5. The Germans tried to avoid street fighting by bombing from the air and heavy artillery bombardment
During the blitzkrieg into Poland at the onset of World War II the Luftwaffe’s most feared weapon was the Ju-87 dive bomber, known as the Stuka. The Stuka emitted a fearsome sound as it dove down on its targets, a banshee wail which terrorized those below who heard it. By 1940, over the skies of Great Britain, the weaknesses of the Stuka were evident and by 1944 the aircraft was no longer a viable front line weapon, too vulnerable to enemy aircraft. But against ground forces with no anti-aircraft capability, and no air support, it could still provide its role of precision dive-bombing and strafing of personnel on the ground. It did so against the Polish positions in Warsaw, and against civilian occupied structures.
Artillery on the outskirts of the city, safe from the threat of counterattack, also bombarded the areas of the city which were not in German hands, regardless of the absence of resistance fighters in the area. Any building which had the potential to be fortified was bombed, strafed, or bombarded, even those which were demonstrably medical facilities. The German air and artillery attacks were uncontested by the Poles. Less than five minutes flight time to the east of the city were Soviet established forward air bases, equipped with fighters and interceptors which could have easily seized control of the air over the city and bombed artillery positions in support of the Poles. They did not, instead focusing their air assets in support of the Soviet strategy of seizing bridgeheads over the Vistula outside of Warsaw.