Wacław Lipiński
- Birth Date:
- 28.09.1896
- Death date:
- 04.04.1949
- Length of life:
- 52
- Days since birth:
- 46602
- Years since birth:
- 127
- Days since death:
- 27422
- Years since death:
- 75
- Extra names:
- Wacław Lipiński
- Categories:
- Historian, Legionary, Officer, Victim of repression (genocide) of the Soviet regime, WWII participant
- Nationality:
- pole
- Cemetery:
- Set cemetery
Wacław Lipiński (1896-1949) was a Polish historian, military officer and resistance fighter, lieutenant colonel in the Polish Army of the Second Polish Republic, recipient of Polish highest military decoration, the Order of Virtuti Militari.
Born on 28 September 1896 in Łódź, Lipiński became active in underground, patriotic, pro-independence Polish movements of the partition period. He started out in the scouting movement (1911), and joined the paramilitary Polish Rifle Squads (1912). He was a member of the Polish Legions in World War I, where he fought in the battles of Łowczówek, Konary and battle of Kostiuchnówka. Then joined the precursor of the Polish intelligence, the Polish Military Organisation. In 1918 the joined the regular Polish Army, and fought in the Polish-Ukrainian War (battle of Lwów) and then in the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921), taking part in the Vilna offensive.
In the interwar period, in 1927, he was promoted to major. That year he joined the newly founded Military Bureau of History (Wojskowe Biuro Historyczne). In 1932 he becomes a chief editor of a publication (Niepodległość) of the Józef Piłsudski Institute for Research in Modern History of Poland, and in 1936, a director of the Institute. From 1937 he lectured on the modern history of Poland at the University of Lwów.
Promoted to lieutenant colonel and retired in January 1939. After the German and Soviet invasions in September 1939, he was first attached to the Bureau of Propaganda at the Polish HQ, and then to the Propaganda Department in Warsaw, during the siege of Warsaw. He was one of the top Polish commanders during that siege, working closely with Walerian Czuma and Stefan Starzyński. He issued daily radio speeches to the citizens of Warsaw. Avoiding arrest after Germans captured Warsaw, he and his family escaped, first to Zakopane later that year, and next year, to Hungary.
Due to conflict between former followers of Józef Piłsudski (such as Lipiński) and followers of Władysław Sikorski, he was unable to join the Polish Army in the West. Instead, he became active in the Piłsudskiite Polish resistance. In 1942 he returned to occupied Poland, founding the Konwent Organizacji Niepodległościowych.
In 1944 he was arrested by the Nazis. After Nazi Germans were pushed back by the Soviets, he joined the anti-Soviet resistance. Founder of the Stronnictwo Niezawisłości Narodowej and Komitet Porozumiewawczy Organizacji Demokratycznych Polski Podziemnej. He was eventually arrested by the communist secret police (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa) on 7 January 1947. Sentenced to death in a staged trial in 1948, the sentence was changed to life sentence, he died in Wronki prison on 4 April 1949.
Awards
- Virtuti Militari, Silver Cross
- Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (posthumously, 2010; previously Knight's Cross)
- Cross of Independence
- Cross of Valour - twice
Works
- Bajończycy i armja polska we Francji (1929)
- Polityka zagraniczna Piłsudskiego i Becka (1943)
- Walka zbrojna o niepodległość Polski w latach 1905-1918
- Wśród lwowskich orląt
- Dziennik : wrześniowa obrona Warszawy 1939 r.
- Wielki Marszalek
Source: wikipedia.org
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14.02.1919 | The Polish-Soviet war started
The Polish–Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1921) was an armed conflict that pitted Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine against the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic over the control of an area equivalent to today's Ukraine and parts of modern-day Belarus. Ultimately the Soviets, following on from their Westward Offensive of 1918–19, hoped to fully occupy Poland. Although united under communist leadership, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine were theoretically two separate independent entities since the Soviet republics did not unite into the Soviet Union until 1922.
01.09.1939 | Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War (Polish: Kampania wrześniowa or Wojna obronna 1939 roku) in Poland and the Poland Campaign (German: Polenfeldzug) or Fall Weiß (Case White) in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II in Europe. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, while the Soviet invasion commenced on 17 September following the Molotov-Tōgō agreement which terminated the Russian and Japanese hostilities (Nomonhan incident) in the east on 16 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland.
08.09.1939 | Siege of Warsaw
The Siege of Warsaw in 1939 was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army (Armia Warszawa) garrisoned and entrenched in the capital of Poland (Warsaw) and the invading German Army.