In the Polish capital , the AK formations initially took over considerable portions of the city , but from 4 August they had to limit their efforts to defense and the territory under Polish control kept shrinking . The Warsaw AK district had 50,000 members , of whom perhaps 10 % had firearms . They faced a reinforced German special corps of 22,000 largely SS troops and various regular army and auxiliary units , up to 50,000 soldiers total . The Polish command had planned to establish a provisional Polish administration to greet the arriving Soviets , but came nowhere close to meeting this goal . The Germans and their allies engaged in mass slaughter of the civilian population , including between 40,000 and 50,000 massacred in the districts of Wola , Ochota and Mokotów . The SS and auxiliary units recruited from the Soviet Army deserters ( the Dirlewanger Brigade and the R.O.N.A. Brigade ) were particularly brutal
massacred in the districts of Wola
Wola massacre
History of Poland (1939–1945)