Edward Rydz-Śmigły
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Edward Rydz-Śmigły (March 11 1886 – December 2 1941); nom de guerre Śmigły, Tarłowski, Adam Zawisza) was a Polish politician, an officer of the Polish Army, painter and poet. After many successes as an army commander during the Polish-Bolshevik War, Rydz succeeded Józef Piłsudski as Marshal of Poland (on 11 November 1936) and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish armed forces. He served in that post during the invasion of Poland, which marked the beginning of World War II.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Edward Rydz was born in the village of Łapszyn near Brzeżany, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. He was the son of a professional NCO in the Austro-Hungarian Army, Tomasz Rydz, and Maria Babiak. The family endured rather humble circumstances and he was orphaned at the age of 13 years. He was then raised by his maternal grandparents and, after their deaths, by the family of Dr. Uranowicz, the town physician at Brzeżany. After graduating with distinction at the local Gymnasium Rydz went to Kraków where he completed studies in philosophy and history of art at the Jagiellonian University. He then studied to be a painter at the arts academy in Kraków, and later in Vienna and Munich. In 1910-1911 he attended the reserve officers' academy in Vienna, and received military training at the famous Austrian 4th Infantry Regiment "Deutschmeister" (so called after Archduke Eugene, a cousin of Emperor Francis Joseph I, who was Grand Master of the Teutonic Order).
He finished his military education with distinction and was offered a commission in the Imperial Army, which he declined. In 1912 Rydz was one of the founders of the Polish paramilitary organisation Riflemen's Association (Związek Strzelecki). At the same time he completed his art studies. He was regarded as a very promising talent in landscape and portrait painting, and praised by his professors and critics, who foresaw a great future for him.
Drafted into the Austrian Army in July 1914, Rydz was transferred in August to the Polish Legions and fought in World War I in the famous Polish 1st Brigade of Piłsudski. He took part in many battles against the Russians in the region of Southern Vistula, and rose quickly in rank. By 1916, he was already a full colonel. However he did not forget his art and exhibited his work at a gallery in Kraków. In 1917, after refusing to swear an oath to the Austrian and German authorities, the Legions were disbanded, their soldiers interned and Piłsudski imprisoned in Magdeburg fortress. By Piłsudski's appointment, Rydz (who escaped prison on the grounds of bad health) became commander of Polish Military Organization (POW) and adopted the nom de guerre Śmigły (Fast or Agile), which he later added as an integral part to his surname.
In October 1918 Rydz entered the socialist government of Ignacy Daszyński in Lublin as Minister of War. Having been promoted brigadier general (one-star general in the Polish system), he emphasised that he had accepted the office as a deputee of Piłsudski). It was at this time he began using the double-barrelled name of Rydz-Śmigły. On November 11, 1918 the Government relinquished all power to Piłsudski, who became Provisional Head of State. After some hesitation, Piłsudski (who was displeased by Rydz-Śmigły's cooperation with the socialists - he himself "having left the streetcar of Socialism at the stop called Independence") confirmed him as a brigadier.
[edit] Military triumphs
During the Polish-Bolshevik War (1919 – 1921), Rydz commanded Polish armies in several offensives. Among the victorious engagements, he captured Wilno and Dünaburg. After that, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Latvian armed forces, and liberated Livonia from Red Army oppression. Subsequently, he completely annihilated the Red Army's 12th Division and took Kiev. He then commanded the Central Front of Polish forces during the Battle of Warsaw, known as the Miracle on the Vistula. In this decisive battle, Polish commander Józef Piłsudski outwitted the Soviet commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Rydz-Śmigły's Central Front held against the Bolshevik attack, and later blocked the escape routes for the defeated 4th and 15th Armies and the 3rd Cavalry Corps of Soviet General Gay Dimitrievich Gay, which had to fly ungloriously to East Prussia, where they were interned by the Germans.
[edit] Second Man in the State
After the 1919-21 war he was appointed the Inspector-General of the Polish Army in the Vilna district and later in Warsaw. In 1926, during Piłsudski's coup d'état (the May Coup), he took the Marshal's side and sent troops from Wilno to reinforce anti-government troops in Warsaw. Piłsudski never forgot this fidelity and in 1929 Rydz was appointed as the Marshal's deputy on all matters concerning the East. On May 13, 1935, in accordance with the last wishes of Józef Piłsudski, Rydz was nominated by the president and the government of Poland to serve in the capacity of the Inspector-General of the Polish Armed Forces and on November 10, 1936 he was elevated to the rank of Marshal of Poland. As such he reversed his name, and called himself from now on Śmigły-Rydz.
He was now one of the most powerful people in Poland and was awarded the title of "Second Man in the State after the President", and this image was popularized by the Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego party. The government became increasingly authoritarian and conservative, though Śmigły-Rydz's power was balanced by the more moderate Ignacy Mościcki, who remained President. For a time being Rydz sought an alliance with the liberal Peasants' Party (PSL), but after being rejected by them he turned to the extreme right wing. After 1938 he reconciled himself with the President, but the ruling clique was henceforth divided into the "President's Men" (or "Castle Group") — most of them civilians — and the "Marshal's Men," mostly old comrades of Piłsudski and professional officers.
[edit] 1939
In March 1939, Hitler occupied Bohemia and Moravia and created the satellite client-state of Slovakia. This encircled Poland with an iron ring on all sides except the east. Rydz was the only member of the government who clearly saw the impending danger of a conflict with Germany. However, time remaining was too short for the creation of completely new Polish operation plans in the west. During negotiations in Moscow during August of 1939, Rydz refused all attempts by the Western Powers to obtain Polish permission for the Red Army to march westward, stating: "there is no guarantee that the Soviets will really take active part in the war; furthermore, once having entered Polish territory, they will never leave it".
On 1 September 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland, Śmigły-Rydz was named Commander-in-Chief of Polish forces. On 7th September, along with most of the government, he evacuated Warsaw as it came under attack. Soon afterwards, Polish coordination began to suffer from communications problems, which impaired Rydz's ability to command the forces. In Brest (Brześć) on 11 September he ordered that the Polish capital be defended at all costs. In his plan, Warsaw and the nearby Modlin Fortress were to become two redoubt citadels in central Poland, fighting on for months, while the bulk of Polish forces were to defend the Romanian bridgehead and await the counterattack promised by Poland's French and British allies. Unknown to Śmigły-Rydz, the Western Allies had no such plans and expected Poland's fall. His plan was further crippled when Soviet forces attacked Poland from the east on 17th September. Realizing that defence against both neighbours was impossible, Śmigły-Rydz issued orders for Polish forces to retreat towards Romania and avoid fighting the Soviet aggressors.
After avoiding capture by Soviet and German troops, on September 18, 1939 Śmigły-Rydz, crossed the Romanian border and was interned. The Polish government’s crossing into Romania saved Poland from surrender and allowed Polish soldiers to carry on fighting against Nazi Germany, though Rydz's crossing sparked some controversy, considering his position as supreme commander of the armed forces. Large numbers of Polish soldiers and airmen crossed southern Europe and regrouped in France, and after her surrender, in Britain.
[edit] The last years
Śmigły-Rydz, as the Commander-in-Chief of Polish Armed Forces, took complete responsibility for Poland’s military defeat in the September 1939. Rydz was an extremely able Commander on smaller fronts, but was not an experienced strategist in a great conflict. In 1922, in an evaluation of Polish generals, Piłsudski had written about him: "in operational work he displays healthy common sense and a lot of stubborn energy. I could recommend him to everybody as a commander of an army, I am however not sure if he possesses sufficient abilities to function as commander-in-chief in a war between two states."
During his internment in Romania, Śmigły-Rydz initiated the creation of the Polish underground. This was based on officers who were loyal to the memory of Piłsudski. Still in Romania, on October 27, he relinquished his function as the Commander-in-Chief and Inspector-General of the Armed Forces. This role was assumed by Władysław Sikorski, who was serving in the new Polish government in exile in France (and after 1940 in the United Kingdom). Śmigły-Rydz was transferred from the internment camp to the villa of a former Romanian prime minister in Dragoslavele, from where he escaped on 10th December 1940 and crossed illegally into Hungary.
His flight to Hungary and rumours about his planned return to Poland were a source of considerable displeasure to his rival Sikorski, now Prime Minister. Sikorski had been in opposition to Śmigły-Rydz and Piłsudski from the time of the 1926 May Coup. He refused to accept any military assignment by Śmigły-Rydz in September 1939 and now declared in a telegram to General Stefan Grot-Rowecki, leader of the Armia Krajowa (AK) underground resistance in Poland: "the Polish Government will regard a sojourn of the Marshal in Poland as a sabotage of its work in the country. The Marshal must as soon as possible move to some country of the British Empire". However Śmigły-Rydz left Hungary on October 25, 1941, and travelling through Slovakia reached Poland. On October 30, in strict secrecy, Śmigły came back to Warsaw to participate in the resistance movement as a common underground soldier, thus voluntarily suspending his rank of Marshal of Poland. He contacted Grot-Rowecki, but did not partake in any combat as he suddenly died of heart failure on December 2, 1941, just 5 weeks after his arrival in Warsaw. He was buried in Warsaw under his conspiratorial name "Adam Zawisza". His grave on the Powązki Cemetery carried that name until 1991. A new, impressive tombstone was erected by the people of Warsaw in 1994.
Rydz was married to Marta (née Thomas) (by a previous marriage, Zaleska), who died in Nice in a car accident in 1951. The couple had no children.
[edit] Awards
Polish Decorations
Order of the White Eagle, Commander and Knight of Virtuti Militari, Grand Cross, Grand Officer and Officer of Order of Polonia Restituta, four times Cross of the Valiant, Golden Cross of Merit (Złoty Krzyż Zasługi), and Cross of Independence with Swords.
Foreign decorations
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania, Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy, Grand Cross, Grand Officer and Commander of the French Order of the Legion of Honour, Grand Officer of the Finnish Order of the White Rose, Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle (Yugoslavia) and Order of Saint Sava of Yugoslavia, Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit, Grand Cross of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, Knight of Latvia's highest military award, Lacplesis Military Order, (the Order of the Bearslayer), Pulaski Medal (USA) and Italian Cross of Military Merit.
Honorary Titles
Rydz was Honorary Doctor of the Universities of Warsaw and Vilnius (at that time in Poland) and Warsaw Polytechnic and Honorary Citizen of various Polish cities.
[edit] Legacy
Edward Rydz-Śmigły's reputation after World War II was mixed. In communist Poland and the Soviet Union, he was decried for his participation in the Polish-Soviet War in 1920, and the political repression under the military government of the late 1930s. In the West, due to the influence of anti-Piłsudski circles with Władysław Sikorski as their foremost representative, he was seen as having fled from the battlefield in 1939, with little recognition given to the circumstances of Poland's defeat by the Germans and Soviets. After the end of communism in 1990, Rydz-Śmigły has been gaining a more heroic reputation.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
Rydz-Śmigły's Works
Military Tactics and Theory
- Walka na bagnety (Bayonet Fight), Lwów 1914;
- W sprawie polskiej doktryny (Poland's Military Doctrine), Warsaw 1924;
- Kawaleria w osłonie (Cavalry in protection of troops), Warsaw 1925;
- Byście o sile nie zapomnieli -Rozkazy, Artykuły, Mowy (Do not forget the Might - Orders, Articles and Speeches), Warsaw 1936;
- Wojna polsko-niemiecka (The Polish-German War), Budapest 1941.
Poetry
- Dążąc do końca swoich dróg (Seeking the end of the ways), Paris 1947 and London 1989.
Paintings and Graphics
- Illustrations to Piłsudski's book 22nd January, 1863, Lwów 1920;
- Contributions to Art Exhibitions in Kraków (1916) and Warsaw (1917). Most of his paintings are irretrievably lost.
Books about Rydz-Śmigły
- Kazimierz Cepnik, Wódz Naczelny i Marszałek Polski Edward Śmigły-Rydz, Życie i Czyny (Poland's Commander-in-Chief and Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz, His Life and Deeds), Lwów 1937;
- Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski, Piłsudczycy, (The Men of Piłsudski), Oświęcim 1916;
- Paweł Zaremba, Historia Dwudziestolecia 1918 - 1939, (History of the Twenty Years 1918 - 1939), 2 vols., Paris 1967.
Marshals of Poland |
|---|
| Józef Piłsudski • Ferdinand Foch • Edward Rydz-Śmigły • Michał Rola-Żymierski • Konstanty Rokossowski • Marian Spychalski |
Inspectors General of the Armed Forces of Poland | |
|---|---|
| Józef Piłsudski • Edward Rydz-Śmigły • Władysław Sikorski • Kazimierz Sosnkowski • Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski • Władysław Anders • Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski • Stefan Dembiński • Stanisław Kopański • Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko • Bronisław Duch | |
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Categories: Marshals of Poland | Polish generals | Polish nobility | Polish politicians | Polish resistance fighters | Polish painters | Polish poets | Polish military personnel of World War II | Légion d'honneur recipients | Recipients of Virtuti Militari | Recipients of the Order of the Crown of Italy | Recipients of the Star of Romania Order | Deaths by myocardial infarction | 1886 births | 1941 deaths | Recipients of Polonia Restituta
