Nebelwerfer, called by the insurgents a "roaring cow" or "wardrobe" (due to the characteristic whistle / roar) is one of the cruelest weapons used by the Germans during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. To this day, it is formidable as its use was devastating for anyone in its vicinity ...
From dawn, you can hear a distant artillery cannonade from the south. The heavy guns keep firing all the time. It looks like some great concentrated fire ahead of a great attack. God, God, maybe it's a Soviet offensive and help for us? [...] In the Old Town they have been buzzing since the morning, and the buzzing starts here too.
Fall of Will
We are beginning to feel the collapse of Wola. The Germans choose our skin. Around noon, mortar fire again. The door in the hall flew off its hinges, as did some window frames. There was a confusion, and in the last room the top window fell on a boy whose bed stood by the window. The boy found himself in the window frame as if in a collar, and the glass hurt his head. [...] Our girls are truly on the level:as soon as the bombing began, they all immediately ran to their rooms, without any order.
The article is an excerpt from the book Zagłada Miasta. Testimonies of the people of the uprising , which has just been released on the market by Ośrodek KARTA
Dr. J's voice is heard:"Boys, do not be afraid - nothing will happen to you, we are with you." White Basia tugs at the bed and moves it away from the window. The same screech is heard everywhere. I carefully break off any scraps of glass and remove the window frame around the terrified, bloody boy's neck. The cannonade continues, but the fear is brought under control, the mood calms down, or rather the anxiety lingers. The cold blood and courage of the nurses work on the sick, although everyone is scared.
Maybe one Dr. J. nothing, she somehow does not feel fear. […] The shooting continues for some time, but then it moves somewhere else. Our hut is standing, we only got one bullet in the top wall, one shot in the opposite direction, but in the outbuilding. [...] In the afternoon, Beata [Hłasko] and Ania [Niklewicz] returned from Srebrna Street, where they were going for milk. Our cow ceased to exist. The soldiers just ate it. Our most seriously ill people will no longer get this little milk. We also have four babies to support.
There are still horses that have to share the fate of the cow, because there is only a few days of straw to feed them. [...] Beautiful, full of charm "Pestka" sings, successfully imitating Ordonka:"Santa Madonna, help me. My husband is due to come back from Casablanca today. ' Two slightly injured rovers from our storage room improvise an artistic cabaret together with the nurses. It's getting fun. Doctors trick Dr. J. into wine. Our Katon adjusts his glasses and finally decides: “The day was bloody - everyone had a glass. Let's laugh, who knows if the world will last two weeks. ” Maybe two hours for us.
"Roaring Cow"
Around two in the afternoon we heard some new sounds, unknown in our military practice. To the north of us, probably in the Saski Garden, something creaked, as if large wardrobes were being moved. There were six noises, one after the other, then explosions somewhere not far away. This happened twice. […] Monstrous naked human bodies of the color of lead were brought into the hall on a stretcher - from the tip to the nail on the limbs. To make matters worse, these people were completely conscious. There was something so shocking, something so amazing about the sight that we were literally stunned with horror.
Salvo of Nebelwerfer over Warsaw in 1944
Two brothers M. and G. fell victim to this new weapon used by the Germans - the "Nebelwerfer" - by the insurgents called (for the sounds it made) a cow or a wardrobe. […] After an hour, a young girl, Basia, a liaison officer, was brought. The "cow" missiles were filled with high-phosphorus explosive. After the explosion, without making large demolition breaches, they burned to coal everything that was within their explosion. Our unfortunates were not in the immediate vicinity of the explosion, and yet from the outside they were completely charred. The first nervous bewilderment, perhaps even some paralysis, prevented them from experiencing any pain or groaning.
Death in agony
Our doctors had no practice in treating such atrocities. After immediate injections of morphine, the beds had to be prepared according to the disposition of doctors, covered on all sides with damp sheets, such as screens. Whole bodies were to be constantly covered with such sheets, dipped in a tannin solution. A separate nurse was assigned to each of the patients, who did not leave them even for a moment.
The day was beautiful and hot, and I thought there was a solar eclipse. The only color in my eyes was the color of leaden bodies. When I ran to my room for morphine, I found Dr. J. sitting in a pose of utter collapse - her, always so tireless, exaggeratedly optimistic, ignoring all dangers and storming through obstacles! The sight of this human suffering, this unspeakable misery overwhelmed her. She jumped up from the sandwich and, with maddened eyes, started screaming:“Jesus, where are you, where are you? Is God gone? ”. I grabbed her hand tightly, shook her, and screamed, terrified, “Don't blaspheme, you hear, you can't! Go save them! ”.
I wet the towel in the washroom and rubbed her face hard. After a while she calmed down and we both went out into the corridor. Dr. J. was completely under control. Almost running through the corridors, I prayed silently:"Lord, give me strength and victory over myself, give me a turtle shell over my heart so that I don't feel anything." Fear is a terrible feeling, but it is personal and leaves a spark of hope. The sight of human suffering pierces, destroys the heart and nerves; the awareness that help is coming is not at all comforting. There is such a mass of suffering, so new and new, like the endless and constantly flowing water in a river. [...] After two hours, our "turkeys" (that's what we called our toasted sick people) started shaking. We could not check their temperature because thermometers could not be placed on burnt skin. Dr. J. ran to the PKO to the council, what measures to apply, what other doctors do. […]
The article is an excerpt from the book Zagłada Miasta. Testimonies of the people of the uprising , which has just been released on the market by Ośrodek KARTA
The turkeys are still alive and, even worse, awake. Entire bodies are cracked into fissures that ooze pus, eyes closed. I imagine this is what the earth must look like after a volcanic eruption. They are completely naked, covered with gauze. The sheets and pillows beneath them are completely drenched in pus, though their backings keep changing. Swarms of buzzing flies, black, sparkling, green and blue, hover over them constantly; one of us is constantly on duty and keeps them from flies. [...] Today we have reached an agreement with the men who promised to appoint a permanent duty to banish the burned. I wonder how long they'll last. It is not reading a newspaper or a piece of a book to a sick person or giving a cup of coffee to a laughing and joking boy. They stink and groan, nightmare at all.
Source:
The article is an excerpt from the book Zagłada Miasta. Testimonies of the people of the uprising , which has just been released on the market by Ośrodek KARTA