Just finished an interesting book on the 1943 uprising in the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw against the Nazi forces.
It is an interesting example of how a relatively small group of dedicated, amateur fighters that is not particulary well armed can give hell to a very heavily armed, brutal and numerous enemy.
There were about 1,500 mostly Jewish fighters comprised of men, women and children as young as 13 fighting the security and armed forces of Nazi Germany. The "official" battle lasted 28 days.
The Ghetto fighters main firearm was handguns, which they considered unequal to the task. However, at close quarters they were quite effective. There was a small number of rifles of various kind that were apparently used to good effect. The fighters also had two crew served machine guns but they were knocked out fairly early in the battle.
The fighters apparently had a good supply of hand grenades which they used to good effect. They also had Molotov cocktails and various explosives.
In probably the biggest coup for the Ghetto fighters was the killing and wounding of about 80 Nazi troops by a large, command detonated mine.
Of course, the Germans employed all manner of small arms, machine guns, mortars, flame throwers, artillery, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, poison gas and even air strikes, along with spies and informers.
Even with all this combat power the German commander (SS Major General Jurgen Stroop) realized that continued assaults on the Ghetto was too costly. He therefore rightly determined his best weapon was fire. So then every effort was made to burn down every building in the Ghetto and smoke out the defenders. It worked.
The book was originally published in 1976 and the author had an opportunity to interview many of the surviving participants in the battle including three Germans and Gen. Stroop's brother. These people along with many others. I am assuming the book is an honest narrative.
The Germans reported after the battle that 56,065 Jews had been killed or captured and this pretty much eliminated what population was left in the Ghetto prior to the battle. Undoubtedly more died in the burning Ghetto and are unaccounted for.
The book does not give the German loses. One reason may be that Stroop lied early on to his superiors concerning the apparently serious combat loses his forces where taking. Stroop low-balled the numbers.
It is an interesting example of how a relatively small group of dedicated, amateur fighters that is not particulary well armed can give hell to a very heavily armed, brutal and numerous enemy.
There were about 1,500 mostly Jewish fighters comprised of men, women and children as young as 13 fighting the security and armed forces of Nazi Germany. The "official" battle lasted 28 days.
The Ghetto fighters main firearm was handguns, which they considered unequal to the task. However, at close quarters they were quite effective. There was a small number of rifles of various kind that were apparently used to good effect. The fighters also had two crew served machine guns but they were knocked out fairly early in the battle.
The fighters apparently had a good supply of hand grenades which they used to good effect. They also had Molotov cocktails and various explosives.
In probably the biggest coup for the Ghetto fighters was the killing and wounding of about 80 Nazi troops by a large, command detonated mine.
Of course, the Germans employed all manner of small arms, machine guns, mortars, flame throwers, artillery, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, poison gas and even air strikes, along with spies and informers.
Even with all this combat power the German commander (SS Major General Jurgen Stroop) realized that continued assaults on the Ghetto was too costly. He therefore rightly determined his best weapon was fire. So then every effort was made to burn down every building in the Ghetto and smoke out the defenders. It worked.
The book was originally published in 1976 and the author had an opportunity to interview many of the surviving participants in the battle including three Germans and Gen. Stroop's brother. These people along with many others. I am assuming the book is an honest narrative.
The Germans reported after the battle that 56,065 Jews had been killed or captured and this pretty much eliminated what population was left in the Ghetto prior to the battle. Undoubtedly more died in the burning Ghetto and are unaccounted for.
The book does not give the German loses. One reason may be that Stroop lied early on to his superiors concerning the apparently serious combat loses his forces where taking. Stroop low-balled the numbers.
