In the Warsaw Uprising, German troops hanged suspected Poles who mutinied. Involved in the Warsaw Uprising for about 63 days, the massacre was carried out by units of the German SS, police, penal battalions, and the Russian People's Liberation Army.

 　　In the Warsaw Uprising, German troops hanged suspected Poles who mutinied. Civilians suffered the most during the nearly 63-day Warsaw Uprising, with more than 40,000 residents of the Vola district massacred on August 5-6 alone. The massacre was carried out by units of the German SS, police, exile battalions, and the Russian People's Liberation Army.

　The Polish Home Army (AK), a force of about 50,000 troops commanded by Commander Tadeusz Komorowski, attacked the relatively weak German garrison on August 1, 1944, sparking the Warsaw Uprising Within three days, Polish forces had returned most of the city under their control. They failed to capture major transportation and communications points, such as railroad stations and road junctions. By August 20, the Soviets had halted their offensive, and by August 20, the Germans in the city of Warsaw had consolidated their counteroffensive plans and launched a counterattack on August 25. In a brutal, well-supported attack, some 40,000 Polish civilians were massacred. The Warsaw Uprising was scheduled to last about 10 days, but was caught in a siege that favored the Germans, who had the advantage of equipment and supplies.

　The Red Army, meanwhile, was held up by German attacks during the first few days of the uprising and took up positions in Praga, a suburb across the Vistula River from Warsaw, where a truce was called. The Soviet government refused to allow the Western Allies to use Soviet air bases to airlift supplies to the beleaguered Poles. Flights from the Allied-occupied airfield at Brindisi, Italy, crossed more than 1,300 kilometers of German hostile territory, resulting in heavy losses. Finally, on September 13, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin launched a limited airlift of humanitarian and military aid to Warsaw, but it was too late to help the Polish army.

　As the Warsaw Uprising continued without end, the citizens of Warsaw and the Polish Home Army were demoralized by the constant bombardment of German troops, starvation and rationing, and shortages of water, electricity, and basic necessities. Without significant Allied support, the Polish Home Army was split into small, disparate units, and when supplies ran out, the Polish Home Army soldiers were forced to surrender on October 3 and were taken prisoner. The Germans then systematically deported the Warsaw population and destroyed Warsaw. During the Warsaw Uprising, approximately 15,000 Polish troops and 250,000 civilians were killed, and the Germans lost about 16,000 soldiers. The remaining approximately 650,000 civilians were deported to concentration camps in southern Warsaw.