14. The Germans believed that the Red Army would attack in support of the Warsaw Uprising
German commanders on the Eastern Front believed that the Polish underground resistance movement planned a major uprising to coincide with an attack by the Red Army at Warsaw and along the Vistula. German operational planning was adjusted accordingly. Strong German counterattacks using Panzer divisions occurred against Red Army units in the days immediately preceding and following the start of the uprising. Those counterattacks are cited by defenders of the Soviet Union and the Red Army as the real reason the Soviets did not immediately move to support the Poles, since they were preoccupied with defeating the German attacks and consolidating their gains before continuing their offensive.
Despite the many arguments presented by those who deny the Soviet failure to assist the Home Army was caused by logistics and the then overall battlefield situation, declassified documents established that Stalin’s government did all that it could to prevent the Warsaw uprising from succeeding. Besides ordering the Red Army not to advance, Stalin issued orders that Home Army units in territory already under Soviet control were to be prevented from joining their brethren in Warsaw or elsewhere in German controlled Poland. Those units were to be disarmed by Soviet troops or secret police, and apprehended until further notice. The official Soviet policy towards the uprising was to prevent aid arriving to the Polish Home Army until it was too late, at which time Stalin relented to save face with Churchill and Roosevelt.
