Juliusz Rómmel

Juliusz Rómmel ( _de. Baron Julius Karl Wilhelm Josef von Rommel;Fact|date=November 2007 born June 3, 1881 in Grodno - died September 8, 1967 in Warsaw) was a Polish military commander and a general of the Polish Army. A commander of two Polish armies, during the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Rómmel was one of the most controversial of the Generals to serve during that conflict.

Biography

He graduated from the Konstantin's Artillery School in St. Petersburg in 1903 and served in the Russian Army in the rank of colonel. During the Great War he served as the commanding officer of the 1st Artillery Brigade. In 1917 he was transferred to the Polish II Corps being formed in the area of Ukraine and became one of its organizers. During the Russian Civil War he commanded the Polish Light Brigade, a part of General Zeligowski's 4th Rifle Division. Interned by Austria-Hungary, in 1918 he joined the Polish Army.

Initially a commanding officer of the 1st Legions Infantry Division, during the Polish-Bolshevik War he created and commanded the 1st Cavalry Division. At that post he achieved a striking victory in the battle of Komarów, the largest cavalry battle in the 20th century, which later added to his popularity and fame in Poland. He also fought with distinction in the ranks of Haller's Operational Group of Sikorski's 3rd Army during the battle of the Niemen River.

After the war, in 1922 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and continued his service in the army at various command posts. Among other posts, he continued to command his wartime unit until 1924 and then between 1926 and 1939 he was an army inspector within the General Inspectorate of the Armed Forces. In 1928 he was promoted to the rank of "general dywizji" (lieutenant-general).

In March 1939 he was given command of the Łódź Army, a Polish tactical group that was to link the southern and northern flanks of the Polish Army during the probable war with Germany. He located his forces close to the border with Germany. When the Polish Defensive War finally broke out on September 1, 1939, this proved to be a fatal move. Without any natural defences, Rómmel's army was easily outmanouevred and cut out from the rest of Polish forces, without much chance to act as a pivot of the Polish defences or even withdraw from the enemy. Under still uncertain circumstances, Rómmel and his staff were separated from his army and headed for Warsaw where they arrived in the night of 7-8 September. The Commander-in-Chief Edward Rydz-Śmigły, (then in Brześć), gave him command over all the Polish forces in the ad-hoc organized Warsaw Army, which included the Warsaw Defense Force under general Walerian Czuma and the Modlin Fortress defense force under general Wiktor Thommée. Rydz-Śmigły issued him a signed order to "..defend the city as long as ammunition and food lasts, to hold as many of the enemy forces as possible." [Władysław Bartoszewski: 1859 Dni Warszawy, p.32] He signed all the proclamations to the civilian population, as well as the final act of capitulation of Warsaw on September 28.

He spent the rest of the war interned in German POW camps, the final years in Oflag VII-A Murnau. Liberated by the U.S. 12th Armored Division in April 1945, [ [http://www.lonesentry.com/gi_stories_booklets/12tharmored/index.html "Speed is the Password"] ] he was not welcome in the Polish II Corps and decided to return to Communist-controlled Poland. Because of that, he was used by the communist propaganda as a war hero. He was also awarded with the Commander's Cross of Virtuti Militari. In 1947 he was retired from the army and spent the rest of his life writing books.

His brother Karol Rómmel was also an officer of the Polish Army and a bronze medalist in equestrian eventing team at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.

References

* [http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/62031,,,,rommel_juliusz,haslo.html Biografy]
* [http://1939.pl/biografie/rommel.htm Biography of Gen Rómmel]
* George J. Lerski "Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945" ISBN 0-313-26007-9 - see p.515
* Juliusz Rómmel "Za Honor i Ojczyznę" {Warsaw, 1958)