Kamil Giżycki (19 August 1893, at

Grybów Grybów (, ''Hrybiv''; , ''Grynberk''; , ''Gribuv''),Prof. Maria Malec. ''Słownik nazw geograficznych Polski.'' 2003. WN PWN. 2007. .Prof. Stanisław Rospond. ''Słownik Etymologiczny Miast i Gmin.'' Ossolineum. Wrocław. 1984. . is a town in th ...

– 19 April 1968, at

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

) was a Polish writer, traveler, engineer, and soldier for

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Polish Siberian Brigade during the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

, the

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, and, later, the Polish

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

during the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

Biography

Education

Giżycki studied at the famous

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

school

Zakład Naukowo-Wychowawczy Ojców Jezuitów w Chyrowie ''The Bet'' () is a 1990 Polish drama film directed by Teresa Kotlarczyk. It was entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival. Cast * Jan Peszek as Director Wygon * Grażyna Trela as Reporter Magda * Pawel Królikowski as Tomek K ...

Khyriv Khyriv (, ; ) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of Ukraine with a population of around It hosts the administration of Khyriv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It became known principally for the celebrated eponymous ...

. He graduated from

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

Military career

World War I

During

he served in

Austro-Hungarian army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

and he was injured and captured by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n soldiers. As a prisoner of war Giżycki was sent to Siberia.

Polish-Soviet War

After the outbreak of the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

of 1917, Giżycki served in

Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion ( Czech: ''Československé legie''; Slovak: ''Československé légie'') were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the ...

s, but later joined the Polish 5th Division in January 1919, with whom he fought against the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

Russian Civil War and the White movement

In January 1920, after surrender of the 5th Division, Giżycki joined the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

guerrillas in

Uriankhai Uriankhai is a term of address applied by the Mongols to a group of forest peoples of the North, who include the Turkic-speaking Tuvans and Yakuts, while sometimes it is also applied to the Mongolian-speaking Altai Uriankhai. The Uria ...

. Sometime between he moved to north-western

Outer Mongolia Outer Mongolia was the name of a territory in the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China from 1691 to 1911. It corresponds to the modern-day independent state of Mongolia and the Russian republic of Tuva. The historical region gained ''de facto'' ...

and he joined baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg's army, the

Asiatic Cavalry Division The Asiatic Cavalry Division () was a White Army cavalry Division (military), division during the Russian Civil War. The division was composed of Russians, Buryats, Tatars, Bashkirs, Mongols of different tribes, Han Chinese, Chinese, Manchu peopl ...

, as an officer and engineer. He also briefly became Ungern von Sternberg's political advisor and chief of engineer troop, which manufactured

land mines A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, whi ...

hand grenades A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade g ...

, chemical warfare, etc. Giżycki took part in Ungern's last campaign to against the Bolsheviks in

Transbaikalia Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykal'ye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal at the south side of the eastern Si ...

, participating in their march across the mountains separating Mongolia from Russia, their battles against the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Bolshevik forces, and their final retreat from near

Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude (; , ; , ) is the capital city of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River, Buryatia, Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga River, Selenga. According to the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census, 43 ...

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

back to Mongolia, where near the

Egiin Gol The Egiin Gol () is a river in the Khövsgöl and Bulgan aimags in northern Mongolia. It is the only outflow of Lake Khövsgöl and a left tributary of the Selenge river. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, retreated fighting both the enemy and the elements from north-central Mongolia, south of Urga, and then through northern

Gobi The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. There, like the rest of the officer corps of the 2nd Ungern's Brigade, he joined the Chinese forces and served as a military instructor in army of

Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...

; he was later employed as an engineer of the

Chinese Eastern Railway The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, , or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). The Russian Empire constructed the line from 1897 ...

. In summer 1922, Giżycki joined the army of White Russian general

Anatoly Pepelyayev Anatoly Nikolayevich Pepelyayev (; , in Tomsk – 14 January 1938) was a White Russian general who led the Siberian armies of Admiral Kolchak during the Russian Civil War. His elder brother Viktor Pepelyayev served as prime minister in ...

Interwar period and the Polish Defensive War

In 1923, Giżycki returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and settled near

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. In 1926, he joined an expedition to

western Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ma ...

headed by

Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski (; 27 May 1876 – 3 January 1945) was a Polish writer, explorer, university professor, and anticommunist political activist. He is known for his books about Lenin and the Russian Civil War in which he participate ...

. In 1934, Giżycki settled in

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

where he bought a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

. Just before Polish Defensive War, in 1939, Giżycki returned to Poland and took part in fight against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as an officer of the Polish

Later life

After the war, Giżycki lived at

and published numerous novels about Africa. He died in Wrocław on 19 April, 1968.

Published books

Giżycki was a prolific writer of books and articles, and his recollections about his life during the 1920-21 in southern Siberia and Mongolia are important primary sources about the Mongolia and its inhabitants prior to the establishment of the

Mongolian People's Republic The Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) was a socialist state that existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia. Its independence was officially recognized by the Nationalist government of Republic of China (1912� ...

, the life and last campaign of general

Ungern-Sternberg The Ungern-Sternberg family or von Ungern-Sternberg is an old and influential Baltic-German nobility, with branches belonging to the German, Finnish, Swedish and Russian nobility. Notable members * Mattias Alexander von Ungern-Sternberg (16 ...

, and flora and fauna of Central Asia. * ''Polowania egzotyczne'', 1927, Wyd. Zakł. Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Lwów. * ''Przez Urianchaj i Mongolię. Wspomnienia z lat 1920-21'' (through Urianchai and Mongolia. Recollection of 1920–21 years), (1929 Dom Książki Polskiej, Lwów: Zakł. Narodowy im. Ossolińskich; 2007 and 2011 Wyd. LTW) * ''Ze Wschodu na Zachód. Listy z podróży'', 1930 „Księg. Polska" Tow. Polskiej Macierzy Szkolnej, Warszawa * ''Przez knieje i stepy'', 1930 and 1938, Księg. św. Wojciecha Poznań. * ''Wielkie czyny szympansa Bajbuna Mądrego'' 1947 - Wydaw. Polskie R. Wegner, Toruń : Toruńskie Zakłady Graficzne; 1960 Warszawa : "Nasza Księgarnia"; 2007 - Warszawa : Polityka. Spółdzielnia Pracy; also German version: ''Die grossen Taten des Schimpansen Beybun Hofberater seiner Majestät des Königs Simba : Negermärchen''. 1957, Berlin, A. Holz) * ''Wężowa Góra, opowieści z puszczy liberyjskiej'', 1958; 1975 Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich * ''Na Samotnym Atolu'', 1958 (German version: Berlin, 1960, 1964, 1966 ''Das einsame Atoll'' A. Holz; 1962 Verlag Kultur und Fortschritt) * ''Nil, rzeka wielkiej przygody'', 1959, 1972, 1983 (Nasza Księgarnia, Warszawa) * ''Listy z archipelagu Salomona'' "Ossolineum", Wrocław; also Russian version (''Pisma s Solomonovyh ostrovov'', Nauka, Moscow, 1974) and Latvia version (''Vēstules no Zālamana salām'' Riga : "Zinātne", 1979) * ''Hebanowa miłość'', 1960 Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław, * ''Hevea płacze kauczukiem'', 1962 Wyd. Śląsk. * ''Lwica Uanga'' 1969 and 1980 (Nasza Księgarnia, Warszawa); also in Lithuanian ''Liūtė Uanga : apsakymai'' (Vilnius, Vaga 1966) * ''W pogoni za Mwe'', 1966, 1973, 1983 (Nasza Księgarnia, Warszawa) * ''W puszczach i sawannach Kamerunu'', Nasza Księgarnia, 1966, 1970, 1975, 1986

References

Bibliography

* Michałowski W., 1977. ''Testament barona''. * Michałowski W., 1990. ''Tajemnica Ossendowskiego''. * Biograms of Kamil Giżycki in his books: ''Przez Urianchaj i Mongolię'', (1929) and ''Przez knieje i stepy'', 1930. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gizycki, Kamil 1893 births 1968 deaths People from Nowy Sącz County People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish male writers Polish explorers Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I White movement people Blue Army (Poland) personnel Home Army members Technical University of Munich alumni