Edward Rydz-Śmigły

Polish military, pre-war activist in the Piłsudski camp, marshal. He was born on March 11, 1886. Until 1908 (from that year he was a member of the Active Fighting Association) he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and then at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University, he finally graduated in 1912. In the meantime, he studied, among others in Vienna. He also graduated from the Military Academy of the Riflemen's Association. Already during World War I, from 1914 he was the commander of the infantry regiment of the Polish Legions, and from 1917 he was the chief commander of the Polish Military Organization (POW).

In 1918, he briefly became the Minister of War. In 1920, he was appointed Major General, and on May 7, 1920, as commander of the 3rd Army, he captured Kyiv. For his merits, Józef Piłsudski awarded him with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, 2nd class. Śmigły- Rydz he supported it later, when the latter carried out a coup d'état in May 1926. On May 12, 1935, Ignacy Mościcki appointed him the Inspector General of the Armed Forces. In 1936 he received the marshal's mace from the president, which was against the will of Marshal Józef Piłsudski, and from November 10 of that year he was already a general of arms.

Edward Rydz Śmigły:September campaign

He was the Commander-in-Chief in the September campaign of 1939, but he was held responsible for the defeat of Poland. Until 1941, he was interned in Romania. At that time, on October 27, 1939, he resigned as the Commander-in-Chief. His resignation was approved on November 7, 1939. On December 10, he managed to escape and get to Hungary. He returned to Poland later. He died suddenly on December 2, 1941, the cause of his death was a heart attack. He was buried under the name of Adam Zawisza. He was buried in Powązki, but not in the military part of the cemetery.