War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 178

Chapter 33

Last days of September 1944

P

eter entered the meeting room after being summoned to an emergency meeting with General Bór. He looked around, seeing the room crammed with most every remaining officer in the Home Army.

Colonel Mituk raised his voice. “As you know, the Soviet intervention in the district of Praga was short-lived. After the catastrophic river crossing of Berling’s army and the failure to link up with our troops, no more efforts have been made from their side. Bór has personally appealed to Stalin for another intervention, but none has been promised.”

A murmur went through the room and Mituk raised his hand to quiet the gathered officers. “It is what it is. We’ve lost most of our territory and are besieged in the remaining three districts we control: City Center, Zoliborz and Mokotów. All of our units have sustained heavy casualties. The Germans have offered to accept capitulation—"

This time the murmur couldn’t be stopped.

“You can’t be serious!”

“The Nazi bastards will never comply with any promises given!”

“We might as well shoot ourselves!”

These phrases were only a few of the remarks floating around the room. The door opened and General Bór himself appeared, causing everyone to fall silent at once.

“It is true. General von dem Bach has offered to accept our capitulation and I have started negotiations with his emissaries,” General Bór said. “This battle is no longer ours to win. All we can do is fight for acceptable terms of surrender.”

“Acceptable terms?” someone scoffed and received a reprimanding glance in return.

“Our main request is that all members of the Polish Fighting Forces, including women and non-combatant persons, will be treated as prisoners of war according to the Geneva Convention and all civilians will be treated humanely,” Bórs’s right hand, Colonel Mituk, explained.

“I don’t think the Nazi pigs know the meaning of that word,” one of the commanders murmured, earning nods of several heads in agreement.

Mituk ignored the comment and continued. “Nobody is happy about this outcome, but it’s time to face reality. As much as we would like to continue our fight, this battle is lost. We were counting on help from the Allies, or we would never have started this uprising in the first place.”

Peter felt sympathy for the colonel. The man was the picture of misery, looking as if he alone shouldered the entire pain of the Polish nation.

“Don’t tell your units yet, but make sure they don’t engage in reckless attacks. Defend our lines, and retreat when needed. Above all, avoid unnecessary fatalities.”

The group dispersed, and Peter set out to find the building that housed his unit. Once he arrived, he could see the failure in their eyes – the hopelessness, mixed with desperate determination. It broke his heart.

In the evening he excused himself and trotted off to visit Agnieska and Jan. They were huddled together in Jan’s bed reading a book.

“You here? What’s wrong?” Agnieska asked with worry in her voice. He never showed up that late in the evening, because he usually slept in the quarters with his men.

Peter looked at his son, whose face had broken into a huge grin at the sight of his father. For the second time today, his heart broke.

“I want you to leave the city as soon as the possibility arises,” he said.

“Leaving? We’re besieged,” Agnieska murmured. “And we have nowhere to go.”

“We are going to surrender.”

“What?” Jan shrieked. “But, Dad, you can’t.”

“We have to. People are starving, and the Home Army is out of weapons. This is the only wise decision.” He didn’t say that they were also running out of humans to wield the weapons…fatalities had been staggering. Battalions once full-sized had been reduced to a dozen men.

“But…to surrender to the Germans? You’ll all be killed,” Agnieska said somberly.

“General Bór is negotiating favorable conditions,” Peter said, biting his lower lip.

“And if the Nazis don’t abide by the terms of the agreement?” Agnieska asked.

Peter didn’t have a ready answer for that one. He shrugged his shoulders, hoping against hope the Germans would keep their word.