The most famous and the most tragic enterprise of the Polish Home Army began on 1 August 1944, and was expected to last 10 days - plenty of time for the Red Army to reach the city.  At that time the Soviets were assembling on the other side of the Vistula River.  On Stalin's order, however, the Soviets cynically did not intervene.  Support from the Allies, who were denied the use of Russian airstrips, was limited to air drops of supplies, most of which fell into German hands.

In intense street fighting German troops eliminated Polish-held pockets of the city block by block.  Finally, on 2 October, the uprising's 63rd day, the Polish commander Gen. Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski surrendered.  The uprising had cost 200,000 lives, mostly civilians.  When it was over, Hitler ordered Warsaw "razed without trace."