The Red Army with its decisive victory at Stalingrad, which was of great importance for the further development of World War II, initiated a counter-offensive to liberate the territories of the Soviet Union defiled by the boots of German, Italian, Romanian and Finnish troops, as well as other conquerors who were united by the inhuman ideology of Fascism and Nazism. Then followed the victories at the Battle of Kursk and on the Dnieper. Ass well as the lifting of the blockade of and the Battle for Leningrad. These heroic feats brought the liberation of most of the territory of the USSR and the Red Army reached its western borders. There it could have stopped, but the Red Army felt the need to pursue the beast of Fascism until it had completely exterminated it, liberated everyone, and saved the prisoners of Germany’s death camps. Thus, it quickly began to liberate European countries one after another, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy, but also taking many casualties of its own: 1,100,000 military men in total.

     It should be emphasized that Poland, together with its capital Warsaw, had been under Nazi occupation since September 1939, i.e. for more than five years, and the operation to liberate Poland began in July 1944, when the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev forced their way through the Western Bug River and entered the territory of Poland. Thanks to the courage and military skill of the Soviet soldiers, the diamonds of Poland’s historical and cultural heritage were mostly saved, and thousands of Polish citizens sentenced to death were rescued from Nazi concentration camps. But the cost of liberating Poland for the Red Army was by far the highest of all. Freeing Poland costs 600,000 dead compared to 140,000 in Hungary, 140,000 in Czechoslovakia and 102,000 in Germany itself.

     On August 1^st, 1944, without consulting the Red Army command, an uprising was organized in Warsaw by units of the “Armia Krajowa”, loyal to the Polish government based in London, and by the inhabitants of the city. This uprising with a political tone was unfortunately crushed by reinforced German troops. During this uprising, which lasted 63 days, 22,000-25,000 Polish soldiers and 150,000-200,000 civilians were killed and around 11,000 soldiers surrendered. After that, out of selfish motivation, the Nazis proceeded to almost complete the destruction of the capital, destroying about 85% of its buildings and infrastructure.

     A large-scale Soviet military operation called the Vistula-Oder Offensive began on January 12^th, 1945, with the aim of capturing strategic points such as Warsaw, completely liberating Poland and quickly advancing towards Germany. The operation was originally scheduled to begin on January 20^th. But at the request of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the operation began earlier to create a feint and help the Anglo-American troops in the Andes who were in dire straits.

     Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front of the Red Army under the command of Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov took part in the operation to liberate Warsaw. These troops included the 47th and 61st Armies, the 2nd Guards Tank Army and the 1st Polish Army, which was the first to enter the city according to the plan. Air cover was provided by the 16th Air Army.

     On January 14^th, to encircle the German forces in Warsaw, the 61st Army attacked from the south of the city, and the next day the 47th Army attacked from the north and reached the Vistula River. From this bridgehead, the 2nd Guards Tank Army began its offensive on the morning of January 16^th. The inhabitants of the capital’s outskirts greeted the Red and Polish Armies en masse with flowers and food. Thus, the 1st Polish Army forced its way over the Vistula River and began the offensive on Warsaw.

      When the Red Army and the 1st Polish Army entered the city at eight o’clock in the morning of January 17^th, 1945, they saw a “ghost town.” The city was almost empty, as most of the inhabitants had either been killed or displaced. Resistance was relatively small and pockets were limited, as the bulk of the German forces had withdrawn to the northwest before the main attack, fearing being trapped by the encircling movements of the Soviet armies from the north and south. The largest battle broke out at the city’s fortified central railroad station. But by three o’clock in the afternoon Warsaw was freed from Hitler’s murderous shackles. The main forces of Hitler’s 9th Army had been annihilated, and the German 19th and 20th Panzer Divisions, as well as the 10th Motorized Division, were half-destroyed. But when the Nazis retreated, they left behind a city littered with thousands of mines that had to be cleared one-by-one.