Do you think courage doesn't pay off? Jerzy Wołkowicki
Jerzy Wołkowicki, like many Poles, was educated in the Marine Corps in Peterburg (1901-1904), which he graduated with an officer rank. Baptism of fire was to go through in the campaign against Japan. After many months of travel, the ship on which he served - "Emperor Nikolai I" - finally took part in the famous Battle of Tsushima (May 27-28, 1905). There, the Russian fleet suffered an unexpected, compromising defeat.
The course of the fighting quickly took a dramatic turn for the Russians. In an atmosphere of resignation and helplessness, an officer's conference was held on the battleship "Imperator Nikolai I", during which it was decided to surrender the squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Niebogatow.
The Japanese at the Battle of Tsushima.
These dramatic moments would have probably been forgotten if not for the famous novel by the famous marine artist Alexei Novikov-Priboj, entitled Cushima . The author described the situation aboard the battleship as follows:
Officers had not yet reached the conference when someone raised the surrender signal on the formarsrei. Hurriedly, a confused expression on their faces, the officers ran to the admiral. Without waiting for the others to assemble, the admiral announced:
- Officers, I want to surrender the battleship. I see this as the only way to save you and your crew. What do you think about it? (…)
Nobody had the courage to protest except ... the youngest officer, and a Pole:
- Fight to the end, then blow up the battleship and save yourself. - miczman Wołkowicki said modestly ...
General Wołkowicki himself. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get to the photo from my youth ...
Although another sailor, Boris Mikhailovich Cheetwieruchin, was of a similar opinion, he was absent from the conference and the great history forgot about him. It's worth mentioning about his plans that they were quite specific:with the help of, among others, Wołkowicki, he wanted to reopen the provisionally clogged gaps in the hull.
The courage, however, did not bear fruit this time:the ship was surrendered and all participants of the conference were taken prisoner, in which the young miczman Wołkowicki stayed until 1906.
In the end, the Pole managed to return to Russia, but also there - at least initially - he was not waited for with flowers. It was only during the military trial that he had to prove that he did not lend a hand to the surrender.
Finally, on January 22, 1907, Wołkowicki was found innocent in the premature surrender of the ships under the command of Niebogatowa. Later, things turned out swiftly:before tsarist Russia fell, Wołkowicki received the Order of Saint George for his courage and became the undisputed Russian national hero, as a man who did not bow to Japanese bullets.
Thirty-five years later…
As the years passed, Russia was plunging into ever greater chaos. After the outbreak of the October Revolution, Wołkowicki managed to get to France, where he joined Haller's army. In 1919 he took part in the battles with the Ukrainians in Galicia, and in the Polish-Bolshevik war he commanded the Pinsk Flotilla. In the following years, he continued to advance, climbing the ranks of the military (and, by the way, switching from the navy to serving on land).
Battle of Tsushima
The crowning achievement of these efforts was his promotion to brigadier general in 1927. During the Polish campaign of 1939, he held a number of command positions, and finally was taken prisoner by the Soviets.
He was sent to the camp in Kozelsk, where the interrogating officer asked him if he was perhaps a relative of "the famous miczman Wołkowicki". In response, the Soviet officer heard mysterious words that must have surprised him. Wołkowicki said briefly:" I bow myself ”(Other variants of this statement are also known).
Polish officers taken prisoner by the Soviets. Few were as lucky as Wołkowicki ...
At this point, the fame that Wołkowicki had gained years ago thanks to his courage, and above all thanks to the novel by Nowikow-Priboj, did its job. Contrary to other Polish officers, the former miczman was not sent to Katyn, but to the camp in Graziowiec, where he survived the war.
Everything indicates that the former hero was saved by a low-level political commissioner, although there were rumors that it was Stalin himself who ordered him to be spared ...
Thus, Wołkowicki escaped the cruel death as only one of the two surviving Polish generals taken into Soviet captivity. After the war, he moved to Great Britain, where he lived to be almost 100 years old. And let no one tell us that courage does not pay off!