organisations joined the Uprising. Those included the Armia Ludowa, Gwardia Ludowa and Narodowe Siły Zbrojne. Along with the Polish soldiers who took part in the Uprising, there were also members of other nationalities. Among them was a number of Hungarian deserters and Italian escapees from POW camps in Poland. Another ex-POW soldier was RAF Sgt. John Ward, whose numerous coded radio dispatches gave an eyewitness account of the fighting to the British government and Polish government-in-exile, as well as the London press. There was also a Slovak 535th Home Army platoon under Lt. Stanko. It was composed mostly of Slovaks, Georgians, Armenians and Azeri, and suffered heavy casualties in the course of the uprising (up to 70%). It is believed that some 25,000 Jews were hiding in Warsaw before the Uprising. The vast majority of them died together with other Polish civilians. However, many Jews (possibly as many as 1,000), including those released by Home Army from the Warsaw concentration camp (Gęsiówka), joined the Home Army. During the final stage of the battle a number of Soviet soldiers (possibly as many as 3,000, most of them members of Polish units in Soviet army) also crossed the river and fought the Germans in Powiśle area. Airdrops were carried out by allied airmen from Italy, mostly by Poles, Canadians and the British. German units As of 23 August 1944 the German units directly involved with fights in Warsaw were divided into: Kampfgruppe Rohr (commanded by general major Rohr) Kampfgruppe Reinefarth (commanded by SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Reinefarth) Sturmgruppe Dirlewanger (commanded by SS-Oberführer der Reserve Oskar Dirlewanger) Sturmgruppe Reck (commanded by Major Reck) Sturmgruppe Schmidt (commanded by Colonel Schmidt) various support and backup units Warsaw Garrison (Group of Warsaw Commandant) commanded by Lieutenant General Stahel A large section of the forces on the "German" side were, according to Norman Davies, drawn from "'collaborationist forces'" including Russians who had left in the Tzar's era and Azeris. References Jerzy Kirchmayer. Powstanie Warszawskie. Książka i Wiedza, Warsaw, 1959. . Hardcover, 576 pages. Warsaw Uprising Uprising Warsaw Uprising Warsaw Uprising