After The Battle Magazine Issue 143 Back Issue

THE WARSAW UPRISING - Piotr Sliwowski explains how on August 1, 1944, the Polish underground army in Warsaw rose in rebellion against the Germans. The leaders of the Home Army had decided to undertake the operation, not only so that Poland could be seen to liberate its own capital but also as a statement of Polish independence. Tragedy on the eve of D-Day - Jean Paul Pallud tells the tragic story of how on June 5, 1944, 28 hostages were shot by the Germans in retaliation for the killing of 11 of their comrades by a mine planted by French Resistance fighters in the village of Ugine. Revenge at Saint-Julien - Resistance attacks followed by German reprisals occurred in many places in France in the summer of 1944. However, the events that unfolded at Saint-Julien — a small village in the Dordogne 85 kilometres east of Bordeaux — in August-September 1944 were different in that they were followed by an unusual sequel: a month after the Germans had shot 17 villagers in reprisal action, and after cessation of hostilities in the area, a local Resistance group took matters into their own hands and killed 17 German prisoners of war in an act of premeditated private retribution. The 17 victims were buried in an unmarked grave where they lay for 59 years until, finally, the conspiracy of silence was broken and the remains could at last be recovered. Karel Margry guides us through this amazing story.