SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Gille received orders instructing him to conduct counter-attacks in the direction of Łochów. This was an impossible mission to execute since all the units in his corps were already engaged in battle. On that same day, August 18, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 incurred heavy losses at Jadów, and the tanks which had been spared were sent speedily away in the direction of Tłusczc. Their presence made it possible for the soldiers from SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 “Germania” — exhausting the last of their strength — to hold back the enemy’s attacks.
On August 19, the German front began to collapse. Attacking Soviet columns along the Liwiec River split both German corps and advanced to the Bug River. The 5th Jäger-Division had been destroyed. General Weiß ordered a rapid evacuation of the XX Army-Corps to the other side of the Bug River, where he would take up new positions north of Wyszków. In other words, 2nd Army had withdrawn from Warsaw, and consequently, the entire burden of its defence was turned over to the 9th Army and the IV SS-Panzer-Corps.
The west- European volunteers in the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking,” who were defending Tłuszcz at this time, found themselves under deadly bombardment from “Katjusha” rockets — the Soviet air force controlled the air, virtually unopposed. Wave after wave of infantry units and tanks washed over the unyielding defenders. The 47th Army stormed Wołomin; and the 70th Army, Tłusczc. The 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” which fought on the left flank was forced to shorten its front to the Tłusczc and Wyszów line, and take up positions along the railway line there. That day, they successfully withstood the violent attacks against Wyszków by the 28th Army’s frontline troops, solely thanks to a timely intervention carried out by all the panzer division’s regiments. Tank crews reported enemy losses mounting to 20 destroyed tanks — on the other hand, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 also lost two vehicles to the marsh-terrain near the village of Skuszew by the Bug. This sort of incident, where the Germans themselves blew-up their tanks after having become hopelessly trapped in the muddy banks of a river, would be repeated on further occasions,
The situation for both SS-panzer divisions now became critical. Opposing them were three armies (more concretely: six rifle corps, as the 70th Army had only two; one corps from the 28th Army fought against the XX Army-Corps, while the 47th Army’s 125th Rifle Corps stood inactive across from the 73rd Infanterie-Division) and two armoured corps, plus countless artillery and combat aircraft. The losses were enormous and only some tens of tanks per-regiment were battle-worthy. The 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” had been driven out of Tłuszcz and organised a new defence line along the main road to Białystok between Trojany and Zabrodzie. With the aim of reinforcing Gille’s ever weaker corps, General Reinhart ordered that the Hungarian reserve, the 1st Cavalry Division, be re-deployed to Praga. Also ordered to arrive in Praga was the 1145th Grenadier-Regiment from Warsaw, which up until that time been part of von dem Bach’s corps and had helped to crush the Uprising. SS-Obergruppenführer and polizeigeneralen Erich von dem Bach opposed this decision with the argument that his pacification troop was already weak. The order, however, continued in force. In addition, the 1131st Grenadier-Brigade was put under the operational command of the severely mauled 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf” in the defence of Wołomin.
A tracked assault-gun StuG 40 Ausf. G from SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf” or the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” waiting in ambush in the vicinity of Warsaw, in August 1944.
At this time, new operational plans were meanwhile being drawn up in Moscow dealing with, among other things, the fighting in central Poland. It was a cheerless satisfaction Zjukov felt when, as he had foreseen, the weakened force of Soviet attacks now began to be clearly evident. Soviet forces continued to fight hard, but the officers at Soviet headquarters knew that a breakthrough in the German frontline along the Wisla was not going to be achieved in the immediate future. To all appearances, Stalin was not concerned about this. The Soviet dictator was now completely focused on the Balkans where the 2nd and the 3rd Ukrainian Fronts were poised to launch a new strategic offensive. He also wanted to strike against East Prussia and decide the battle for control of the Baltic States. Zjiukov informed him that it was necessary to carry out a reorganization of several armies and to give them new objectives. Moreover, it was necessary to concentrate large amounts of supplies and reinforcements to the Balkans and this would primarily be at the expense of Konev and Rokossovskij’s armies. Stalin did not debate the viewpoints of his “representatives.” And on August 20, the 1st Belorussian Front and the 4th Guards Cavalry Corps were already on their way south. This had, to some significant degree, an impact on the battles for Warsaw since, on that sector of the front which these forces had up until then occupied; there now remained only the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps. Clearly, this weakened the combat strength of the forces storming the Warsaw region.
The issue of the Warsaw Uprising was dealt with separately. Stalin was surprised that the insurgent opposition had lasted so long. For the Germans, who had primarily regular troops along the front, it was increasingly apparent that they did not have enough combat strength to quickly regain control of the city. According to Stalin, Marshal Rokossovskij should not, as yet, attack Praga itself, but instead concentrate his focus on liquidating the enemy in the Wołomin-Wyszków region. Obviously, the most important objective of his frontline for the immediate future was to continue to maintain and even expand the troop positions along the Wisla. Likewise, the 2nd Army should be smashed and the Narew crossed.
The final days of August constituted a period of seldom-seen, brutally intensive fighting. Soviet pressure on the IV SS-Panzer-Corps let up on August 20, which immediately resulted in German counterattacks. The local counteroffensives which the 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf” and the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” conducted were aimed to “even out” the frontline between Radzymin and Wyszków: This, because the 70th Army in earlier fighting had managed to carve troublesome pockets between various districts of defence. On August 21, the tank grenadiers (from the 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf” and the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking”) led counter-attacks to regain control of the main road to Białystok, which temporarily removed the risk that both Waffen-SS tank divisions would be separated from one other. Although the SS-soldiers’ tanks and anti-tank guns caused incredible losses in terms of combat equipment for the Soviet attackers; the disproportionate combat strength favouring the 70th Army on August 24 enabled them to once again cut off the road to Białystok near the village of Trojany. Volunteers from the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” fought frenetically and managed to beat back repeated attacks by the Soviet infantry, which had the support of tanks from the 8th Guards Tank Corps. The Germans had the Bug River at their backs, and were the division’s positions to give way, it would cease to exist. The commander of the 70th Army, General Popov (the army was led by Vasil Popov while Alexei Popov had command of the 8th Guards Tank Corps), strove to cross the Bug from the village of Trojany to Marianów on the other side. It did not succeed, however, until August 25, despite one of the 28th Army’s rifle corps engaging half the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking’s” combat strength due south of Wyszków.