120th years of Jozef Mackiewicz's birth

Salvete Omnes,

Ukraine is in flames -  outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian soldiers and militiamen are still defending parts of the city of Mariupol - they are heroes of this Ruso-Ukrainian war.  -  do let the peace return. Ukrainian refugees in Poland are still growing(more than 2,3 million in 47 days!!), and I daresay soon the Poles will become overwhelmed without help from USA and EU.

                                                                                                   +++++++++++

Jozef Mackiewicz, born April 1, 1902AD, was one of the most important Polish writers and publicists during the XX century, but he is rather  unknown in Poland proper.
Mostly because he was a stalwart anti-Communist and Polish Communist through education and  media, prior to 1990 AD, sought to remove Mackiewicz's writings from the popular literary and political discourse.
And in the years from the so called transition of 1989-90AD , in the court of public opinion shaped by a liberal Polish daily paper Gazeta Wyborcza and post-Communist liberal world,  his work was deemed  persona non grata, and consequently many narratives were woven about this Lithuanian Polish patriot and anti-Communist, humanist and libertarian. His writings were and still are marginalized in Poland, and it did not help that his literary works and copyrights  were, rather  strangely, awarded by courts not to his daughter Halina Mackiewicz but to a total stranger Nina Karsov-Schechter. 

So this month  we celebrate the 120th anniversary of Mackiewicz's birth, he was born in Sankt Petersburg, Russian Empire, in 1902AD, since Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was  partitioned in 1795AD and Poles were widely spread out across Europe and Americas etc.  He is still famous for this reporting on genocide as it occurred- the Katyn Forrest Massacre, and the Ponary Massacre. But he was a prolific writer, continuing his writing all the way to his end, essays and novels, most of them on political issues of his times.

 During his late teens he became a volunteer cavalryman, for  in 1919AD, during the Polish-Bolshevik war he volunteered and served, along with his brother Stanislaw and many other relatives, for the remainder of the conflict as a cavalryman under Jerzy Lupaszka Dambrowski,   one of the most  famous 'zagonczyks' (cavalry raider) of that war - nota bene there were two more famous raiders from  Kresy/ Polish Borderlands during this period:   Stanislaw Bulak-Balachowicz (the last 'Kmicic') and Feliks Jaworski.

Being a soldier of Dambrowski brother s' unit, Jozef  Mackiewicz took part in the famous and legendary withdrawal/partisan raid of the Vilnius Special Command of the Polish Armed Forces, odyssey of heroic proportions that took them  from the city of Wilno (Vilnus), across Polesie and Lithuania and western Belarus to Grodno & Brest Litovsk, now in Belarus in 1919AD. He took part in the 1919 campaigning and then joined the 211th Uhlan regiment for the 1920AD campaign.

During the hot days of the summer and fall of 1920 he fought in the northern front, against the Bolshevik cavalry of Gai Khan. He wrote about his experiences in his famous and quite autobiographical novel 'Lewa Wolna' (Free Left, 1965 ). In one of his novels he described the odyssey and tragedy of the Pontic Cossack hosts that threw their lot with Nazi Germany, crossed from the Volga-Don steppes into southern Europe as part of the multi-ethnic force supporting Hitler's Wehrmacht, then in 1945 surrendered to the British in Italy and were betrayed into the Stalin's hands by the British gentlemen and officers who had given their word to do otherwise. Nota bene Polish general Anders got  the Allies to exclude the SS Galizien Division Ukrainians accepted as Polish citizens and most of them were able to emigrate to Canada and UK after the war during the 1947-8 or so. 

Ad rem, Mackiewicz, along with some uhlans from 211th uhlan regiment still under Dambrowski,  was taken prisoner by the Lithuanians during the October 1920AD - he was released from his captivity due to the intervention of his uncle, who was in the Lithuanian army at that time. 
He was released from the army and eventually became a writer  living in Wilno (Vilnius, then in Polish 2nd Republic) after the 1919-22 war, worked for his brother Stanislaw's newspaper, survived the Soviet and German occupation, left Wilno for Warsaw n 1944, and then in 1945AD  made over to the American zone and lived for the remainder of this years in  Germany. 

He wrote a lot, and among his writings and statements he coined this phrase-  only the truth is interesting.

Valete 

Opowieści szwoleżerów I-go Pułku Józefa Piłsudskiego -Arcelin

Salvate Omnes,
[in Polish]
 
stuletnia rocznica zwycięskich walk z bolszewikami wciąż z nami, i to do końca roku - można sobie pogalopować po przysłowiowych 'stepach' pamięci i wspomnień o tejże zwycięskiej wojnie polskiej... gdzie konie i jeźdźcy z szablami i lancami wciąż mogli zdecydować o losach starcia, jak przykładowo szwoleżerowie szarżujący pod wodza majora Grobickiego pod Arcelinem 17 sierpnia w czasie operacji/bitwy warszawskiej 1920.


z tej okazji chciałbym przypomnieć wydaną w 1921 książeczkę  ''Opowieści szwoleżerów I-go Pułku Józefa Piłsudskiego'' którą można czytać bezpośrednio na stronie Polona (Cyfrowa Biblioteka Narodowa) lub ściągnąć na czytnik/tablet/ebook reader lub komputer  w formacie .pdf.
Jak wspomina jeden z żołnierzy, Budnicki,  bolszewicy mieli nazywać szwoleżerów 'krasnyje'(czerwoni)  od lampasów  na bryczesach polskich kawalerzystów.
 Szarża pod Arcelinem (nazwanym Arelinem)  w relacji z 1921r zamieszczonej w 'Opowieściach'










 
 nota bene autor spisanych relacji i wspomnień z wyżej wymienionej książeczki  Jan Bełcikowski został zamordowany przez Niemców w czasie masowych mordów przedstawicieli inteligencji polskiej w Palmirach w 1940 roku.
Valete!

Komarow 1920-2020

Salvete Omnes,
 exactly 100 year ago the brave and intrepid Polish uhlans and horse artillery cannoneers battled the Russian 1st Konarmia at Komarow and Wola Sniatycka near Zamosc.

Polish Cavalry Division commanded by colonel, later general, Juliusz Rómmel consisting of 2 cavalry brigades fought and defeated the two divisions of the 1st Konarmia. It was the last large cavalry battle of the Polish-Russian War of 1919-20, perhaps the last large cavalry battle in world history.

There are surviving memoirs and recollections written by the battle participants, one of those is a published memoir written by the 8th Uhlan Regiment commander rotmistrz (rittmeister)   Kornel Krzeczunowicz , Ostatnia Kampania Konna (The Last Horse Cavalry Campaign).
 General Rómmel wrote his recollections - Moje Walki z Budionnym, (My War against Budionny) Lwow 1932, but I have not read them.
This very year, during the  weekend of Aug. 29-30,  various Polish cavalry reenactment associations (and a detachment of fine  Bavarian Uhlan reenactors) brought horses, reconstructed horse tack, and reconstructed uniforms and arms and etc in order to take part in a large, festive commemoration of the battle: the gathering included the reenactment of the battle itself, more than 400 cavalrymen and women, a logistics feat and achievement.
The festivities, on the eve of the battle anniversary, were official  with Polish national and local government participation; especially with the participation of the Polish Armed Forces.
And with some participation of the public spectators - due to the current limitations on public gatherings etc.
There is this article by Nowy Kurier Zamoyski on the battled reenactment - plenty of photos.

I am pretty sure that shortly  the net - especially many the Facebook pages similar to these I linked already - will be full of great and fine photos from this event in Poland; the words is that many fine photographers went over there in order to document this historic event and make some glorious art.

                                             ***
There is is issue of the monument.
In 1936 in Poland this competition was called for creation of the cavalry monument commemorating the battle, and talented Polish architect Borys Zinserling won the first prize for his project titled 'pomnik Chwały Kawalerii i Artylerii Konnej' ( Glory of Cavalry and Horse Artillery monument). Once completed the monument would have been erected in Wola Sniatycka, hill 255, where on August 31 the most decisive and bitter combat between the Polish and Russian horsemen took place.
World War II and subsequent Soviet rule in Poland until 1989 delayed the construction of the monument, and even the newly restored independence did not hasten this project at first.
Fast forward then to 2007 when the idea of building the monument was resurrected among Polish historical groups and cavalry associations, and during the next 10 years the design had been worked out and improved, but the artists were working along the lines of the original project from 1936, i.e, the magnificent winged hussars0style  eagle wings overlooking the battlefield.
In 2018 various organizations and many good willed people came together to finally start sculpting and to build the monument along the newly redesigned project.
Today is the 100th anniversary,   the moment is very close when the monument will be erected in its rightful place.
It is going to be glorious (and very tall) once finished as evidenced by the images below, and many other images on this page:



 

Valete

Polish cavalry 1918-20

Salvete Omnes,


Polish cavalry (and mounted artillery) as a branch of Polish armed forces was reborn during the fighting on the Eastern Front of the World War I and various cavalry squadrons, dyons and  regiments sprung into action with the rebirth of the Polish Republic (sadly not as  Kingdom of Poland, eh, all those socialists at the helm back then and now - :) ).

Polish cavalrymen came from mainly three varied cavalry traditions - Austro-Hungarian, Imperial Russian and Imperial German. There was also French (the Haller army) influence but it was not very noticeable due to the size of those cavalry units.

The War Ministry created a separate staff body - the Generalny Inspektorat Jazdy or GIJ (the Inspectorate General of Horse) on January 22, 1919, while at the same time they maintained another staff office called Sekcja Jazdy (Horse Section of War Department). And both administrative bodies overlapped and conflicted a bit with one another.
First General Karnicki was the head of the GIJ, but he left for the front and general Kawecki became the Inspector General of Horse in August 1919.
So the regulations and manuals and actual practices on schooling and training of the cavalry in training seemed to reflect the above mentioned mix of traditions. The IGh and his staff favored the Austro-Hungarian and Imperial German traditions hence they published directives etc in that spirit of good manege riding and preparation, while the majority of the field officers of Polish cavalry had been trained and experienced in the Imperial Russian field practices.  For example the first cavalry regulations were adopted after the Imperial Wehrmacht one published in Berlin in 1917, and the first 'temporary' regulations were published in May of 1920  (Jerzy Grobicki, Organizacja Kawalerji Polskiej w latach 1918-21. Przeglad Kawaleryjski Nr 3 (77) p.215).
Thus the squadron and regimental replacements coming to the front had to be retrained in the field cavalry practices, and varied from regiment or even squadron to squadron.
But this was the time of war, where practice was tested with blood and mortality.

The GIJ 'failed' to promulgate and enforce the uniform system for all regiments in terms of arms, training and uniforms - but then the lack of equipment, arms and horse tack forced the government to purchase available on the the world market military surpluses - be it American, French etc.
One of the interesting aspects of the Polish military of that period it the very fact that  many landowners and wealthy peasant farmer and other citizens provided their own arms, uniforms, horses and horse tack throughout the duration of this war.

Things came to change for the cavalry regiment  in 1921 and again in 1924, but that is another story.

Grobicki's drawing of cavalry regiment organization


 I will add the English translation for this diagram in the future.

to be continued


Valete

ps
Polish cavalry of that war is beautifully described in a book by a Polish scholar and novelist Bohdan Królikowski titled  '' Ułańskie lato (The Uhlan Summer)'' (and it does need to be translated into English).
I am not going to talk about the Osprey Military Publishing attempt at the subject..

Janina Lada-Walicka - ulan wojny 1920roku

Salvete Omnes,
[in Polish]
Hej! Hej! Ulani!
Malowane dzieci!
Niejedno serduszko
Za wami poleci!

    ... krotki wypis z linkiem do pracy pani kapral Janiny Łady-Walickiej, jej wspomnień z walk w obronie Lwowa i Polski latem 1920 roku, kiedy Lwow wystawił Małopolska Armię Ochotniczą, w skład której wchodziła Ochotnicza Jazda.

Kapral Walicka była weteranem walk  lwowskich, w obronie  Lwowa i Ojczyzny już od czasu rozpoczęcia wojny polsko-ukraińskiej. Walczyła pod komendą majora Romana Abrahama w obronie Lwowa 1918-19 roku, a od lipca 1920 stanęła w szeregi Detachement'u (oddziału lotnego Armii Ochotniczej) tegoż majora Romana Abrahama, w II Szwadronie zwanym 'Szwadronem Śmierci'.

II Szwadronem dowodził rotmistrz Ryszard Dittrich, a cala jazda Detachement'u czyli III Dyonem Jazdy rotmistrz Tadeusz Korab-Krynicki.

Zachowało się zdjęcie kapral Lady-Walickiej w grupie ze sztandarem szwadronu.

Na zdjęciu stoi, na lewo od chorążego ze sztandarem,  znanym we Lwowie pisarz  i krytyk literacki oraz wtedy jeszcze kapral (choć nazywa go kapral Walicka plutonowym)  Artur Schroeder (wkrótce bohater spod Zadwórza, naszych Polskich Termopil, które cudownie przeżył ale ciężką raną),
 

Kurier Lwowski z 20 sierpnia donosił o ranach Schroeder'a i niewoli dowódcy karabinów maszynowych porucznika Nittmana. (kapral Walicka opisuje okoliczności popadnięcia w  niewole bolszewicką porucznika)
 



Kapral Walicka pozostawiła zbiór wspomnień of owym lecie 1920r  pt  ''Ułani, Ułani Malowane Dzieci (Przyczynek do dziejów Armii Ochotniczej)'', Lwow 1921; kiedy obrońcy Lwowa wyszli do walki z 1sza Konarmia Budionnego.


My możemy żyć wesoło,
Bo nie wiemy, gdzie nasz grób:
Jedna kulka świśnie w czoło,
I na ziemie runie trup!
Taki los wypadł nam,
Dzisiaj tu, a jutro tam!

   Nota bene weterynarzem szwadronu była dr Maternowska.

Kura ze wsi wyskakuje
Gdy Żołnierza we wsi czuje,
Baba idzie do rotmistrza,
Kura z garnka łeb wytrzeszcza!

Autorka, pisząc w rok po wydarzeniach, zaznaczyła tylko parę faktów z bitwy pod Zadworzem, min sprawę wysłania do piechoty Detachement'u czyli batalionu kapitana Zajączkowskiego w Zadworzu plutonu III Szwadronu pod dowództwem podchorążego Zbroji.

a z ciekawostek to można się tam dowiedzieć, ze w czasie organizacji III dyonu Jazdy Ochotniczej 30 koni z rynsztunkiem  podarował II szwadronowi hrabia Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki, a ponad dwudziestu chłopom, którzy się zgłosili na ochotnika do wojska podarował po trzy morgi pola. Prowadzący konie urzędnicy z dóbr hrabiego Dzieduszyckiego pozostali w szwadronie - Horoszkiewicz, Krzysztofowicz i Biłycz.
Valete!

Mitrophan Grekov - painter of Red Army Cavalry

Salvete Omnes,
100 years ago Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and various 'White' Cossack forces battled the Red Army's onslaught that would be finally stopped on the flat plains of central Poland east of the Vistula River. Thus year is the anniversary of that famous battle of Warsaw.

I daresay  in the spirit of this anniversary Osprey Publishing released a book from the Campaign series by Steven Zaloga about the battle of Warsaw 1920. 
I am thinking about  addressing some issues I have seen with this book, but no promises there.
In the spirit of this centennial campaign let us take a look at one of the Soviet artists who was in fact a soldier and portrayed the famous Budyonny  1st Horse/Cavalry  Army or Konarmia of the Russian Civil War.

Artist-  Mitrophan Borisovich Grekhov/Grekov (1882-1934) - volunteered to join fight the Red Army and being a solider  he drew and painted, from nature, the Konarmia cavalrymen and their horses. And their famous tachankas - machine gun placed on a carriage that was pulled by at least 2 horse team.
there is lots of  steppe vastness and horse sprit in these paintings

Here some paintings -






 
 

 
valete

'Miracle' on the Vistula River & Polish Army Day

Salve,
today in Polish Republic or Rzeczpospolita Polska they celebrate the Polish Army Day, including the military parade in Warsaw. also, this the Feast of Assumption - Hail Mary, Queen of Poland!
The date commemorates the victory secured by the Polish armed forces over the invading Communist Russian Red Army 13th-25th August, 1920. So called Mircale on the Vistula or the battle of Warsaw along with the defeat of the Budyonny's Horsearmy at Komarów  and the battle of Niemen River

constitute the triple victories that led to the establishment of the post-Versailles borders for the newly independent Poland.
I must stress that thanks to the work by the Polish politicians like Roman Dmowski and Wincenty Witos and countless others the most numerous group of the Polish society, the peasants, joined en masse the Polish armed forces and thus won Poland's independence. They say the peasants feed you and defend you. 
 Some photos from the battle of Warsaw

order nr. 71 by general Rozwadowski

general Haller and Jozef Pilsudski

captured Red Army standards

Vivat Polonia, vivat milites Poloni! - including Polish-Americans, Polish-French and Polish-Brazilians - the Blue Army!
...but also vivat Poland's Ukrainian & Belorussian brethren, as the officers and soldiers from these two nations fought on the side of Polish soldiers in the war! Also I salute the White Russians  and the Cossacks from Don and other hosts who fought as allies for humanity during the 1920.
Vivat 'foreign volunteer' soldiers - especially from France, including future President Charles de Gaulle , but perhaps more important was the military material aid received by Poland that arrived from France along with the Blue Army. Here should mention the Hungary sent munitions in the most critical time to Poland ( eg about 80 rail freight-carts arrived at the Skierniewice train station full of ammunition from Manfred Weiss factory in Hungary on August 12, 1920). Romania also lent Poland a helping hand in this war, allowing war material trains from Hungary to pass on their way to Poland. Unfortunately, newly established Czechoslovakia was Poland's most active enemy, including armed annexation of the Polish Cieszyn Śląsk.

the pilots (7th Air Escadrille) from the United States under Merian C. Cooper

(later producer of King Kong).

And Duma Rycerska - my favorite soldier song from the XVI century, performed by prof. Jacek Kowalski - by pan Adam z Czahrowa Czahrowski poet and  a winged hussar.