On 1 August 1944, the Warsaw Uprising began. It was an operation by the Polish resistance Home Army to drive Nazi Germany out of Warsaw and was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union’s Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city.
However, rather than continue to assist the uprising, the Soviet army stopped short, allowing it to be crushed by October. The Soviets finally took the city on 17 January 1945.
Here are some then and now photos of Warsaw, by James Carson.