
• Area III (Wola)
• Area IV (Ochota)
• Area V (Mokotów)
• Area VI (Praga)
• Area VII (Powiat Warszawski)
• Zgrupowanie KeDywu Komendy Głównej

Units were organised into battalions, companies and platoons. Many of those became famous either before the Uprising or during it, including 'Battalion Zośka', 'Czata 49', 'Parasol', and 'Miotła'.

Armaments

On August 1, the Home Army's arsenal consisted of:

• 1,000 rifles
• 1,700 pistols
• 300 machine pistols
• 60 submachine guns
• 7 machine guns
• 35 anti-tank guns
• 25,000 hand grenades

Types of weapons used can be divided into the following categories:

• Polish Army weapons hidden after the invasion of Poland (FB Vis, Model 98a rifle, Karabinek wz. 1929, Browning wz. 1928, etc.)
• Homemade weaponry (Błyskawica, K pattern flamethrower, sidolówka, filipinka, Molotov cocktails, etc.)
• Weapons scavenged from the Wehrmacht (Luger pistol, Karabiner 98k, MP 40, etc.)
• Weapons bought directly from the Germans or on the black market
• Weapons from Allied forces, primarily supplied via airdrop (M1911 pistol, Sten, Bren, PIAT, etc.).

Complete List of Home Army groups in the Warsaw Uprising

The following list does not correspond with the above area list.

Unit group or sector	Unit name	Composition	Part of	Notes
Group Śródmieście-Północ (City Center - North)
Group 'Chrobry II'	Battalion 'Lech Żelazny' Battalion 'Lech Grzybowski'	3 comp. 3 comp	NSZ NSZ
Sector: north	Battalion 'Rum'	3 comp	AK
Group 'Gurt'	Battalion 'Gurt' Battalion WSOP Group IV	3 comp. 3 comp.	AK AK
Group 'Kiliński'	Battalion 'im. Kilińskiego'	5 comp.	AK
Group 'Harnasie'	Group 'Harnasie' Company 'Lewera'	2 comp. 2 plat.	AK AK	Companies: 'Genowefa', 'Żyrafa'
Group 'Bartkiewicz'	Companies 'Żmudzin', 'Andrzej', 'Lechicz', 'Bohun'	each 3 plat.		After fall of Stare Miasto reinforced with company 'Gustaw'
Group 'Wiktor'	Company 'Wiktor'	4 plat.	AK
Disposition units	Company 'Koszta' Company '100' WSOP KeDyw Disposition Unit 'A'	2 plat. 3 plat. 2 plat.	AK AK AK	Defensive screen of Warsaw District Headquarters
Backup units	Battalion KB	2 comp.	KB	Due to lack of weapons disbanded, separate platoons assigned as support for main units
Group 'Hal'	Battalion 'im. Sowińskiego'	2 comp.	AK
Group Śródmieście-Południe (City Center - South)
Sector: east 'Bogumił'	Battalion 'Ruczaj' Battalion 'Miłosz' Battalion 'Kryśka' WSOP Battalion Siekiera 'Tum' Gendarmery PAL Platoon Company of AL and PAL	3 comp. 3 comp. 4 comp. 3 comp. 1 plat. 1 plat.	AK AK AK AK PAL PAL/AL	known as Battalion 'of cpt. Sęp' retreated from Stare Miasto
Sector north: 'Sarna'	Battalion WSOP 'Bełt' Battalion 'Sokół' Battalion 'Chrobry'	3 comp. 1 comp. 2 plat.	AK KB PAL	later named Battalion 'Ostoja'
Backup units	Battalion 'Iwo' Company from Group 'Ubogi'	4 comp. 2 plat.	AK AK	Retreated from Ochota
Sector: west 'Golski'	Battalion 'Golski' Company 'Szafrański'	5 comp. 1 comp.	AK AK	later incorporated Battalion 'Odwet' backup of 'Golski'
Sector: south 'Piorun'	Battalion 'Piorun'	3 comp.	AK	Created from Battalion 'Zaremba' and smaller units
Powiśle
Group 'Krybar'	Battalion 'Ubogi' Battalion 'Konrad' Group 'Elektrownia' WSOP	4 comp 4 comp 2 comp	AK AK AK
Group Warszawa-Północ (Warsaw-North)
Group 'Radosław' and units of 'KeDyw' KG	Battalion 'Czata 49' Battalion 'Miotła' Battalion 'Pięść' Company 'Leśnik' Company 'Waligóra'	several comp. 4 comp. 1 comp. 3 plat. 3 plat.	AK AK AK AK AK	After Wola fights disbanded due to losses Included 'Agaton' platoon, destroyed in Wola
Backup units	Battalion 'Chrobry I' Brygada Koło Charge Company 'Wyrwy'	3 comp. 4 comp. 2 plat.	AK NSZ AK	Construction and firefight duties
Group 'Kuba' and 'Sosna'	Battalion 'im. Łukasińskiego' Battalion 'im. Czarnieckiego Gozdawa' Company P20 'Edward' Company 'Ryszard' (motorised) Company 'Batory' Platoon 'Roja' Platoon of PPS Militia Company KB 'Nałęcz' Platoon NSZ	3 comp. 3 comp. 5 plat. 3 plat. 3 plat. 1 plat. 1plat. 3 plat. 1 plat.	AK AK AK AK AK AK PPS KB NSZ
Group 'Róg'	Battalion 'Gustaw' Battalion WSOP 'Dzik' Battalion 'Bończa' Company 'Orlęta' Company 'Lubiec' Company 'of Syndykalists' Battalion 'Czwartacy' Battalion 'Wigry' Battalion 'Antoni'	2 comp. 3 comp. 3 compt. 4 plat. 3 plat. 3 plat. several plat. 2 comp. 2 comp.	AK AK AK AK AK AK AL AK AK	later increased to 3 comp. later increased to 4 comp. after retreat from Stare Miasto merged with Battalion 'Gustaw'
Żoliborz
Sector: 'Żubr'	Battalion 'Żubr'	1 comp.	AK
Sector: 'Żmija'	Battalion 'Żmija'	3 plat.	AK
Sector: 'Zaglowiec'	Company 'Żaglowiec'	3 plat.	AK
Sector AL	Company AL	2 plat	AL
Sector: 'Żyrafa'	Company 'Zyrafa'	3 plat.	AK
Puszcza Kampinoska (Kapminos Forest)
Pułk 'Palmiry-Młociny'	III Battalion 78 pp. I Battalion 'Janusz' Battalion 'of cpt. Dulka' Dywizjon 27 p.ułańow Dywizjon 23 p. ułanów	3 comp. 3 comp. 3 comp. 4 comp. 2 comp.	AK AK AK AK AK
Group Warszaw-Południe (Warsaw-South): Mokotów
Group 'Baszta'	Battalion 'B' Battalion 'O' Battalion 'K' 5 group WSOP	3 comp. 3 comp. 4 comp. 2 comp.	AK AK AK AK	Mokotów sector
Group 'Ryś'	Company 'Gustaw' Company 'Krawiec' Company 'Granat' Platoon AL	3 plat. 3 plat. 3 plat. 1 plat.	AK AK AK AL	Czerniaków-Południe sector
Group 'Olsza'	Company 'Grochów' Szwadron 'Jeżycki' Company 'Sadyba'	3 plat. 3 plat. 3 plat.	AK AK AK
group 'Góral'	Szwadron szwoleżerów	3 plat.	AK
Forest Chojnowski and Kabacki
Group 'Lasy Chojnowskie'	Battalion 'Grzegorz' Battalion 'Szary' Platoon 'Lanca'	3 comp. 3 plat. 1 plat.	AK NSZ NSZ
Group 'Gustaw'	Battalion 'Gustaw'	3 comp.	AK

On September 20 this structure was reorganised to fit the structure of Polish forces fighting among the Western Allies. The entire force was renamed to Warsaw Home Army Corps (Warszawski Korpus Armii Krajowej), commanded by general Antoni Chruściel (Monter) and consisted of three infantry divisions:

• 8th Romuald Traugutt Infantry Division (8 Dywizja Piechoty im. Romualda Traugutta) commanded by col. Żywiciel-Niedzielski
• 10th Maciej Rataj Infantry Division (10 Dywizja Piechoty im. Macieja Rataja) commanded by col. Radwan-Pleiffer
• 28th Stefan Okrzeja Infantry Division (28 Dywizja Piechoty im. Stefana Okrzei) commanded by col. Karol-Rokicki

The names of smaller units (battalions, companies and platoons) were left intact (as in the above table).

Composition of smaller fighting forces

Although the vast majority of the resistance in Warsaw were members of Home Army, there was a small number of fighters who weren't members of that organisation. In the course of the Uprising some 1,700 members of other resistance organisations joined the Uprising. Those included the Armia Ludowa, Gwardia Ludowa and Narodowe Siły Zbrojne.

Along with the Polish soldiers who took part in the Uprising, there were also members of other nationalities. Among them was a number of Hungarian deserters and Italian escapees from POW camps in Poland. Another ex-POW soldier was RAF Sgt. John Ward, whose numerous coded radio dispatches gave an eyewitness account of the fighting to the British government and Polish government-in-exile, as well as the London press. There was also a Slovak 535th Home Army platoon under Lt. Stanko. It was composed mostly of Slovaks, Georgians, Armenians and Azeri, and suffered heavy casualties in the course of the uprising (up to 70%).

It is believed that some 25,000 Jews were hiding in Warsaw before the Uprising. The vast majority of them died together with other Polish civilians. However, many Jews (possibly as many as 1,000), including those released by Home Army from the Warsaw concentration camp (Gęsiówka), joined the Home Army. During the final stage of the battle a number of Soviet soldiers (possibly as many as 3,000, most of them members of Polish units in Soviet army) also crossed the river and fought the Germans in Powiśle area. Airdrops were carried out by allied airmen from Italy, mostly by Poles, Canadians and the British.

German units

As of 23 August 1944 the German units directly involved with fights in Warsaw were divided into:

• Kampfgruppe Rohr (commanded by general major Rohr)
  • S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A. (commanded by Bronislav Kaminski)
• Kampfgruppe Reinefarth (commanded by SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Reinefarth)
  • Sturmgruppe Dirlewanger (commanded by SS-Oberführer der Reserve Oskar Dirlewanger)
  • Sturmgruppe Reck (commanded by Major Reck)
  • Sturmgruppe Schmidt (commanded by Colonel Schmidt)
  • various support and backup units
• Warsaw Garrison (Group of Warsaw Commandant) commanded by Lieutenant General Stahel

A large section of the forces on the "German" side were, according to Norman Davies, drawn from "'collaborationist forces'" including Russians who had left in the Tzar's era and Azeris.

References

• Jerzy Kirchmayer. Powstanie Warszawskie. Książka i Wiedza, Warsaw, 1959. ISBN 83-05-11080-X. Hardcover, 576 pages.