Polish Military Cemeteries

[kosa]

Thanks for your kind words, Tony! We mustn’t forget their sacrifice, and it’s our duty to remember the fallen with respect and gratitude, in the knowledge that they fought for our future.

Wieczna Cześć i Chwała Bohaterom!

Two more photos from the Powazki Military Cemetery/Powazki Wojskowe.



This memorial commemorates 11 underage nurses of the Scouts' battalion murdered by the Germans at a hospital in the Wola district of Warsaw during the Wola slaughter on the 5th of August 1944.



Nurse Janina Jamiołkowska’s grave. She was 16.

Regards,
Kosa

[kosa]

Hello everyone,

This time a few photos from the "ZOŚKA" battalion quarter
at the Powazki Military Cemetery/Powazki Wojskowe in Warsaw.



Battalion ZOŚKA was a Scouting battalion of the Home Army/Armia Krajowa during WW2. It consisted of members of the Grey Ranks/ Szare Szeregi paramilitary Polish Scouting Association. It was formed in August 1943.

The battalion was named “ZOŚKA” after 2Lt. Tadeusz Zawadzki “Zośka” who got killed in action (see post#7 page 1) in 1943. Battalion ZOŚKA was a part of the "RADOSŁAW" Group/regiment and it played a major role in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
As many as 360 out of 520 "ZOŚKA” soldiers got killed in the Warsaw Uprising. 23 “ZOŚKA” soldiers were awarded the Cross of Virtuti Militari.

Between late 1944 and 1956 all of the former members of battalion “ZOŚKA” were incarcerated in the Soviet NKVD prisons.

Wieczna Cześć i Chwała Bohaterom!

Family grave of a mother
and her two children killed in action in Warsaw Uprising

Grave of 2Lt. Tadeusz Zawadzki nickname “Zośka”,
and graves of his brothers in arms killed in the Warsaw Uprising



More "ZOŚKA" graves.

Regards,
Kosa

[A.J. Zawadzki]

. . . This memorial commemorates 11 underage nurses of the Scouts' battalion murdered by the Germans at a hospital in the Wola district of Warsaw during the Wola slaughter on the 5th of August 1944. . .

One of so many horrific events that happened. Here is a witnesses account. Harrowing reading:

Warsaw Uprising Witnesses: German Atrocities III

Here is the parent site that has several other accounts of crimes committed during the Uprising. Warning: not pleasant reading.

World War 2: Warsaw Uprising :: Witnesses

Thanks again Kosa

Regards,
Tony

[kosa]

Many thanks for the links to the Warsaw Uprising Witnesses, Tony!

While on the German crimes at Warsaw hospitals during the Warsaw Uprising. I am posting two more photos from the Powazki Military Cemetery/Powazki Wojskowe.

The two simple white name plates commemorate two more Polish heroes who got killed in the Warsaw Uprising.
Eufemia Izdebska was a Grey Nun, a Daughter of Charity. Germans shot her along with wounded Home Army soldiers in the Jan Boży hospital in Old Town/Starówka district of Warsaw on the 23rd of August 1944.
Tadeusz Izdebski nickname "Pomian", age 22, was a soldier of general Stanisław Maczek’s brigade and fought in France in 1940. Upon the fall of France he made his way to Poland. He joned the Home Army and was a soldier of battalion Czata49, RADOSŁAW Group/regiment.
He got killed in Wola district on the 5th of August 1944.

Their bodies have never been recovered as Germans used to burn the bodies of killed Poles in the streets. The simple white plates are just markers of their symbolic final resting place.




The plates lay on the Izdebski Family grave,
Powazki Military Cemetery, sector B18.

Kazimierz Izdebski was a soldier of the Polish Legions. Died in 1923.
Zygmunt Izdebski was a poet. Died in 1944.
Przemysław Izdebski was a painter. Died in 1993.

Regards,
Kosa

[kosa]

FOR GOD and POLAND





ZOŚKA war memorial to commemorate losses in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
The memoral says FOR GOD and POLAND

Regards,
Kosa

[kosa]

In memory of
the 7th Infantry Regiment "GARŁUCH"



In memory of 400 Home Army soldiers of the 7th Infantry Regiment "GARŁUCH” murdered during the German occupation of Poland,
and in memory of 125 soldiers from “KUBA” unit of “GARŁUCH” Regiment killed in action near the Okęcie airfield on the first day of the Warsaw Uprising on the 1st of August 1944.

By the way, Ida Myślińska’s (post#4, page 1) brother Marek was a soldier of the 7th Infantry Regiment “GARŁUCH”. His combat trail is very impressive. He fought in Wola district then he fought in Old Town district, then he made his way through the sewers to fight in Żoliborz district and finally he fought in the Kampinos Forest.

The 7th Infantry Regiment “Garłuch”
was the main combat force of the VIII Independent Section “Okęcie”
of the Home Army’s Warsaw Region.
Its primary task was to capture the Okęcie airfield.

Regards,
Kosa

[Pieter1942]

Fantastic topic Kosa! My compliments for this .

[kosa]

Thank you very much for your compliments, Pieter!

This is the Gloria Victis Monument
at Powazki Military Cemetery

The Warsaw Uprising was the most heroic episode of World War II...

Cześć i Chwała Bohaterom,
Wieczna Pamięć Poległym!

[A.J. Zawadzki]

At long last getting around to posting some pics onto this thread. My time in Warsaw back in June was short and with many stops on my itinerary I had only a brief window to visit Powązki Cemetery. I opted for the Old Powązki as my priority was a visit to Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz's gravesite. The cab driver was waiting outside the cemetery while I started the hunt for the site. Old Powazki is a large sprawling cemetery, and I was struck by the many elaborate and beautifully made tombstones. I could easily have spent an entire day in there, looking at the many mausoleums built in various architectural styles, the artwork and workmanship that went into countless grave makers, immersed in the history of the place. Anyway, I ended up asking people for help in finding the gravesite and was some wrong directions until finally a cemetery worker pointed me in the right direction – “and to look for a Polish flag”.

Edward Śmigły-Rydz remains a controversial figure. Denounced by the Soviet puppet communists throughout the post war years along with similar disdain by the Polish expatriate community in the west (due to Sikorski's opposition to the Pilsudski regime and his anointed successor Śmigły-Rydz), he was painted as a coward who abandoned his armed forces and fled the country. The fact is that he was a man who found himself in impossible circumstances. Poland , reborn only two decades earlier, had made remarkable strides but remained a poor nation that simply could not build up its armed forces at Germany's pace, and had only a fraction of the manpower of the USSR. Poland's and Śmigły-Rydz’s fate were sealed when Germany and the USSR agreed to invade and split the nation between them. In his own words during time of his internment in Romania:

"The cost of the construction of modest fortifications along our western border was equivalent to an 18-month budget of Poland, and at the same time, we were working on fortifications in the East. A modest armament plan was up to 5 billion zlotys. What was I supposed to do? I am not an economist, minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski told me that we only had 180 million (...) We began partial mobilization in the spring 1939. The nation hated it, more than 1000 Silesians deserted to Germany. We were unable to keep Poland mobilized for so long, we could not afford it (...) They say that I am a coward. I had three options: to surrender, to kill myself, and to be captured. It was impossible to fight, as I had only half a company of soldiers with me. To kill myself meant failure. To fly to Warsaw?"

When he received news of the surprise Soviet attack from the east on September 17th, he issued the order for :

" general withdrawal to Romania and Hungary in the shortest possible way. With the Bolsheviks, do not fight, unless you attack them or try to disarm
the troops. The tasks of Warsaw and cities that were supposed to defend against Germany - no changes. Cities to which the Bolsheviks will approach
should negotiate with them on exit of garrisons to Hungary or Romania".

Instead of the Romanians allowing his passage through the country onto France he along with all his soldiers were disarmed and interned. During Romanian internment Śmigły-Rydz wrote “In the brightness of victory, all guilt melts away. In the darkness of defeat, every weakness and error rise to the level of crimes. People look for guilt and call for vengeance for their disappointment and misfortunes.”

In December 1940 he escaped internment made a difficult journey back to Poland, crossing the Tatra mountains on foot, desiring to return to fight the occupier as a common soldier and rehabilitating his name in the eyes of the Poles, many of whom blamed him for Poland’s defeat. Under the pseudonym, Adam Zawisza, he fell ill shortly thereafter and died. Some say he was murdered.

Until the 1990's his tombstone bore his pseudonym. In 1994 a new marker was placed over his grave.

Approaching the grave site:
(click on photos to magnify view)



A wrought iron fence surrounds this tree which likely was planted during a commemorative event:





Various painted placards sit in behind the fence, some very nicely crafted:









The marker placed here in 1994:





Regards,
Tony

[kosa]

Let me add my thanks for your post on Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Tony.

Edward Rydz-Śmigły had contacts with a WW2 Polish underground secret organization and intelligence service called the "Musketeers". Officialy he died of heart attack but the circumstances surrounding his death are not really clear.
There’s very little know on the Musketeers Intelligence Service but we know that the Musketeers cooperated with the British SIS and had contacts with the German military intelligence service Abwehr as well.
By the way, Krystyna Skarbek, a Polish agent of the British SIS during WW2, collaborated with the “Muskteers”. She was murdered in 1952. The circumstances surrounding her death are not clear either. Click here to read her bio.

Dlaczego zginela Krystyna Skarbek. Mija 65 lat od tajemniczej smierci slynnej agentki

P.s. Rydz-Śmigły's wife Marta was murdered too. She was murdered in 1951. Click here to read more on her.

Regards,
Kosa