As one of the guests have said in this video: if 9/11 was one of the worst tragedy to hit America, can you imagine "9/11" to happen every day, for 63 days in a row? 70 years ago, after 5 years of German occupation, the people of Warsaw have rised and fought bravely for 63 days without any help from Allies nor Soviets. It is then when the Polish government in exile have learned the truth about the Allies: that Churchill and Roosevelt year earlier in Teheran have sacrificed their country and gave permission to Stalin to steal almost half of Polish territories in exchange for Stalin's promise of continuing Russian advance towards Berlin. Very little they knew that Russians would continue fighting Germans only in order to conquer almost half of Europe for themselves, and that they will occupy the "liberated" countries for almost half of the century, thus becoming the #2 power in the world... The Polish Underground (the largest underground force in the world - in 1944 larger than i.e. entire Free French forces and French Resistance combined) never trusted Russians - after all Soviet Union have attacked Poland almost together with Germany, and by the middle of 1944 they knew something is not right, because reports from formerly Polish cities that have been "liberated" by Red Army (such as Vilnius or Lviv) were alarming: Russians were arresting many Polish Underground fighters and Home Army soldiers. Also Soviet creation of another, competing "Polish" government, consisting of communists brought from Moscow in July 1944, was the the writing on the wall. Thus Polish Underground - mainly Home Army (Armia Krajowa) - have decided to take matters in their own hands and liberate Warsaw from Germans, so they could welcome Red Army as hosts and as the rightful government. However, it backfired: as soon as the uprising began, the "Soviet steamroller" stopped reaching the outskirts of Warsaw on the east bank of Vistula river. Officially Russians say that the front lines were overstretched and that's why they "couldn't" help Warsaw fighters, but many facts point to their deliberate wait for Germans to kill off the Polish Resistance, which would (and did) made it easier for them to conquer the rest of Poland during their march towards Germany. One of the undisputed facts pointing to this is Soviet refusal to permit American bombers to land on their airfields if they were to be send with supplies for fighting Warsaw, knowing that the American bombers wouldn't make such a trip without refueling on Soviet side... In the aftermath of Warsaw Uprising almost quarter million people have been killed - most of them civillians, women and children - and 4 out 5 Home Army soldiers have perished. The city have been destroyed in 80% - literally obliterated, by special order from Hitler, who wanted to make it example for other occupied cities and countries to not even think of obstructing German rule. However, this enormous sacrifice of Polish people have probably shown to the Soviets, that if they were to pursue establishing communist regime in Poland, they have to tread lightly, because it won't be as easy as it was in Ukraine or other already conquered countries, and that Poles would certainly never accept creation of "Polish Soviet Republic" as part of Soviet Union. Thus the communist regime in post-war Poland, albeit as bad as any other communist scourge of disease, was never as terrible as it was i.e. in Russia itself, and minimal "facade democracy" was kept for few years longer. Also the heroic and brave uprising fighters - some as young as 10-12 year old - became long-lasting heroes of patriotism for many Polish families. No matter how hard communist occupants of Poland have tried to smear and extinguish it during their 44 years long occupation, the patriotism among true Poles have never died - thanks to, among many others, the Warsaw Uprising and it's people. Thank you for reading such long paragraph and I hope you will (or did) enjoy this film. Last note: albeit it is CNN production, broadcasted as part the "CNN Presents" series, which often meant half-baked, unverified on lacking any research informations, it actually is one of few very objective, unbiased, and well made CNN productions in my opinion. It even shows the truth behind the politics and how the "Allies" - including United States - have deliberately sacrificed Poland to appease the lesser of two evils: the Soviet Union, and keep them fighting Germany, the common foe at the time. This and other facts - except for historians - are very little known in the western countries... NOTE: Due to forced G+ integration into YouTube, I am unable to reply to video comments anymore since I don't and won't use Google Plus, Facebook or any of such privacy thieves. © 2004 Cable News Network Unfortunately preserved on DVD in low quality by mistake. If you have better quality of this video please contact me (CNN does not sell this programming for some reasons)

• published: 25 Jul 2014
• views: 1505