Piecing together my grandfather's story: Artur Tomasz Maruszewski

[Reynard]

Glad you like the photo, gentlemen. I think it's probably the best one I have as a print, though I do have a whole tin of negatives to go through at some point. Thank goodness for having a scanner with a lightbox - who knows what's lurking in there...

I think time capsule describes it perfectly. It helps that it's a period in history that I'm quite interested in anyway and have collected my own few odds and sods from that time - including a bound set of "War Illustrated" and some Jane's Fighting Ships...

Here's a document relating to the evacuation of the camp at St Loup on the 19th of June 1940 in the face of the German advance.

[andrzejku98]

Hi Witty,

I just thought that you might like to know what I have found so far on your Grandfathers awards.

Ministerstwo Sparw Wojskowych (Department of Military Affairs) Warszawa 19 Marca 1931 r.

The first awards of the Independence Cross with Swords, Independence Cross, Independence Medal were announced on this date;

Page 1 covers the Independence Cross with Swords awarded to: Marshal Pilsudski, General's Rydz-Smigly and Sosnkowski.

Page 2 covers the Independence Cross your Grandfathers entry is as follows:

pplk. dypl. Maruszewskiemu Arturowi Tomaszowi

Page 5 of the same orders covers the Gold Cross of Merit, your Grandfathers entry is as follows:

Zloty Krzyz Zaslugi.

Za Zaslugi na Polu Pracy Kulturaino oswiatowej w wojskus,

pplk.dypl. Maruszewskiemu Arturowi Tomaszowi.

With regards to your Grandfathers award of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Officers Cross), I found that in Department of Military Affairs Orders dated 29th November 1927

on the front page.

Zarzadzenia Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Krzyz Oficerski (By Order of the President of the Republic, the Officers Cross of the Order of Polonia Resituta is awarded to)

pplk.s.g. Maruszewski Artur Tomasz.

The award of the Cross of Valour was announced in Orders dated 16th September 1922, Page: 17

Krzyz Walecznych (Cross of Valour) awards to 5p.p.Leg.

Kpt. Maruszewski Wiktoriwi Artur Po raz. 1 i 2.

That's all that I have been able to find it's taken me over 7 Hours just to obtain the above information, last night and this morning.

I will have another look again tomorrow

Best wishes

Andrew

[Reynard]

Andrew, I'm overwhelmed by your kindness - and thrilled by what you've managed to dig up, especially as it matches some of the items in my possession and now puts a date to them. It's so lovely when things fit together with a satisfying click.

The document I posted yesterday, I have now found out that it relates to the order he was given to evacuate the camp at St-Loup by his superiors in the chain of command - still not figured out who that was in terms of the Polish armed forces, but the order is signed on behalf of a General Chateignon, who was the French regional commander at the time.

Below is another photo I have found - this time from 1919 (the print is dated on the back), with Alicija, his missus, i.e. my grandmother. I understand this photo was taken shortly after their wedding, some two years after they met in the POW camp in Szczypiorno - that was where grandad was interned after refusing to swear allegiance to Kaiser Willhelm II after the Polish legions were forcibly transferred into the Imperial German army.

[Reynard]

I've sort of hit a bit of an *aaaaargh* moment...

In among the boxes of stuff, I've come across a 20-something page personal account (requested by the Minister Spraw Wojskowych) relating the events of my grandad's arrival in Wilno as Wojewoda in May of 1939, the outbreak of war, preparations for evacuation and the Soviet invasion, to his evacuation from Wilno into Lithuania, then via Latvia and Estonia to Sweden, thence to Paris through Holland and Belgium. Unfortunately, it's all handwitten and I'm really struggling with the script. I have the basic gist of it from dates and place names, but that's about as much as I can figure out.

It's so frustrating not being able to read the handwriting as it's probably an absolutely fascinating document.

Coupled with it is a similar handwritten account of the evacuation of the 4th Infantry Division camp at St-Loup in the face of the German advance in June 1940 - again, I have a vague idea, but as with the first account, reading it is nigh on impossible.

Hence the *aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh* moment.

[Mariusz]

Kip digging up, and of course posting, it is so nice to see pictures, documents of your grandfather, and please post any pictures you find with maybe your father.

[Cenowski]

Sounds like you have a serious amount of family history items there Reynard, post all you can as Mariusz said, its a very interesting collection and History. Do you have all of the medals your Grandfather had?

[Reynard]

I'm carrying on digging - it's slow going as my Polish isn't great... Most of what I have from my grandad is paperwork. I have the odd medal and badge, but I suspect that stuff got lost during the war. Either that, or I haven't found it yet... And I've got a thick roll of wartime newspapers, both in English and in Polish.

In the process, I've also managed to piece together other bits of family history from my grandmother's side that I didn't know about - mainly while trying to figure out who the people were in some of the private letters. I have a great uncle who was killed in the Katyn Massacre (Edward Alojzy Sztark), another relative who was a German POW and another who was imprisoned in Dachau.

I also have letters from a Polish captain of a naval ship in the Free French fleet - though I've no idea who the man is...

Have the feeling this stuff will keep me (and you) entertained for quite a while.

[andrzejku98]

Hi Witty,

Apologies for taking so long in replying to your last email, right down to business I have found details on your Grandfather in all the Rocznik Oficerski, that I have access to they are the 1923,1924,1928,1932 and 1934 Reserve Oficers Yearbook.

The 1923 lists Artur on Pages:8,155,403.

Page 8 List of Officers attached to the General Staff Headquarters in Warsaw including Artur, Major from 11th Infantry Regiment (11pp) with the awards of Virtuti Militari 5th Class , Cross of Valour with 2 Bars.

Page 155 list of Officers of the 11th Infantry Regiment (11pp)

Page 403 list of Infantry Majors with seniority from 1st June 1919 entry Nr379 Artur.

The 1924 lists Artur on Pages:8,147,347

Page 8 List of Officers attached to the General Staff Headquarters in Warsaw including Artur, Major from 11pp.

Page 147 11pp list of Officers

Page347 List of Infantry Majors with seniority from 1st June 1919 entry nr178 Artur

The 1928 lists Artur on Pages:118,167

Page 118, Infantry PodPulkownik (Lieutenant Colonels) attached to the KOP (Korpusu Ochrony Pogranicza) Frontier Defence Force, Arturis listed with the following Decorations: Virtuti Militari Silver Cross, Cross of Valour with 2 Bars, Polonia Restituta (OOP) Officers Cross, and (SMS. SS.4) The Yugoslavian Order of Saint Sawa 4th Class.

Page 167 Podpulkownik (Lieutenant Colonel) with seniority with effect from 1st January 1927 Artur is entry Nr:40

The 1932 Lists Artur on Pages:21,905

Page 21, Podpulkownik (Lieutenant Colonel) with seniority with effect from 1st January 1927 Artur is entry Nr:30

He is also listed with the following Decorations: Virtuti Militari Silver Cross, Cross of Independence, Cross of Valour with 2 Bars, Polonia Restituta (OOP) Officers Cross, Gold Cross of Merit (KZ.zl)

Artur is listed has a Commanding Officer of a KOP Infantry Regiment.

Page:905 Podpulkownik dypl. KOP.

I have also worked my way through the Army Orders for the following Years: 1921,1922,1925,1926,1927,1928, but have not been able to find out when your Grandfather was awarded the Yugoslavian Order of Saint Sawa. Admittedly some years have copies missing but most years are complete.

1921: 43 copies 1 copy missing
1922: 57 copies
1923: 80 copies
1924: 135 copies
1925: 141 copies 3 copies missing
1926: 55 copies unknown number of copies missing
1927: 28 copies unknown number of copies missing
1928: 15 copies unknown number of copies missing.

Some of these orders are only a couple of pages long whilst others can be over a hundred, so you can see why it has taken me time to fit it all in.

If I find anything else on the reason why your Grandfather was awarded the Yugoslavian Order I will let you know.

Best wishes

Andrzejku

[Reynard]

Thanks Andrzejku, it's really appreciated. You really are a star. I have the Yugoslavian medal, but it took me a while to identify it - so that figures. There is also a Romanian one which I haven't yet identified (it comes with a breast star). Those two come from way left of centre, so yes, anything you can dig up on that would be great.

I'm in the middle of putting all the paperwork and letters into chronological order. With the help of a dictionary, they're finally starting to make more sense...

What I have also discovered on the loft in recent weeks are some personal effects which are adding some extra colour to what I have discovered so far; a travel case presented to him by his subordinates in the KOP brigade, a letter which refers to his cat (which makes me smile as I'm very much a cat person), his typewriter and a whole stash of wartime newspapers, both in Polish and in English. It's proving to be quite a fascinating journey...

[andrzejku98]

Hi Witty,

Last night I worked through the 1933 Daily Orders with no luck the 1st Issue was missing.

I will try to work through the rest over the next week.

Witty, did you also know that your Grandmother Alicja's Sister married Pulkownik Janusz Ulrych.

I will keep in touch

Best wishes

Andrzej