Journey to Warsaw

The first part of an informative report by our German member Winter from Dresden
on his trip to Poland and a visit to the legendary PG2 general 'Rommel' aka "The Polish Erwin"
- interesting photos of WW2 equipment included.

Left-click on a pic to enlarge it; double-click to re-shrink it.

Winter Journey # 1: Poland in September, 2004 (Part 1)

Warsaw - Departure from Berlin Tegel with "Air Berlin". Spending about 190 Euros you can get to Warsaw within 45 to 50 minutes.

I've been in Warsaw for just one day and a half, and therefore I can only describe some short impressions.
Warsaw is the capital of the Republic of Poland and is situated on the Vistula. Please check Wikipedia for further information about Poland.
In the city of Warsaw there live about 2 million people. Warsaw was one of the hardest suffering capitals in WW2. During and after the suppression of the Warsaw rebellion in fall, 1944, the Wehrmacht and SS devastated the city almost completely. Bombing and destroying 90% of the city, German forces also used the 42cm cal. 'Gamma' mortar aka 'Dicke Berta' ('Fat Berta'), the last equipment remaining from WW 1.
Additional information on these topics is available in German at the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Museum of History) and Panzer-Archiv.de. (Try a Babelfish webpage translation).

Warsaw - The Royal Castle in fall, 2004, and in fall, 1945

Outstanding efforts were made to reconstruct the historical heart of the city after the war.

Pics above: Warsaw - The historical city of Warsaw.

If you ever get to Warsaw I strongly recommend to visit the National Museum. Unfortunately, I wasn't well prepared, i.e. it was a Monday, and on Mondays this museum is closed. Anyway, you may want to take a closer look at Polish museums.

In the outdoor area, however, one can see sights of following interesting and partially rare exhibits:

Pics above: SU-76 and JS-2

Pics above: 'Katyusha' (German website) and an IL2 TB

Pics above: The German armored personel carrier SdKfz. 251 and its Polish counter-part called "KUBUS", an improvised APC from the period of the Warsaw rebellion

Pics above: German howitzers 105mm leFH 18 and 150mm sFH 18 (left), mortar 210mm Mrs 18 and a 300mm shell (right)

Pics above: A "Hetzer" tank-destroyer, a 7.5cm self-propelled ATG commissioned by Guderian.
A crew of 4, very small shape, good road-capability, based on the "Panzer 38(t)" chassis, produced by Skoda and BMW.
Rare, original specimen with a devastating rear hit (?). The crew's fate is imaginable and should be a warning to anyone.

To be continued ...

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