Edward Śmigły-Rydz could not boast of any special successes as the Polish commander-in-chief in the September campaign. He was much better at ... hiding treasures. And dozens of treasure trucks!
A peculiar collection of documents can be found in the archives of the General Sikorski Institute and Museum in London. These are the reports of soldiers who managed to get to the West after September 1939 and passed on to their superiors knowledge about… treasures. The very title of the collection says it all:"Buried Values". 
Adam Sikorski, the author of the book "Map of Secrets" found there two documents shedding light on the activities of the Marshal of Poland during the September campaign. A certain corporal Feliks Matkowski reported after breaking through to France:
During the September campaign, while being assigned to the High Command, I was assigned as a gendarme to perform security service for Mrs. Marszałkowa Rydz-Śmigła. During his stay in the estate of Count Raczyński in Ludwinów near Czemierniki the chests were buried the contents of which are unknown to me.
The following were present during the performance of these activities:Mr. Captain Stachowicz from GISZ [General Inspectorate of the Armed Forces], Chief Ślusarczyk from the Supreme Command, Marshal's valet, Kamiński, and three gendarmes whose names I don't remember. I was present when these crates were buried.
Karol Roger Raczyński. It was in his estate that the mysterious chests were to be buried.
This rather perfunctory document reveals just the tip of the iceberg. There are also more. For example, reserve corporal Kazimierz Pomagalski told about burying with his help, on September 9, 1939, in the basement of a sawmill ( where Marszałkowa Rydz-Śmigła lived ) fifteen or sixteen chests. The next ones were hidden in the farm buildings of the manor house:
9.IX. at. At 11 p.m. I was burying three boxes in an empty cowshed under the torn floor. The chests were large and heavy.
According to Adam Sikora, this transport from the beginning of September was neither the first nor the largest. Much earlier - probably even before the outbreak of the war - 30 trucks with furniture and luxurious equipment of the Marshal's official apartment arrived at the property of Count Raczyński in Ludwinów.
Ludwinów is now a non-existent property in the Lublin Province. Above, a plan reprinted in the book "Map of Secrets".
What did the next imported crates contain? Certainly a jewel, but it is impossible to say what:maybe paintings, maybe gold, maybe also documents and items of state importance ...
Although the transports were huge, and many people helped bury the crates in several different places, the mysterious treasure of Marshal Śmigły-Rydz melted like camphor. In the vicinity of Ludwinów only traces of… a car buried in the woods were found. Probably count Raczyński's sports Skoda.
What happened to the rest of the buried items? Maybe several decades ago they were dug by resourceful local residents, maybe they were stolen by soldiers of hostile armies. Or maybe a few dozen treasure chests are still underground. More or less right here.
Source:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on:
- Adam Sikorski, Map of secrets. Chronicle of History Scouts , Vesper 2012.