Maciej Kalenkiewicz
Encyclopedia
Maciej Kalenkiewicz (ˈmat͡ɕɛj kalɛnˈkʲɛvit͡ʂ; 1906–1944; nom de guerre Kotwicz
) was a Polish
engineer and military officer, a podpułkownik of the Polish Army. During the World War II
he received training as a Cichociemny and was delivered to occupied Poland, where he assumed the command over the Nowogródek Home Army area. He was one of the Polish commanders of the Operation Tempest
and the Operation Ostra Brama. Along with 39 Home Army soldiers under his command, he was killed on August 21, 1944 by the NKVD
during the Battle at Surkonty.
and a peasant politician, and Helena née Zawadzka. He graduated from a gymnasium in Vilna (modern Vilnius) and then the Cadet Corps in Modlin
. In 1924 he was admitted to the Officer Engineering School in Warsaw
, where he took part in the May Coup d'État on the side of the government. In 1927 he graduated as an engineer, with the best marks at his year. After a yearly practice in the prestigious Modlin-based 1st Engineering Regiment, he applied for the faculty of Land Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology
. In 1934 he married Irena née Erdman and graduated as a qualified engineer.
He returned to active service and was attached to the Engineering NCO School in Modlin as a platoon commander. In 1936 he was promoted to the rank of kapitan and in 1938 he was allowed to join the Higher War School in Warsaw. However, his studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II
.
of 1939, Kalenkiewicz served in the staff of the Suwałki Cavalry Brigade, as part of the Narew Independent Operational Group
. He took part in his units delaying actions in northern Poland, but in mid-September he volunteered for the improvised Polish 110th Uhlan Regiment under ppłk. Jerzy Dąmbrowski Łupaszko. As part of the Reserve Cavalry Brigade the regiment took part in the defence of Wołkowysk against the assaulting Germans.
After the Soviet invasion of Poland of September 17, the regiment headed northwards, towards the border with Lithuania. It marched towards Grodno and Augustów
Forest, where it fought several skirmishes against the German army and took part in the battle of Grodno
against the Red Army. After two days of heavy fights against the numerically superior Soviets, on September 20 Grodno was lost and three days later gen. bryg. Wacław Przeździecki, the commander of the defence of the Grodno area, ordered all his troops to escape to neutral Lithuania. The 110th Regiment was the only unit to disobey this order. The soldiers led by Dąmbrowski refused to leave the country, and instead headed for besieged Warsaw
.
The unit was joined with remnants of several routed regiments and fought its way towards Warsaw. The unit got surrounded by the Red Army
in the Biebrza
River area and suffered serious casualties, but managed to break through the enemy defences. After that ppłk. Dąmbrowski, the commander of the regiment, decided to disband it. Major Henryk Dobrzański
took command over approximately 180 men and who decided to continue their march towards the besieged capital. Among his men was Maciej Kalenkiewicz, who became the chief of staff of the Detached Unit of the Polish Army, as the new unit was called. When Warsaw capitulated on September 27, Dobrzański decided to continue the fight against foreign occupation of Poland. Approximately 50 men volunteered to stay in the army, while the rest were allowed to leave. On November 1, 1939, they crossed the Vistula near Dęblin and started their march towards the Holy Cross Mountains. The same day his unit fought the first skirmish against the Germans. After that he decided to stay in the Kielce area with his unit and wait until the Allied relief comes, which he expected in the Spring of 1940. Two days afterwards Kalenkiewicz became the deputy commander of what was to become the first partisan unit of World War II
. He adopted a nom de guerre of Kotwicz, after the name of his family's Coat of Arms
.
In November 1939 Kalenkiewicz reached Warsaw
with a mission from Dobrzański to Gen. Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, the commander of the Służba Zwycięstwu Polski, the first major resistance organization formed in all parts of Nazi and Soviet occupied Poland. However, he did not return to Dobrzański's unit and instead decided to find his way to France
, where the Polish Army was being recreated by Gen. Władysław Sikorski.
and Yugoslavia
, Kalenkiewicz reached France. There, on January 1, 1940, he joined the Versailles
-based Officers Engineering Training Centre. Verified as a specialist in military engineering, since March 15 he was also a professor there. He also repeatedly proposed Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski
to organize a group of paratroopers to be transported to occupied Poland for easier contact with the underground. In early May Sosnkowski admitted Kalenkiewicz to his own staff and on June 25 both were evacuated to Great Britain due to the French capitulation.
Considered a member of the informal faction of young officers insisting on reforming the Polish Army in exile into a highly-trained specialized force rather than cannon fodder
, Kalenkiewicz co-authored several memorials urging the Polish authorities to reform the standard infantry units into airborne units
capable of both armed reconnaissance and diversion, and possible help in the envisioned all-national uprising in the German-occupied country. One of such memorials made Kalenkiewicz noted by Gen. Władysław Sikorski, who in October 1941 moved him to staff service in the newly-established Airborne Training and Studies detachment of the Polish General Staff. One of the direct outcomes of the group's activities was the creation of the Polish 1st Independent Airborne Brigade under Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski. Kalenkiewicz also volunteered to be transported to occupied Poland and help the Home Army
.
operation code-named Jacket. By accident the pilot landed in the areas annexed by the Third Reich rather than in General Government
(GG) and all the members of the team were arrested immediately upon their arrival. However, when transported to a local outpost of the German forces, the crew managed to recapture their arms and escape, killing all Germans. Kalenkiewicz and his team then managed to cross into the GG and reach Warsaw
. There Kalenkiewicz met with Gen. Stefan Rowecki
(Grot), who accepted him into the Department of Operations of the staff of the Association of Armed Struggle
, the predecessor of the Home Army.
As a rule of thumb all Cichociemni
were promoted one grade upwards on their arrival to Poland and so Kalenkiewicz rose to the rank of Major. On March 19, 1942 he was also awarded with Virtuti Militari
, the highest Polish military award. As a staff officer he was responsible for a variety of duties, mostly related to training in partisan warfare, sabotage and communications. He was also the author of Plan W
, a plan of an all-national uprising on which the later Operation Tempest
was based. In August 1943 Kalenkiewicz also took part in front-line operations as he was named the commander of the Operation Belt
, a wide-scale operation aimed at all German border outposts between the GG and the Reich.
Kotwicz coat of arms
Kotwicz - is a Polish Coat of Arms. It was used by several szlachta families in the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.-History:-See also:* Polish heraldry* Heraldry* Coat of Arms* List of Polish nobility coats of arms - Sources :* *...
) was a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
engineer and military officer, a podpułkownik of the Polish Army. During the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he received training as a Cichociemny and was delivered to occupied Poland, where he assumed the command over the Nowogródek Home Army area. He was one of the Polish commanders of the Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II by the Polish Home Army , the dominant force in the Polish resistance....
and the Operation Ostra Brama. Along with 39 Home Army soldiers under his command, he was killed on August 21, 1944 by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
during the Battle at Surkonty.
Early years
Maciej Kalenkiewicz was born July 1, 1906 in a small manor in Pacewicze, to Jan Kalenkiewicz, an impoverished member of the Polish gentrySzlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
and a peasant politician, and Helena née Zawadzka. He graduated from a gymnasium in Vilna (modern Vilnius) and then the Cadet Corps in Modlin
Modlin Fortress
Modlin Fortress is one of the biggest 19th century fortresses in Poland. It is located the town of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki in district Modlin on the Narew river, some 50 kilometres north of Warsaw...
. In 1924 he was admitted to the Officer Engineering School in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, where he took part in the May Coup d'État on the side of the government. In 1927 he graduated as an engineer, with the best marks at his year. After a yearly practice in the prestigious Modlin-based 1st Engineering Regiment, he applied for the faculty of Land Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland, and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors . The student body numbers 36,156 , mostly full-time. There are 17 faculties covering almost all fields of...
. In 1934 he married Irena née Erdman and graduated as a qualified engineer.
He returned to active service and was attached to the Engineering NCO School in Modlin as a platoon commander. In 1936 he was promoted to the rank of kapitan and in 1938 he was allowed to join the Higher War School in Warsaw. However, his studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Among the first partisans of WWII
During the Polish Defensive WarInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
of 1939, Kalenkiewicz served in the staff of the Suwałki Cavalry Brigade, as part of the Narew Independent Operational Group
Operational Group
Operational Group was the highest level of tactical division of the Polish Army before and during World War II and the Invasion of Poland. It was corps-sized, although various Operational Groups varied in size....
. He took part in his units delaying actions in northern Poland, but in mid-September he volunteered for the improvised Polish 110th Uhlan Regiment under ppłk. Jerzy Dąmbrowski Łupaszko. As part of the Reserve Cavalry Brigade the regiment took part in the defence of Wołkowysk against the assaulting Germans.
After the Soviet invasion of Poland of September 17, the regiment headed northwards, towards the border with Lithuania. It marched towards Grodno and Augustów
Augustów
Augustów is a town in north-eastern Poland with 29,600 inhabitants . It lies on the Netta River and the Augustów Canal. It is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship , having previously been in Suwałki Voivodeship . It is the seat of Augustów County and of Gmina Augustów.In 1970 Augustów became...
Forest, where it fought several skirmishes against the German army and took part in the battle of Grodno
Battle of Grodno (1939)
The Battle of Grodno took place between 21 September and 24 September 1939, during the Soviet invasion of Poland. It was fought between improvised Polish units under Gen...
against the Red Army. After two days of heavy fights against the numerically superior Soviets, on September 20 Grodno was lost and three days later gen. bryg. Wacław Przeździecki, the commander of the defence of the Grodno area, ordered all his troops to escape to neutral Lithuania. The 110th Regiment was the only unit to disobey this order. The soldiers led by Dąmbrowski refused to leave the country, and instead headed for besieged Warsaw
Siege of Warsaw (1939)
The 1939 Battle of Warsaw was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army garrisoned and entrenched in the capital of Poland and the German Army...
.
The unit was joined with remnants of several routed regiments and fought its way towards Warsaw. The unit got surrounded by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in the Biebrza
Biebrza
Biebrza is a river in north-eastern Poland, a tributary of the Narew river , with a length of 155 kilometres and the basin area of 7,057 km2...
River area and suffered serious casualties, but managed to break through the enemy defences. After that ppłk. Dąmbrowski, the commander of the regiment, decided to disband it. Major Henryk Dobrzański
Henryk Dobrzanski
Major Henryk Dobrzański aka "Hubal" was a Polish soldier, sportsman and partisan. He was the first guerrilla commander of the Second World War in Europe.-Early life and career:...
took command over approximately 180 men and who decided to continue their march towards the besieged capital. Among his men was Maciej Kalenkiewicz, who became the chief of staff of the Detached Unit of the Polish Army, as the new unit was called. When Warsaw capitulated on September 27, Dobrzański decided to continue the fight against foreign occupation of Poland. Approximately 50 men volunteered to stay in the army, while the rest were allowed to leave. On November 1, 1939, they crossed the Vistula near Dęblin and started their march towards the Holy Cross Mountains. The same day his unit fought the first skirmish against the Germans. After that he decided to stay in the Kielce area with his unit and wait until the Allied relief comes, which he expected in the Spring of 1940. Two days afterwards Kalenkiewicz became the deputy commander of what was to become the first partisan unit of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He adopted a nom de guerre of Kotwicz, after the name of his family's Coat of Arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
.
In November 1939 Kalenkiewicz reached Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
with a mission from Dobrzański to Gen. Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, the commander of the Służba Zwycięstwu Polski, the first major resistance organization formed in all parts of Nazi and Soviet occupied Poland. However, he did not return to Dobrzański's unit and instead decided to find his way to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where the Polish Army was being recreated by Gen. Władysław Sikorski.
In the West
In late 1939, through HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Kalenkiewicz reached France. There, on January 1, 1940, he joined the Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
-based Officers Engineering Training Centre. Verified as a specialist in military engineering, since March 15 he was also a professor there. He also repeatedly proposed Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski
Kazimierz Sosnkowski
Kazimierz Sosnkowski was a Polish independence fighter, politician and Polish Army general.-Life:Sosnkowski served successively as founder and first commander of Związek Walki Czynnej , chief of staff of the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legions, Polish minister of military affairs, vice-president of...
to organize a group of paratroopers to be transported to occupied Poland for easier contact with the underground. In early May Sosnkowski admitted Kalenkiewicz to his own staff and on June 25 both were evacuated to Great Britain due to the French capitulation.
Considered a member of the informal faction of young officers insisting on reforming the Polish Army in exile into a highly-trained specialized force rather than cannon fodder
Cannon fodder
Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds in an effort to achieve a strategic goal...
, Kalenkiewicz co-authored several memorials urging the Polish authorities to reform the standard infantry units into airborne units
Airborne forces
Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and 'dropped' into battle. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning...
capable of both armed reconnaissance and diversion, and possible help in the envisioned all-national uprising in the German-occupied country. One of such memorials made Kalenkiewicz noted by Gen. Władysław Sikorski, who in October 1941 moved him to staff service in the newly-established Airborne Training and Studies detachment of the Polish General Staff. One of the direct outcomes of the group's activities was the creation of the Polish 1st Independent Airborne Brigade under Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski. Kalenkiewicz also volunteered to be transported to occupied Poland and help the Home Army
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
.
German-occupied Poland
On December 27, 1941 he was indeed transported to Poland during the air bridgeAirbridge (logistics)
An airbridge is the route and means of delivering material from one place to another by an airlift.An airbridge is the means by which an airhead is kept supplied by overflying enemy held territory...
operation code-named Jacket. By accident the pilot landed in the areas annexed by the Third Reich rather than in General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
(GG) and all the members of the team were arrested immediately upon their arrival. However, when transported to a local outpost of the German forces, the crew managed to recapture their arms and escape, killing all Germans. Kalenkiewicz and his team then managed to cross into the GG and reach Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. There Kalenkiewicz met with Gen. Stefan Rowecki
Stefan Rowecki
Stefan Paweł Rowecki was a Polish general, journalist and the leader of the Armia Krajowa. He was murdered by the Gestapo in prison, probably on the direct order of Heinrich Himmler.-Life:Rowecki was born in Piotrków Trybunalski...
(Grot), who accepted him into the Department of Operations of the staff of the Association of Armed Struggle
Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej
Związek Walki Zbrojnej was an underground army formed in Poland following its invasion in September 1939 by Germany and the Soviet Union that opened World War II.The precursor to the ZWZ was the Service...
, the predecessor of the Home Army.
As a rule of thumb all Cichociemni
Cichociemni
Cichociemni were elite special-operations paratroops of the Polish Home Army of the Polish Army in exile, created in Great Britain during World War II to operate in occupied Poland.-The name:...
were promoted one grade upwards on their arrival to Poland and so Kalenkiewicz rose to the rank of Major. On March 19, 1942 he was also awarded with Virtuti Militari
Virtuti Militari
The Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war...
, the highest Polish military award. As a staff officer he was responsible for a variety of duties, mostly related to training in partisan warfare, sabotage and communications. He was also the author of Plan W
Plan W
Plan W, during the Second World War, was a plan of joint military operations between Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland devised between 1940 and 1942, to be executed in the event of an invasion of Ireland by Nazi Germany....
, a plan of an all-national uprising on which the later Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II by the Polish Home Army , the dominant force in the Polish resistance....
was based. In August 1943 Kalenkiewicz also took part in front-line operations as he was named the commander of the Operation Belt
Operation Belt
Operation Belt was one of the large-scale anti-Nazi operations of the Armia Krajowa Kedyw during the World War II.In August 1943 the headquarters of the Armia Krajowa ordered Kedyw to prepare an armed action against German border guarding stations on the frontier between the General Government and...
, a wide-scale operation aimed at all German border outposts between the GG and the Reich.
Sources
- Jan Erdman: Droga do Ostrej Bramy, Warszawa 1990
- Roman Korab-Żebryk: Operacja wileńska AK, PWN, Warszwa 1988, ISBN 83-01-08401-4
- Bohdan Urbankowski: Antysowieckie powstania. Polska, [w:] Encyklopedia Białych Plam, Radom 2000
- Rocznik Oficerski z 1928, s. 569, 606