its counter-attack against the Magnuszew bridgehead, defended by the 8th Guards Army, failed after heavy fighting. Between August and September 1944, the division used captured Polish non-combatant civilians as human shields when attacking the insurgents' positions during the Warsaw uprising. Following the destruction of the town, the division was attached to the newly formed Army Group Vistula formed 24 January 1945, defending the ruins of Warsaw in what Hitler termed "Festung Warschau", or Fortress Warsaw. During the Vistula-Oder Offensive, much of the division was broken in battle. In April, the remnants of the Hermann Göring Panzerkorps were sent to Silesia, and in heavy fighting were slowly pushed back into Saxony. On April 22, the Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring was one of two divisions that broke through the inter-army boundary of the Polish 2nd Army (Polish People's Army or LWP) and the Soviet 52nd Army, in an action near Bautzen, destroying parts of their communications and logistics trains and severely damaging the Polish (LWP) 5th Infantry Division and 16th Tank Brigade before being stopped two days later. In early May, units of the corps attempted to break out towards the American forces on the Elbe, but were unsuccessful. The corps surrendered to the Red Army on 8 May 1945. War crimes According to a British Government report, the Hermann Göring Division was involved in several reprisal operations during its time in Italy. One of these occurred in the surrounding area of the village of Civitella in Val di Chiana on 29 June 1944 where 250 civilians were killed. The division was also involved in a number of other massacres in Italy at Cavriglia (173 victims), Monchio, Susano and Costrignano (130 victims) and Vallucciole (107 victims). Soldiers of the Hermann Göring Division used civilians as human shields in front of its tanks while clearing barricades during the Warsaw Uprising. Around 800 soldiers from the division took part in fighting during the August–October 1944 Warsaw Uprising in the Wola district, where mass executions of civilians occurred in connection with Hitler's orders to destroy the city. Units of the division were also involved in the excesses committed in the Dutch city of Putten, also called the Putten raid. The units were: II./Fallschirm-Panzer-Regiment "Hermann Göring" (20 PzKpfw IV tanks) III./Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2. "Hermann Göring" IV./Fallschirm-Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment "Hermann Göring" Organization Structure of the division: Headquarters Hermann Goering Panzer Regiment 1st Hermann Goering Panzergrenadier Regiment 2nd Hermann Goering Panzergrenadier