Polish Czarist Officers for Independent Poland

[henryk]

The following reproduces some of the interesting bibliographies of Polish Officers in the Czarist Army and then in the Russian, Boleshevik, Polish and other Armies as given in:

http://us.geocities.com/bogdanbogdan2003d/

Berezino and Miezonka
history, geography, maps and people
©© author Bogdan Konstantynowicz

(about half way down)

2.others Poles from tsarist army:
Baszko, colonel of Russian Army, Pole from Russian Latvia, tsarist airman; commander of Latvian Air Force till 1939/1940.
Boncz Brujewicz Michal, military service in Russian tsarist Army as general and he was commander of Russian North Front in 1917; as early as April 1918 military service in the Red Army and he organized General Staff of the Soviet Army under Trocki - May 1918/September 1918.
Grabczewski Bronislaw (Bronislav Grabchevski), born in Kownatow in the district of Telsiai (Lithuania now) in 1855, son of Ludvik (his father Ludvik was an insurgent in 1863 and next he was exiled in Siberia); Bronislav was friend of Alexander Jonin and acted then in Russian intelligence; was tsarist and Russian general, served in central Asia since 1875 .....; he was commissioner of South Manchuria after 1896 till 1903 and next, since 1903, governor of Astrakhan till 1906, in Harbin 1907, in Warsaw since 1910 as general with 3rd class, lived in Crimea 1914 - 1917 and served under general Denikin 1918 and next under command of Admiral Kolchak in 1918 - 1920;
S. Kukiel and W. Kukiel, a senior officers of tsarist Baltic Navy; they maintained position of Bolsheviks in 1918 according to G. Graf. Curiosity: Kukiel, tsarist general, Pole, he was general - governor of Irkutsk in 1866; he took care of Polish exiles in Siberia but had put down Polish rebellion by the Lake Baikal in 1866
Maj - Majewski, tsarist general, commander of White troops in the South Russia 1918 - 1919; Pole by birth, very severe and hard on Bolsheviks
Osinski Alexander, b. 1870, Brigadier - General of Russian Army; he acted during forming of Polish Army in Russia in 1917 and he was commander of Polish troops in Ukraine in April - May 1918; military service in Polish Army since November 1918.
Potocki, served in Russian Army as general, Polish aristocrat; military service in White Army and he was representative of Gen. Denikin in Warsaw and German Empire
Sulkiewicz Maciej, Tartar - Pole who was born in Kiemiejszy estate, the district of Lida in the Vilna government on June 20th, 1865, son of Alexander Sulkiewicz - Russian colonel; Maciej was tsarist lieutenant - general, commander of the 1st Mussulman Corps in May 1917 till May 1918, Prime Minister in Crimean Administration since June 25th, 1918 till October 1918, next he was chief of General Staff in Azerbaijan (the independent state since May 28th, 1918) since 1919 till 1920 and was killed in Baku, Azerbaijan on July 15th, 1920.
Wojewodzki, tsarist general, Pole according to Gen. Dowbor Musnicki; commander of Irkutsk during the war against Japaneses in 1905.
Wojciechowski, tsarist general, Pole; military service in White Army of Admiral Kolchak in 1919 - 1920 (fought in Siberia, Group of Gen. Kappel near to Krasnoyarsk in December 1919).
Zajaczkowski A. M., Pole, tsarist general, next also Bolshevik general and he acted in the Soviet intelligence department in 1922 - 1924 (among Russian emigration in Paris).

[Art]

General Dowbor-Muśnicki (commander of the Polish Corps under Russian Provisional Government, then commander of the army of Independent Poland) is the first person who comes to mind. Anton Denikin have some Polish roots too.

Zajaczkowski A. M., Pole, tsarist general, next also Bolshevik general and he acted in the Soviet intelligence department in 1922 - 1924 (among Russian emigration in Paris).

Correct spelling is Zajonczkovsky IIRC. I didn't know that he was in emigration. He is mostly known as a military historian, author of the books "The Eastern War 1853-56", "Russia's preparations for the World War", "The World War 1914-18"

[Borys]

Ahoj!
LOL!
First he was
"Zajączkowski" - the "a" is with the (in)famous "Polish Hook" aka "ogonek" , and "w" not "v", as "v" is simply not used.
That name got transcribed into Cyrillic ...
and back again into Latin script - when it would indeed be something like
Zajonchkovsky.

Dovbor-Musnitsky = Dowbor-Muśnicki

Some of these officers spoke atrocious Polish, and I suspect that not all could write it. I found - online - a diary of a Polish officer of the engineers, high up in the command of Ivangorod/Iwanogród/Dęblin fortress. He mentioned practicing Polish after learning of his posting there. And as the diary mentions a German general called "Gindenburg" - I suspect that he wrote in Russian, which his grandson later translated.

Borys Zakrzewski
(see? "w" and "i" )

[Art]

Corrected

[henryk]

The site from which I quoted does not use the Polish diacriticals. More quotes:

Dowbor Musnicki Jozef, b. 1867, tsarist Lieutenant-General; served in Manchuria 1904 - 1905; commander of the 1st Polish Corps in Belarus since the beginning of July or August 06th, 1917 until May 22th, 1918/ c. July 08th, 1918 in Babrujsk; friend of Gen. Brusilov, but also he had enemies: Alexander Kerensky, Gen. Romanowski and Gen. Lukomski in 1917. He had given a order about conquest of Royal Castle in Warsaw on November 10th, 1918. He published memoirs in Warsaw at a later date and died in 1937.

The White Corps of General Dowbor Musnicki (Dovbor - Mus'nicki) was composite of the Polish from Russian Army. Polish society had known in 1918 only about nine tsarist Generals, Poles - according to Baginski: Gen. Michaelis, Dowbor Musnicki, Bylewski, Symon, Latour, Jacyna, Lesniewski, Olszewski and Osinski. According to Olechowski, during the First world war in the tsarist Army served 800.000 Poles (20.000 officers and 102 Generals in November 1917) but only a couple of a dozen or so had gone through to Polish Corps (the 1st, 2nd and 3rd) in 1917 - 1918. According to Szczesny in Lithuanian Army (in 1919) as many 60 % officers came from the 1st Polish Corps, e.g. commands and orders in the Birzai regiment made in Polish (spring 1919). According to Gen. Bylewski (data of April 01st, 1917) 119 Generals - Catholics - mainly the Polish, 20.000 officers and 480.000 - 700.000 private soldiers served in Russian Army and besides 100.000 prisoners of war - Poles. According to Alexander Lednicki in June 1917 in Russian Army served only 314.000 Poles, and according to Gen. Dowbor Musnicki were 300.000 the Polish.

Dowbor Musnicki K., brother of Jozef, tsarist lieutenant - general, too; participant in Convention of Polish military in Petrograd till June 08th, 1917. He stayed in Petrograd in autumn 1917, Polish activist at that time; friend of Gen. Iwaszkiewicz according to Jacyna, Szczesny and Baginski.

[Zulis]

There is an error in one of the selections contained in this post.

Col.Jezups Basko was, as mentioned, a leading figure in Latvian aviation between the wars. He had a very impressive life story in many regards, but he was not Polish. He was born in the south east corner of Latvia (near Daugavpils), spoke Russian and the "Latgale" dialect of Latvian common in that region. In 1889, when he was born, that region was part of Czarist Russia, so one could argue that he was Russian, of culturally Latvian heritage, but I am unaware of any Polish connection.

For more details: http://latvianaviation.com/BB_Basko.html

Regards,

Gunars Zulis
latvianaviation.com

[henryk]

Zulis said:

Col.Jezups Basko was, as mentioned, a leading figure in Latvian aviation between the wars. He had a very impressive life story in many regards, but he was not Polish. He was born in the south east corner of Latvia (near Daugavpils), spoke Russian and the "Latgale" dialect of Latvian common in that region. In 1889, when he was born, that region was part of Czarist Russia, so one could argue that he was Russian, of culturally Latvian heritage, but I am unaware of any Polish connection.

Latgale became part of Lithuania in 1561, and, when part of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, it was Polish until the first Partition in 1772. There is still an ethnic Polish community in Daugavpils. I attended an exhibit in Rundale Palace, which had a number of stained glass windows, saved from Polish churches destroyed by the Soviets.
Baśko (accent on the s) is a Polish name. There were 59 respondents with that name in the 2002 Polish census.

[Art]

Another known person:

Michial Karlovich Levandovsky (or Levandovskiy). Was born in Tbilisi on 3(15).5.1890 in a familiy of a non-commissioned officer. Graduated fom the Vladimir military school in 1912. In the years of the WWI served in the 202 Gori Infantry Regiment, Tbilisi school for warrant officers, 1st armored car battalion. Recieved a rank of stabs-kapitan (captain). In 1918 joined the maximalist wing of the Social Revolutionary Party, in 1920 became a member of the VKP(b). In Febrauary 1918 joined the Red Army, organized Red Army units in Grozniy region, military commissar of Grozniy and Vladikavkaz (August 1918), people's commisar for military affairs of the the Terek Soviet Republic (September 1918), commander of the Vladikavkaz-Grozniy group (August 1918), commander of the 11 Soviet Army (January 1919), commander of the 1st Special Cavalry Division (February 1919), assistant commander of the 12th Army (March 1919), comander of the 7th Cavalry Division (April 1919), commander of the 33 Kuban Rifle Division (May 1919), Terek Group (March 1920), 11 Army (March-July 1920), 9 Kuban Army (July 1920), Taganrog and Terek Groups (September 1920), 9 Kuban Army (November 1920); provisional commander of the Terek-Dagestan Group (Novembe 1920), commander of the 10 Terek-Dagestan Army (March 1921), commander of the 9 Kuban Army (April 1921).
After the end of the Civil War held positions of the military commissar of the Tambov Region (July 1921), assisatant commander of the North-Caucasus Military District, assistant commander of the Ukrainian Military District (November 1923), commander of the Turkestan Front (April 1924), Caucaus Army (Nomember 1925), chief of the RKKA Main Department (October 1928), commander of the Siberian Military District (Decemer 1929), Caucausus Army (December 1933), Transcaucasian Military District (May 1935), Maritime Group of the Separate Far-Eastern Army (June 1937).
Arrested by NKVD organs on 23 February 1938, sentenced to deaths, executed on 29 July 1938. Rehabilitated on 28 April 1956.

As one can see although Levandovsky was Pole, his life and career was closely connected with Caucasus.

[henryk]

Art said:

Michial Karlovich Levandovsky (or Levandovskiy).
Arrested by NKVD organs on 23 February 1938, sentenced to deaths, executed on 29 July 1938. Rehabilitated on 28 April 1956.

Michał Karol Lewandowski
His career is the converse of the Georgians in the Polish Army.
What is rehabilitation and how many were rehabilitated?

[Art]

Rehabilitation means that the sentence was officially canceled and a person repressed was announced guiltless.

[henryk]

Thank you, Art.

[henryk]

I am continuing my discussion from http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 8#p1749728 here as it is off topic to that thread.
New link is from wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/200910270001 ... gdan2003d/

The White Corps of General Dowbor Musnicki (Dovbor - Mus'nicki) was composite of the Polish from Russian Army. Polish society had known in 1918 only about nine tsarist Generals, Poles - according to Baginski: Gen. Michaelis, Dowbor Musnicki, Bylewski, Symon, Latour, Jacyna, Lesniewski, Olszewski and Osinski. According to Olechowski, during the First world war in the tsarist Army served 800.000 Poles (20.000 officers and 102 Generals in November 1917) but only a couple of a dozen or so had gone through to Polish Corps (the 1st, 2nd and 3rd) in 1917 - 1918. According to Szczesny in Lithuanian Army (in 1919) as many 60 % officers came from the 1st Polish Corps, e.g. commands and orders in the Birzai regiment made in Polish (spring 1919). According to Gen. Bylewski (data of April 01st, 1917) 119 Generals - Catholics - mainly the Polish, 20.000 offficers and 480.000 - 700.000 private soldiers served in Russian Army and besides 100.000 prisoners of war - Poles. According to Alexander Lednicki in June 1917 in Russian Army served only 314.000 Poles, and according to Gen. Dowbor Musnicki were 300.000 the Polish.

Here is the biography of one POLISH CZARIST GENERAL.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksander_Osiński
Google translation:

Alexander Osinski Major General Major General
Date and place of birth 27 February 1870 Pilica
Date and place of death 10 February 1956 London
Mileage service Years of service 1889-1935
The armed forces Lesser Coat of Arms of Russian Empire.svg Russian Empire Army
Booted II RP.svg Polish Army
Posts commander of
the Polish Army • Ukraine
• DOC IV ,
the Inspector General of Infantry Army,
commander
• 17 Infantry Division
• 1st Army
• DOK V ,
the MSWojsk.,
Army Inspector
Major wars and battles Russian intervention in China,
Russo-Japanese War
and World War
Polish-Bolshevik war
Subsequent work Senator of the Second Republic (fourth and fifth term),
President of Red Cross
Awards
Silver Cross of the Order of Military Virtue Great Banner of the Order of the Rebirth of Polish Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Polish Cross of Independence The Cross of Valour (four times) Gold Cross of Merit (twice) Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania Officer of the Legion of Honor (France) Order of St. George - IV class

Alexander Osinski , coat of arms Snake (born February 27, 1870 in Pilica , d. 10 February 1956 in Warsaw ) [1] - Senator in the Second Republic and the President of the Polish Red Cross , Major General Army of the Russian Empire and the General Division of the Polish Army Second Republic . He was awarded the Order of Military Virtue .
He was the son of Anthony and Catherine nee Przesmycki. In 1889 he graduated from the School of Infantry Officers in St. Petersburg , becoming a career officer in the tsarist army. As a company commander and the battalion took part in the Russian intervention in China in the years 1900-1901. Lieutenant Colonel in 1904. During the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 Manchu fought on the front. colonel in 1913 and commander of the regiment. During World War I, he took part in the activities on the Austrian front. Major-General in 1915 as commander of the infantry brigade. In 1917, the commander of an infantry division. Wounded at the front and several injured. After the October Revolution joined actively in the formation of the Polish Army, formed from disintegrating tsarist army, and temporary chairman of the Organizational with Russian General Staff . The organizer of the Polish troops in Russia , and then to Ukraine . In April 1918 he was nominated by the Regency Council in Warsaw, Commander in Chief of the Polish Army in the Ukraine, which meant that he found himself in conflict with Gen. Eugene de Henning-Michaelis .

In November 1918 he was admitted to the CM in the rank of second lieutenant general and appointed commander of the General District "boat" . From August 1919 to July 1920 he served as the Inspector General of Infantry. Later, to January 1921 he was the commander - in sequence: 17 Infantry Division , Operational Group, 1st Army and temporarily 3rd Army . From January 1921 to July 1922 he commanded the Wheel General "Kraków", and after his przeformowaniu - District of Corps No. V in Krakow .

May 1, 1921 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General , and the next year was revised to the extent of Major General with seniority from 1 June 1919.

From July 1922 to February 1924 he was head of Administration of the Army, serving at the same time (May-June 1923), the duties of head of the Ministry of Military Affairs . Then, for the June 1926 held the position of Inspector of Military Schools, and by October 1935 - Army Inspector. October 4, 1935 has been retired.

Being retired, he began political activities. In 1935 he became a senator in the capital city of the fourth term Warsaw [2] . In 1937, he became head of the district Camp of National Unity , in 1938 - Senator V term of the appointment of the President of the Republic (in the parliamentary elections had failed). In 1938 he was appointed President of the Polish Red Cross.

Since August 1939 he was in the United States . After the German invasion of Poland and Russia moved from the U.S. to the UK , and there's the running of Red Cross activities as Chairman of the General Council.

In July 1947, he returned to Polish. He settled in Warsaw, where he died Feb. 10, 1956. He was buried at the local cemetery Powazki

To show he was further how POLISH he was:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 05,4145958
Visit to US Polish community as head of Polish Red Cross.
I repeat: there were many Polish officers, including generals in the Czarist Russian Army.