A new book by Russian and Polish historians sheds light on the Warsaw anti-fascist uprising of 1944. It brings together archive documents about the insurgence and tells readers about controversial aspects of its history.

The book is dedicated to one of the bloodiest episodes in Polish history – the Warsaw anti-fascist uprising of 1944.

It has been published both in Polish and Russian and is the result of long-term collaboration between historians and the secret services of the two countries.

It is in fact the first-ever collection of 150 unique documents provided by Russia’s FSB and the Presidential Archives, the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Institute of National Memory, as well as the German security police and the Wehrmacht. And as those who have been working on it for four years say, here on the 1,400 pages is the truth about the Warsaw uprising of 1944.

On August 1, 1944, the Polish underground army engaged the Nazi occupiers. The battle lasted over two months. When it was finally over more than 120,000 Poles were dead. Warsaw was in ruins. It was probably the largest operation executed by a partisan organization during WW2 and the largest failure.

“You cannot understand Polish people without understanding how important this page of our history is for us. This book can help our nations to better understand each other and to improve our relations in future,” believes Ezhi Bar, Polish Ambassador to Russia.

Sixty three years after the surrender of the Polish army the book based on the memoirs of witnesses to the uprising brings its readers back to1944.

“While reading the memories of the insurgents in the annex, you can close your eyes and physically feel the shootings, the rumblings of the exploding missiles, the hopes for freeing Warsaw, people’s enthusiasm, blood, death, and suffering. This is the truth about the uprising,” says Vladimir Makarov from Central FSB Archive.

Meanwhile, Petr Miretsky from the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs stresses: “We can learn more about people’s lives, the story of what happened to the whole nation and the mechanisms that directed those lives. I think it’s important not only for historians, but also for us and those who will come after us.”

Both politicians and historians agree that the project has helped to bring the two countries closer together.

But there is one controversy this book still leaves unsettled. By August 1944 the Red Army had already freed Warsaw's suburbs. The Polish capital was just weeks away from liberation. And at this moment another force – the Polish underground army – declared it was strong enough to free Warsaw from the Nazis.

“It’s an implementation of the concept of the Polish government-in-exile, which was in London then. From a military point of view, that uprising was a pure gamble. They had twice as many soldiers as the Germans did. But only 30 per cent of them were equipped. Could they start an uprising?” Vladimir Makarov wonders.

The Red Army was on the opposite bank of the Vistula River when the uprising began. Some accuse the soviet command of undertaking nothing to help Poland. Historians have their explanation.

“No one asked Stalin or the military for help. The Poles started the uprising themselves and hoped to deal with it on their own as well. It wouldn't have been wise for the Soviet command to send in troops to carry out an offensive operation without a thought-through plan. It's clear to historians. That's why we didn't touch upon this issue in this book,” historian Vasily Khristoforov explains.

The work on the Warsaw uprising is the third Russian-Polish historic project. The others tell of Poland's underground and the deportation of Polish citizens from Western Belarus and Ukraine in  the1940s. And as both sides say this project is not the last.