Mieczysław Ryś-Trojanowski (October 21, 1881 in

Krośniewice Krośniewice is a town in Kutno County, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,258 inhabitants (2020). Transport The European routes E30 and E75 used to intersect in the town until a bypass was built around the town in 2010. The main railway betwe ...

– April 4, 1945 in

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

) was a brigadier general (

generał brygady Brigadier general ( Polish: ''generał brygady'' , abbreviated ''gen. bryg.'') is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the land forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the moder ...

) of

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

Ryś-Trojanowski was born in a patriotic Polish family: his father Szymon fought in the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

. After high school, Mieczyslaw went to

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, to study at

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

. There he got in touch with patriotic organizations, which fought for the independence of the nation (see

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

). Rys-Trojanowski participated in the

Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, during which he was arrested on suspicion of attempting to kill Russian governor of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

(see

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

). In 1908 he moved to Austrian Galicia, where he became one of key members of the

Union of Active Struggle The Union of Active Struggle (; ZWC), also translated as Union for Active Struggle and Union for Active Resistance,Thus rendered in Richard M. Watt, ''Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918 to 1939'', p. 37. Watt writes: "Soon after Piłsudski' ...

, and organizer of local branches of the

Riflemen's Association The Polish Riflemen's Association, known as ''Związek Strzelecki'' (in the plural, ''Związki Strzeleckie''), was an organization formed in great numbers prior to World War I. One of the better known associations, ''Strzelec'' (Rifleman), was a ...

. Promoted to the rank of officer, Ryś-Trojanowski fought in the

Polish Legions in World War I The Polish Legions () was a name of the Polish military force (the first active Polish army in generations) established in August 1914 in Galicia (Central Europe), Galicia soon after World War I erupted between the opposing alliances of the Trip ...

, participating in all major battles of the unit, including the Battle of Kostiuchnowka. On November 1, 1916, he was named commandant of the 5th Legions' Infantry Regiment. In July 1917, after the so-called

Oath Crisis The Oath crisis (; German language, German: ''Eidkrise'') was a World War I political conflict between the Imperial German Army command and the Józef Piłsudski-led Polish Legions in World War I, Polish Legions. Initially supporting the Central P ...

, Rys-Trojanowski was imprisoned in Beniaminow. Later, he was kept in German camps at

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an ...

Holzminden Holzminden (; ) is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Holzminden (district), Holzminden. It is located on the river Weser, which at this point forms the border with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

and

Werl The pilgrimage town Werl (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Wiärl'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia and belongs to the Soest, Germany, Soest district in the Arnsberg administrative district. The official name of pilgrimage town has been ...

. In early November 1918, Ryś-Trojanowski became commandant of

Chełm Chełm (; ; ) is a city in eastern Poland in the Lublin Voivodeship with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some from the border with Ukraine. The ...

Military District and Chełm Infantry Regiment (later renamed into 35th Infantry Regiment), with which he fought in 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 ...

. On May 20, 1920, Ryś-Trojanowski was transferred to the 17th Infantry Brigade, and on September 2 of that year he was named commandant of the 9th Infantry Division, remaining in this post until late July 1926. On December 1, 1924, President Stanislaw Wojciechowski upon request of Minister of Military Affairs

Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independenc ...

, promoted Rys-Trojanowski to the rank of

General brygady A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Onlin ...

. On July 31, 1926, President

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 1867 – 2 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Ge ...

named Rys-Trojanowski commandant of Military District Nr 9 in Brzesc nad Bugiem. In 1935, he was transferred to Warsaw, becoming commandant of Military District Nr 1. Rys-Trojanowski remained in this post until 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 ...

(September 1, 1939). On September 4 he left Polish capital, tasked with creation of

Prusy Army The Prusy Army () was one of the Polish armies to fight during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Created in the summer of 1939 as the main reserve of the Commander in Chief, it was commanded by Gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki. The word ''Prusy'' in the ...

. Due to rapid German advance, this army was not created: Rys-Trojanowski involved himself with creation of

Warszawa Army The Warsaw Army () was one of the Polish armies to take part in the Polish Defensive War of 1939. Created on 8 September, eight days after the invasion begun, it was an improvised formation charged with the defence of the Polish capital of Warsaw ( ...

. He personally visited checkpoints on roads east of Warsaw, controlling the evacuation of civil servants, police officers and army personnel. In mid-September, he helped with creation of Lublin Army, gathering soldiers scattered in northern

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

Podlasie Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

and eastern

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

. On September 20, after

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

, Rys-Trojanowski fled to Hungary, where he remained until March 1944. He was a very active member of Polish organizations in Hungary, cooperating both with

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 ...

and Hungarian headquarters. On March 19, 1944, upon the invasion and occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany, Rys-Trojanowski was arrested and sent to

. He was murdered there on April 4, 1945.

Promotions

* Captain: September 29, 1914, * Major: June 15, 1915, * Lieutenant colonel: 1918, * Colonel: May 22, 1920, * brigadier general (

Generał brygady Brigadier general ( Polish: ''generał brygady'' , abbreviated ''gen. bryg.'') is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the land forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the moder ...

): December 1, 1924.

Awards

* Silver Cross of the

Virtuti Militari The War Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', ) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was established in 1792 by the last King of Poland Stanislaus II of Poland, ...

* Commander's Cross with Star of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

, *

Cross of Independence Cross of Independence () was the second highest Polish military decoration between World Wars I and II. It was awarded to individuals who had fought actively for the independence of Poland, and was released in three classes. History The Cr ...

with Swords. * Golden Cross of Merit. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rys-Trojanowski, Mieczyslaw 1881 births 1945 deaths People from Krośniewice People from Warsaw Governorate Polish generals Polish legionnaires (World War I) Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish military personnel of World War II Polish prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Commanders of the Virtuti Militari Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)