- Alojzy Wir-Konas
Alojzy Wir-Konas (1894-1940) was a Polish military commander and a Colonel of the
Polish Army . Divisional commander during the Invasion of Poland, he was murdered in theKatyn massacre .Alojzy Konas joined the
Polish Legions during the Great War. About that time he adopted thenom de guerre of "Wir" (Polish forwhirlwind ), which later became a part of hissurname . After theOath Crisis he was drafted into theAustro-Hungarian Army and sent to theItalian front , where he fought with distinction in shock battalion nearCordolezzo . After the war, in November of 1918 he joined thePolish Army and steadily advanced through its ranks.Between 1924 and 1930 he commanded the
Pińsk -basedPolish 84th Infantry Regiment . Promoted to the rank of Colonel, until August of 1939 he commanded the infantry units of thePolish 21st Mountain Infantry Division . During the Invasion of Poland in 1939 he was the commanding officer of thePolish 38th Infantry Division , formed of reserve units betweenTarnów andKraków . Due to the fast pace of the German advance, the division entered combat onSeptember 9 , before it could be fully mobilized. FromSeptember 11 , it was attached to the improvisedMałopolska Army and was withdrawing towards theRomanian Bridgehead . Under the leadership of Gen.Kazimierz Sosnkowski , Wir-Konas commanded his division in thebattle of Sądowa Wisznia , in which he managed to defeat the much strongerGerman 2nd Mountain Division . However, shortly before reachingLwów , the unit became bogged down in thebattle of Janów ofSeptember 17 . Despite offering heavy resistance, only a single regiment managed to break through enemy lines and reach the besieged city. After the capitulation of Lwów to theSoviet Union onSeptember 22 ,1939 , Alojzy Wir-Konas was arrested by theNKVD and imprisoned in theStarobielsk concentration camp . He was murdered in theKatyn massacre in April of 1940. For his wartime service he was posthumously promoted to the rank of General.
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