April 23 also saw another attempt by an AK unit, led by Lieutenant Jerzy Skupiensi, to blow open the gate in the ghetto wall at Pawia Street. The Poles killed two sentries, but again a heavy German crossfire frustrated their assault. As they withdrew, the AK fighters shot up a car that had the misfortune to cross the path of their retreat, killing four SS and police officers.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in World War II magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Also on April 23, Krüger brought Stroop orders from Himmler for the liquidation of the ghetto to be accelerated. 'The action will be completed this very day,' Stroop assured him.

But on April 24, German sappers were still working their way westward through the burning ruins, blowing up buildings, while German aircraft dropped incendiary bombs on the ghetto. Increasing numbers of Jewish noncombatants were emerging from the burning houses to surrender, but at the same time armed fighting groups continued to snipe defiantly from the ruins. In a new ZOB tactic, groups of 10 Jews, often wearing captured German uniforms to confuse the enemy and rags tied over their feet to muffle their steps, went out to reconnoiter, forage for food and weapons, and ambush the enemy. Anielewicz led the first such squad on the night of April 23. Among the bits of intelligence they came back with was news that four members of the Judenrat Presidium had been shot by the Germans; so had the remaining Jewish ghetto police–clearly, these wretched collaborators had outlived their usefulness to the Third Reich.

On April 26, after a week of fighting, Stroop was forced to admit that he was still encountering stiff resistance. On the same day, Anielewicz sent his last communication to ZOB contacts outside the ghetto: 'This is the eighth day of our life-and-death struggle. The Germans suffered tremendous losses. In the first two days they were forced to withdraw. Then they brought in reinforcements in the form of tanks, armor, artillery, even airplanes, and began a systematic siege….

'Our losses, that is, the victims of the executions and fires in which men, women and children were burned, were terribly high. We are nearing our last days, but so long as we have weapons in our hands, we shall continue to fight and resist….

'Sensing the end, we demand this from you: Remember how we were betrayed. There will come a time of reckoning for our spilled, innocent blood. Send help to those who, in the last hour, may elude the enemy–in order that the fight may continue.'

On the night of April 27-28, the ZOB leadership met in a bunker on Leszno Street and concluded that, with their defensive perimeters narrowing by the hour, the only hope would lie in a breakout. A courier named Regina Fudin was given the task of gathering the fighting groups in the factory area and leading them out. Those too severely wounded to move had to be left behind in the bunker, with a fighter named Lea Korn remaining behind to guard them. A few days later, the Germans discovered the bunker and killed all the wounded. Lea Korn died fighting in their defense.

On the night of April 29, 40 Jewish fighters led by Regina Fudin and aided by Guardia Ludowa fighters commanded by Lieutenant Wladyslaw Gaik, emerged from the sewers on the corner of Agrodowa and Zelazna streets, on the 'Aryan' side. A Polish worker named Riszard Trifon gave them shelter for the night in his attic. The next day, the group was transported to the forest in Lomianka, about seven kilometers from Warsaw, in trucks provided by the Guardia Ludowa. A second Jewish escape attempt through the sewers on April 29 was less fortunate. The Germans learned of the first group's success, and the second group found the manhole through which it emerged to be surrounded. The entire group was wiped out after a desperate firefight.

On May 8, the Germans managed to learn the whereabouts of the ZOB nerve center at Mila 18 and invested it in force, covering the five entrances to the bunker. Three hundred civilians who had been seeking shelter there surrendered, but the 80 armed Jews–including Anielewicz–chose to make a fighting stand.The Germans then threw grenades and gas bombs into the bunker.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to