The Warsaw insurrection started on August 1, 1944, at 5 p.m. That moment is now named in the Polish history as “Godzina W” (the W hour) with W standing for Warsaw.

In the summer of 1944, the underground Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) launched the operation.

Poland had suffered five years of a brutal German occupation but expected the Soviets to reach the Polish capital soon, as they approached from the East. The main political objective of the Home Army was to liberate Warsaw and welcome the Red Army into a city already freed from the Nazis. The underground resistance movement aimed to establish more equal relations with their powerful eastern neighbour. Despite poor relations between the Soviet Union and Poland, the Armia Krajowa commanders hoped that the Red Army would help them fight the Germans.

Image by Kamyq from Pixabay

On Aug. 1, 1944, the Polish underground resistance, led by the Polish Home Army, began a major military operation to liberate Warsaw from Nazi occupation. The uprising, which lasted 63 days, was the largest military effort of any European resistance against Nazi Germany.

On August 1st 2019 Poland will mark 75th anniversary of Warsaw Uprising. The Polish capital will come to a standstill at 5 p.m. as sirens blare to commemorate the insurrection.

Cars will stop, pedestrians will freeze. For one minute of stillness, sirens will blare across the city. Red and white smoke will be sent above crowds. 

This annual moment of silence is how Poles commemorate the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, which had at least 150,000 victims.