THE WARSAW SHAMBLES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 41, 19 January 1945, Page 4

THE WARSAW SHAMBLES

LIKE a flourish of triumphal trumpets comes the striking announcement of the capture and 'liberation' of Warsaw, the fateful capital of martyred Poland. Let the English mind go back live years, when the initial invasion of inno-* cent Poland was launched by the proud and ruthless mercenaries of the Fuehrer. Let us remember our solemn pledges to the then enthusiastic and patriotic peoples of Poland, who like Britain in after years, alone stood in the path of the forces of Dictatorship., Dare we recollect the manner in which this people of 34,500,000 marched steadfastly to their doom, without so much as a single British war plane winging to their relief. Can we recall the shortlived liaison between the German and Soviet forces, when down from the north Stalin's legions marched into the helpless country and catching the invaders off their balance quietly annexed the greater half of the northern marches. The cry of anger at this.bold stroke, the strategy of which was not to dawn upon the world for twelve months, was lost in the thunder of the growing battle: which was rumbling along the vaunted Maginot Line. But War-' saw! After the heroic seige, the battered remnants of this once handsome capital received ' through its deserted streets the victory march of the conquerers. But it was not until the sinister head of the Gestapo arrived that Warsaw s sufferings were to reach their greatest height. The ghetto' which he created confined® nearly a quarter million Jews, who were in turn starved, tortured and massacred. The grisly tale could defeat in its horror, the worst of depraved history—and yet, in the very heart of the terror the spirit of Poland lived on. The underground in the capital was of the most active, and most effective in all bondaged.Europe. The story of the turning tide, when the armies of the Soviet, recouped and resolute, swung into Poland, with the cry of 'deliverance' on their lips needs no telling here. The melancholy story of the premature revolt m the capital, when the gaunt and underfed guerillas rose as one man and fought back against the hated oppres- | ors > comparatively recent history. Who was to blame tor this false call to arms or who must shoulder the responsibility for the senseless slaughter which followed does not concern the modern student of war, who is'intent only upon the fortunes of his respective side. The only point which captures popular imagination today, is the fact that Warsaw, the first of the Allied capitals to fall before tha forces of the Axis, is now freed again, and from it in an ever-growing torrent of vengeance pour the new armies of mighty Soviet Russia.