The defense of the Wola cemeteries consisted of defensive battles in the area of Powązki and Okopowa Street in Warsaw, conducted by soldiers of the Home Army's Kedyw during the Warsaw Uprising.
From August 6 to 11, 1944, the units of the Radosław Group fiercely defended the cemetery zone in Wola. Fighting in partial encirclement, they managed to tie down significant enemy forces in this area, thereby giving the Home Army command time to organize the defense of the Old Town. Not having received permission from superiors to evacuate to the nearby Kampinos Forest, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz, codenamed Radosław, was ultimately forced to withdraw his units through the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto to the Old Town. The battles in defense of the Wola cemeteries cost the Radosław Group more than half of its original personnel.
Prelude
The Radosław Group (named after the pseudonym of its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz) was the strongest and most elite group of the Home Army (AK) fighting in the Warsaw Uprising. It included relatively well-armed units experienced in clashes with the Germans, including the later-famous Grey Ranks battalions Zośka and Parasol.
In the uprising plans, the Radosław Group played a special role. It was intended to be a reserve exclusively at the disposal of the Home Army Headquarters, and also to provide direct protection to the leadership of the Polish Underground State – both against the Germans and upon the entry of Red Army units into the city. Since the Home Army command chose the Kamler Factory at 72 Dzielna Street in Wola as its headquarters, Kedyw received the order to secure its immediate vicinity. For this purpose, Lieutenant Colonel Radosław's units were to capture objects located in the eastern part of Wola – the area around Okopowa Street and the nearby religious cemeteries at Powązki. The specific tasks assigned to Kedyw units were the main reason why the fighting in Wola took on the character of unconnected actions by the Radosław Group and units of the Wola Subdistrict command in the first days of the uprising.
The deployment of the group before the "W" Hour took place under unfavorable circumstances. Due to the Home Army command's decision to shorten the mobilization time to 12 hours, only 40% of the soldiers reached the assembly points on time. The units were not fully armed, as some weapons did not arrive on time or were intercepted by German patrols (e.g., one of the transports of the Zośka Battalion was caught on Chłodna Street). Moreover, even before the "W" Hour, Radosław's soldiers became involved in unplanned skirmishes with the Germans. At 4:10 PM, a German car arrived at the Kamler Factory, where the Home Army Headquarters had already gathered, to collect uniforms stored there. A shootout ensued with the protective platoon of Lieutenant Jerzy Kamler, codenamed Stolarz, which alerted German posts stationed in the nearby Tobacco Monopoly factory. As a result, even before the uprising began, the Home Army Headquarters found itself under siege. Almost simultaneously, a chance firefight occurred with passing German cars near the Telefunken factory on Mirecki Street, where the assembly point of the Broda 53 Sabotage Brigade was located. This skirmish turned into a regular fight with the German police relief force, which arrived in three cars at Kercelego Square. Eventually, soldiers rushing to the assembly point from various units defeated the Germans and forced them to flee into the ghetto ruins. Only the German armored car participating in the fight managed to break through to Ulrychów.
Despite the aforementioned difficulties, the Radosław Group, as one of the few insurgent units, managed to capture most of the designated objectives on 1 August 1944. This was mainly due to the fact that German posts in the Okopowa Street area were relatively weak. As a result, the Zośka Battalion managed to capture the fortified barracks in the St. Kinga School at 55A Okopowa Street with minimal losses (32 prisoners were taken), and also secured the nearby Jewish cemetery and Pfeiffer's tannery at 58/72 Okopowa Street. Simultaneously, the Pięść Battalion occupied the Evangelical cemetery, and the Parasol Battalion the Calvinist cemetery. The unit of the Warsaw District Kedyw (the so-called Kolegium A) subordinated to Radosław, commanded by Lieutenant Stanisław Sosabowski, codenamed Stasinek, captured the large Waffen-SS warehouses at Stawki Street and the school at Niska Street (about 100 Hungarian Jews were freed there). Meanwhile, after clashing with the German police at Kercelego Square, the Miotła Battalion secured the intersection of Okopowa and Żytnia streets, as well as the sections of Leszno and Wronia streets. Around 7:30 PM, an improvised unit composed of selected squads from Zośka, Miotła, and Parasol battalions also repelled the Germans from the Kamler Factory, thus freeing the leadership of the Polish Underground State from the siege. On the night between August 1 and 2, Radosław's soldiers additionally captured the Tobacco Monopoly buildings on Dzielna Street. The entire Okopowa Street – from Powązkowska Street to Kercelego Square – was under the control of the insurgents.
Fighting in Wola
In other parts of Wola, the course of the battles was unfavorable for the Polish side. The units of the Wola Subdistrict failed to capture most of their designated objectives, leaving only the eastern part of the district under the control of the insurgents. The course of the fighting in Wola was particularly influenced by the fact that one of the city's most important thoroughfares, the Wolska–Chłodna–Elektoralna–Senatorska–Kierbedź Bridge route (known as the Wola artery), ran through the district from west to east. In the summer of 1944, this was one of the most critical supply routes on the central section of the eastern front, connecting German units on the right bank of the Vistula with their rear areas. At the end of July and beginning of August 1944, units of the elite 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, transferred to Warsaw from the Italian front, were moving along this crucial artery. Elements of this division began unloading at the railway stations in Pruszków and Piastów around July 26, from where they were gradually transported to the right bank of the Vistula, taking part in the German counteroffensive on the outskirts of Praga. At the outbreak of the uprising in Wola, elements of the Hermann Göring Division, numbering about 1,000 soldiers and 20 tanks, were present, which contributed decisively to the failure of the Wola Subdistrict's offensive.
The few and poorly armed units of the Wola Subdistrict were almost immediately pushed onto the defensive. From August 2 to 4, elements of the Hermann Göring Division tried to force their way through the Wola artery. The enemy attacks primarily targeted the insurgent barricades in the area of Wolska and Górczewska streets, manned by soldiers of the Wola Subdistrict and supporting units of the People's Army (AL). Initially, the Radosław Group remained somewhat on the periphery of these struggles, with its actions not extending westward beyond the line of the Wola cemeteries. On August 2, small groups of German armored vehicles repeatedly penetrated Okopowa Street from the north, attempting to break through to the city center. Some of these were ambushed and the Zośka Battalion captured two German Panther tanks. This success, combined with the earlier capture of a German truck with tank ammunition by soldiers from the Pięść Battalion, enabled the formation of an insurgent armored platoon under the command of Lieutenant Wacław Micuta, codenamed Wacek. Meanwhile, the Zośka Battalion soldiers also managed to capture the school on Spokojna Street, where they defeated a unit of Russian-speaking collaborators (the school henceforth became the main stronghold of the Polish defense on the northern flank of the Radosław Group). Around 2:00 PM, however, the Germans launched a strong attack along Okopowa Street, driving 50 Polish hostages tied to a ladder in front of their tanks. Kedyw soldiers managed to hold the barricade on Okopowa Street and the positions at Pfeiffer's tannery and the St. Kinga school, but the German tanks succeeded in breaking through to Śródmieście.
On August 3, the enemy did not display significant activity on Kedyw's sector. The Germans merely aimed to tie down Radosław's soldiers with mortar fire and the actions of individual tanks. After an unsuccessful attempt to break through to Kampinos, the Paweł Group (previously the reserve of the commander of the Warsaw District) subordinated itself to Lieutenant Colonel Radosław. On August 4, the Czata 49 and Parasol battalions suffered heavy losses due to enemy air raids. To aid the beleaguered People's Army and Wola Subdistrict units defending the Wola artery, Radosław sent his reserve under the command of Captain Mieczysław Kurkowski, codenamed Sawa. Meanwhile, nearly half of Radosław's forces were engaged in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto, where the enemy maintained strong positions separating Kedyw's positions from the Old Town (Pawiak, the Warsaw concentration camp on Gęsia Street, building No. 103, and St. Sophia's Hospital on Żelazna Street). Securing a direct connection with this district was at that time the most pressing issue occupying the attention of Lieutenant Colonel Radosław and his staff. An uncoordinated attack on German positions in the Żelazna Street area, conducted on August 4 by soldiers from the Zośka, Miotła, and Chrobry I battalions, ended in failure. On the night between August 4 and 5, Allied aircraft made supply drops over Wola, most of which fell into the hands of Radosław's soldiers.
Meanwhile, on August 4, the first units of the German "relief forces" designated to suppress the uprising appeared on the outskirts of Warsaw. German plans foresaw that the main focus of the attack would be on Wola, where an improvised police group from the Reichsgau Wartheland (commanded by SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Reinefarth), the SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger, as well as Azerbaijani collaboration units and a reserve battalion from the Hermann Göring Division, were to be deployed. Their objective was to liberate Governor Ludwig Fischer and General Reiner Stahel (cut off in the "government district" around Piłsudski Square) and to unblock the Wola artery. At the moment the German counterattack began (August 5), the Radosław Group occupied a vast area bounded by: to the south – Wolska and Chłodna streets; to the north – Spokojna Street and the adjacent Powązki Cemetery; to the west – Młynarska Street and the Calvinist, Evangelical, and Jewish cemeteries; to the east – the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto. At that time, the group comprised about 1,650 soldiers, with 70% being armed. More specifically, Radosław's units were deployed as follows:
The Czata 49 Battalion, along with Kolegium A, secured Kedyw's defense from the south, occupying the Gizów colony (the block between Leszno and Żytnia streets) along with the barricade at the intersection of Żytnia and Młynarska streets; The Parasol Battalion occupied the Calvinist cemetery and the barricade at the intersection of Żytnia and Młynarska streets; The Pięść Battalion occupied the Evangelical cemetery; The Paweł Group (the Wigry Battalion and the Antoni Battalion) defended the barricades at the intersections of Młynarska and Długosz streets and Ostroroga and Obozowa streets; The Broda 53 Diversion Brigade (without the Zośka Battalion) occupied the area of Okopowa Street (the St. Kinga School, the Telefunken factory), while also maintaining security on the Jewish and Catholic cemeteries; The Miotła and Zośka Battalions, along with the Wacek Platoon, were turned toward the ghetto ruins; The reserve Igor Battalion was stationed on Karolkowa Street, near the Evangelical cemetery;