1944 Warsaw Uprising

On Sunday, President Lech Kaczynski decorated 32 veterans with state distinctions for the 1944 Warsaw Rising against occupying Germans. The ceremony was held on the eve of the 63rd anniversary of the Rising which broke out on Aug. 1.

"Every nation must remember its heroes," Lech Kaczynski declared when handing out the medals. "On August 1, 1944 the almost unarmed insurgent army faced the well armed and still potent German troops. The heroic struggle lasted for over 2 months and even brought successes in the early days," the president was quoted by Polish PAP news agency.

Even the enemy appreciated the bravery of the fighters, he added. Some of the decorated veterans are now U.S., British or Belgian citizens.

The Rising in Warsaw was the largest armed operation of the resistance movements in the whole of Nazi-occupied Europe. Originally expected to last several days, it ended after 63 days of heavy fighting. Almost 18,000 fighters were killed and 25,000 were wounded. All the while the Soviet troops lay idle across the Vistula River to weaken potential resistance to post-war Communist take over.