- Wiktor Thommée
Infobox Military Person
name=Wiktor Thommée
rank=generał brygady
born=birth date|1881|12|30|mf=y
placeofbirth=Święciany ,Russian Empire
died=death date and age|1962|9|12|1881|12|30|mf=y
placeofdeath=Warsaw ,Poland
allegiance=Poland
serviceyears=from 1901
commands=
battles=Russo-Japanese War ,Russian Civil War ,Polish-Bolshevik War , Polish Defensive War
awards=Wiktor Thommée (1881-1962) was a Polish military commander and a Brigadier General of the
Polish Army . A veteran of the Great War and theRussian Civil War , he is best known for his command overPiotrków Operational Group and thebattle of the Bzura during the Polish Defensive War of 1939.Overview
Wiktor Thommée was born
December 30 ,1881 inŚwięciany ,Russian Empire (modern Švenčionys, Lithuania), to a family of distant French provenience. After graduating from trade schools inLida andDyneburg (modern Daugavpils, Latvia), in 1901 he joined an officers' school inSt. Petersburg . In 1904 he graduated and received the grade of 2nd Lieutenant, after which he was attached to theVoronezh -based 124th Infantry Regiment. With that unit he took part in theRusso-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Twice wounded, he spent several months in various hospitals, after which he was dismissed from active service for recovery and joined the Trade Institute inKharkov (modern Kharkiv, Ukraine). In 1912 he was again admitted to theRussian Army and until 1914 he studied at the Academy of the General Staff in St. Petersburg.WW I
After the outbreak of the Great War, Thommée joined the 276th Infantry Regiment and served with distinction as a commanding officer of a company and then battalion. In 1916 he was promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel and became anadjutant at the staff of the 48th Corps in the area of theRomanian front . After theRussian Revolution of 1917 , he quit the army and onSeptember 25 ,1918 he joined thePolish Army in the area ofKuban . There, onNovember 9 he became the "de facto" chief of staff ofLucjan Żeligowski 'sPolish 4th Rifle Division , formally a part of the PolishBlue Army allied toFrance ,United Kingdom , U.S. andImperial Russia . After the division returned to Poland and was reformed into the 10th Infantry Division, Thommée served as the chief of its staff during the opening stages of thePolish-Bolshevik War until August of 1919. OnAugust 22 of that year he became the head of the "Third department of the staff" (Offensive intelligence "B"), controlling the intelligence net in the European part of Russia, at the North-Western Front, Masovian Front and then thePolish 1st Army under Gen.Franciszek Latinik .A skilled officer of intelligence service, Thommée asked his superiors to move him to front-line service and on
June 17 ,1920 , he was made the commanding officer of the famous 28th "Kaniów Rifles" Infantry Regiment. For the rest of thePolish-Bolshevik War , he commanded the 19th Infantry and then 20th Infantry Brigades. For his service during the conflict, in 1922 he was promoted to the rank ofColonel (with precedence ofJune 1 ,1919 ).After the
Peace of Riga had been signed, Thommée remained in the army and onAugust 10 ,1921 he was made the commanding officer of the General Army Area Brześć. OnOctober 20 ,1922 he became the first officer of theGrodno -based 3rd Military Area Command (DOK III) and at the same time he started his studies at the Higher War School inWarsaw . OnJuly 1 ,1923 he was promoted to the rank ofBrigadier General and onAugust 15 ,1924 he became the commanding officer of the 15th Infantry Division stationed inBydgoszcz . One of the most promising staff officers of his times, in 1926 he was sent toParis , where he graduated from the prestigiousEcole Superieure de Guerre . Upon his return to Poland he continued his service at various posts, including the command over theToruń -based 8th Military Area Command (DOK VIII; 1934-1938) and then theŁódź -based 4th Military Area Command (DOK IV).WW II
At the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War, on
September 1 ,1939 , Thommée assumed the command over the PiotrkówOperational Group , one of Polish Army Corps within theŁódź Army . Renamed to "Thommée Operational Group" onSeptember 6 , the unit was the only part of the Łódź Army not to suffer tremendous losses during the retreat from the borders. After Gen.Juliusz Rómmel abandoned his army and defected for Warsaw, Wiktor Thommée managed to reorganise the withdrawing forces of the Łódź Army and fight thebattle of Cyrusowa Wola onSeptember 8 , in which he defeated theGerman 10th Infantry Division . After the battle, onSeptember 13 his forces moved to theModlin Fortress where Thommée assumed the command of theModlin Army . Besieged, the forces under his command defended the area untilSeptember 29 . Due to lack of supplies, food and water, Gen. Thommée negotiated the capitulation of his forces under the condition that all the soldiers were to be treated as prisoners of war and were to be set free.Although initially the Germans honoured the treaty, on
November 7 ,1939 , Thommée was arrested along with a large part of his staff and was sent to Germany. He spent the remaining part of theWorld War II in various Nazi POW camps. Initially inOflag IV-B Koenigstein andStalag I-B Hohenstein , he was then transferred toOflag VIII-E Johannisbrunn . In 1942 he was sent toOflag VII-A Murnau , from where he undertook numerous escape attempts and was finally sent toOflag VI-B Dössel . Liberated in 1945, he moved to theUnited Kingdom , where in April he joined thePolish Armed Forces in the West . Unlike most of his war-time colleagues, in January of 1947 he returned to Communist-held Poland. Formally accepted into the army, he was retired and deprived of his pension. He lived in poverty inGdynia , at times working as ajanitor . It was not until the death ofBolesław Bierut and the political thaw of 1956 that Wiktor Thommée was granted with a pension and a flat inWarsaw . He diedSeptember 12 ,1962 and was buried in the "Alley of the Meritous" in Warsaw'sPowązki Cemetery . OnJanuary 1 ,1964 he was posthumously promoted to the rank ofDivision General (Lt.Gen.).Awards
Throughout his life, Thommée was awarded with some of the highest Polish military decorations. Among them were:
*
Virtuti Militari (5th and 4th classes)
* Commanders' Cross ofPolonia Restituta
*Krzyż Walecznych (4 times)
* Golden Cross of MeritReferences
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Gazeta Wyborcza | year=2005 | volume= | issue=November 14 | pages= | url=http://miasta.gazeta.pl/lublin/1,35642,587611.html
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# cite encyclopedia | ency=Wielka Encyklopedia PWN|PWN | edition=web | year=2003 | article=THOMMÉE, WIKTOR-
# cite book | author=Zbigniew Mierzwiński | title=Generałowie II Rzeczypospolitej | year=1990 | publisher=Warsaw, Polonia | id=ISBN 8370210961
# cite book | author=Jacek Macyszyn | title=Generałowie polscy | year=1999 | publisher=Pruszków, Ajaks | id=ISBN 8387103721
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