"KUBUS" Warsaw'44 Uprising Armoured Car
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"Kubuś" - an armored car of Polish design, built and used during the Warsaw Uprising. Given its purpose, it was actually an armored personnel carrier.
The decision to build the vehicle was made on August 8, 1944. The car was built in Stanisław Kwiatkowski's car workshop on the corner of Tamka and Topiel streets.
The head of the team building the vehicle was Józef Fernik, pseudonym Globus. The Warsaw Power Plant provided a Chevrolet truck, sheet metal, angle irons, welding
and electrical equipment, and electrodes for the project. The group building the vehicle obtained the remaining necessary materials on its own.
The vehicle was painted by Stanisław Kopf, pseudonym Malarz, in brown and gray patches. During the ceremony of its "christening", attended by members
of the command of the "Krybar" group and its "Elektrownia" unit, it was given the name "Kubuś".
On August 23, 1944, together with the "Jaś" transporter (later renamed "Szary Wilk"), "Kubuś" took part in the attack on the University of Warsaw. The second attack on the
university – also unsuccessful – was carried out on 2 September 1944.
On 6 September 1944, after the ammunition supplies had been exhausted while covering the retreat of the insurgents from Powiśle, the vehicle was immobilised and burned.
Before burning, the machine gun was removed from it. Taking the “Kubus” out of Powiśle was prevented by barricades blocking the streets.
After the war, the hull of the vehicle (without the chassis) was transported to the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw.
In 1967, at the initiative of Józef Fernik, it was renovated; at that time, a chassis from a Soviet truck was installed. In the 1990s, it was – contrary to the original – painted in dark grey patches on a lighter background.
In connection with the 60th anniversary of the Uprising, Juliusz Siudziński's studio also produced a replica of "Kubuś", which has been exhibited at the Warsaw Uprising Museum since July 2004.
