Chapter 6
On August 11, the armoured forces were reorganised: The 2 Company from Panzerjäger-Abteilung 743. operated south of Ulica Gryzbowska and in Ochota, where they supported the force assigned to Major Frolov from RONA. It should be added that the RONA-force had at its disposal two Sd Kfz 263 8X8 communication vehicles (see fact appendix 1), and very likely the use of other armoured vehicles as well. Kamffegruppe“Dirlewanger’s” operations in the area around Ulica Stawki, Ulica Okopowej and Ulica Mireckiego were supported by the 1st Company from the Panzerjäger-Abteilung 743. The insurgents conceivably destroyed a Hetzer and succeeded in stopping the others. Vehicles from Panzerjäger-Abteilung 743. were also active in the Old City. Two StuG 40s launched an attack on the Palace Plaza, while the barricade known as Reduta Banku Polskiego, defended by the “Lukasiński” battalion, was attacked by two other StuG 40s. Projectiles from a PIAT anti-tank weapon destroyed one StuG 40. The German troops Oob shows that Panzerjäger-Abteilung 743. had a complement of 26 Hetzers and Stug 40s while Ersatz-Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 200, had two StuG 40s. At this ttimepoint, the first units from Panzer-Abteilung 302. (Flk) arrived in Warsaw. In Mokotów, units from the garrison on Ulica Rakowiecka went on the attack along Ulica Pulawska in a southward direction. A tank was stopped in the area around Ulica Madilińskiego but it was later towed back to Ulica Rakowiecka. The following day, a number of armoured vehicles (StuG 40s and Sd Kfz 25/1/1 Ds) operated in support of Lieutenant Schmidt’s troops who were engaged in fighting on Ulica Stawki, while vehicles from Panzerjäger-Abteilung 743. tried to breach the resistance fighters’ barricades at the junction of Ulica Piwna and Ulica Świętojańska in the Old City.
German infantry.
German radio group.
A German flame-thrower group. This was a very effective and feared weapon in urban fighting.
A German machine gun group advance through the ruins.
A Polish group with a PIAT ready to be fired. The location of this barricade is Kopernika Street.
The heat of the battle. To the left, a StuG III.
A German machine-gun group advances. A number of soldiers carry ammunition for what appears to be the older MG 34 machine gun.
A home-made Polish flame-thrower. The Germans feared this version as much as their own.
