As every year, exactly at 5 p.m., the city of Warsaw stopped for moment to mark the "W" Hour. With the sounds of wailing sirens, tolling church bells and car horns, the residents of the capital city of Poland pay tribute to the heroes of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
The "W" Hour was the central point of the commemorations of the 78th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. Seventy eight years ago, exactly at 5 p.m. the insurgents grabbed their weapons to fight for their city, occupied by the Germans.
Each year, the Polish capital stands still for a short while to pay tribute to the heroes who had faced the overwhelming enemy forces.
Hundreds gathered at the Krasinski Square, in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monument. The central point of Warsaw, the Dmowski Roundabout, stood motionless.
At the Castle Square, hundreds formed a living "Kotwica", the symbol of Polish resistance movement. All around the city, passers-by and bikers gathered on sidewalks. The traffic came to a standstill, however, in this case, deliberately.
Warsaw Uprising was the biggest underground military operation
The Warsaw Uprising was the biggest underground military operation in German-occupied Europe. On August 1, 1944, some 40-50 thousand insurgents began to fight in the capital city.
Planned to take a few days, it lasted for over two months. The fighting took the lives of 18,000 insurgents, 25,000 were injured. Civilian casualties amounted to approx. 180,000 killed. The remaining 500,000 residents were rushed out of the city, which the Germans started to systematically destroy as a punishment for the Uprising.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvnwarszawa.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvnwarszawa.pl