At 5 pm on August 1st Warsaw - and Poland - stop to the sound of sirens, remembering "W hour" - the hour when the Warsaw Rising began. This year sees the 76th anniversary of the revolt of 1944 against the Nazis , but this year's events will be not be open to the public due to restrictions imposed on the number of people during concerts , mass gatherings or museum visits .
Intended to last only a few days until Soviet forces arrived, the uprising, which began on August 1, went on for 63 days, before being put down by better equiped and more numerous Nazi German forces. The insurgents did not receive any of the much awaited help from the Soviet units.
The heroic act of resistance left Warsaw raised to the ground and resulted in the deaths of some 18 thousand insurgents and 200 thousand civilians.