- Viktor Lomidze
Viktor Lomidze, also known by his Polish name of Wiktor Łomidze-Wachtang, was a Georgian-Polish military officer. After the Bolshevik take-over of his country in early 1920s he emigrated to Poland, where he joined the
Polish Army and then thePolish Navy .Between
1935 and1939 he was the commanding officer (in the rank of Captain) ofORP Jaskółka , a Polish minesweeper and minelayer. Later on he became the deputy commander of theORP Gryf .At the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War of 1939, on
September 1 , with other Polish warships, "Gryf" left the naval base atGdynia for theOperation Rurka , a failed attempt to lay aminefield at the entrances to theGdańsk Bay . After boardingnaval mine s from a floating depot, the flotilla headed forHel Peninsula , assisted byORP Wicher and several smaller vessels (among them Łomidze's former ship "Jaskółka"). En route she was attacked by a squadron of 33 German Ju-87Bdive bomber s and hit with several bombs. Although the damages were minor, the ship lost 22 sailors, including its captain Lt.Cmdr.Stefan Kwiatkowski in what became known as thebattle of the Gdańsk Bay . Kwiatkowski's deputy, Capt. Wiktor Łomidze decided to throw all defused naval mines in the waters for fear of explosion and headed for Hel naval base. There it was decided to use the ship as a floating anti-air artillery battery guarding the harbour.During the final days of the Polish defence of
Pomerania Łomidze, along with several other naval officers, crossed the Baltic on a small fishing cutter. They reached the port ofLiepaja , from where Łomidze got toSweden and then to theUnited Kingdom . There he applied to the Polish Navy being reconstructed there by thePolish Government in Exile . Although he was admitted, he was also held responsible for the decision to throw away the mines back in September 1939, a decision that successfully crippled the Polish defensive operations in the Baltic Sea. Because of that, and despite Łomidze's pleas, he was never again given a command over any Polish vessel. Instead he spent the remainder ofWorld War II at various staff duties [http://dws.ozone.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?p=114779&sid=020d5a0bf74008dda8c519c2c64f95e5] . He finished his career in the rank ofkomandor porucznik (a Polish equivalent of the rank ofCommander ).References
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