Tadeusz Klimecki
Encyclopedia
Early life and service in the Imperial and Royal Army
Tadeusz Klimecki was born in TarnówTarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a local lawyer, Joseph Klimecki, and his mother was Ludwika Regiec.
In 1913 he graduated from the gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Jaslo
Jaslo
Jasło is a county town in south-eastern Poland with 37,343 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. It is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship ; previously it was in Krosno Voivodeship . It is located in the heartland of the Doły , and its average altitude is 320 metres above sea level, although...
and enrolled at the Faculty of Law of the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
.
In 1914 he joined the Eastern Legion
Polish Legions in World War I
Polish Legions was the name of Polish armed forces created in August 1914 in Galicia. Thanks to the efforts of KSSN and the Polish members of the Austrian parliament, the unit became an independent formation of the Austro-Hungarian Army...
, and at its dissolution he was drafted into the Austrian army. After graduating from the school of infantry officers he was sent to the Italian front as a platoon leader. In 1915 he was appointed a standard-bearer, in 1916 - a second lieutenant. By the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he had been wounded three times and served as a company commander.
Service in the Polish Army
From November 1918 served in the Polish Army. Between November 1918 and October 1925 he was a company and battalion commander in the 16th Infantry Regiment, TarnowTarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
and during the war with the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s, he commanded the regiment (31.VII-4.VIII.1920).
October 1925 – October 1927 - student of the Highest Military School in Warsaw.
October 1927–1930 - Chief of Staff of the 12th Infantry Division in Tarnopol.
1930–1934 - professor of tactics at the Highest Military School.
Between January 1934 - 1936 - Deputy Commander of the 18 Infantry Regiment in Skierniewice
Skierniewice
Skierniewice is a town in central Poland with 49,132 inhabitants , situated in the Łódź Voivodship , previously capital of Skierniewice Voivodship . It is the capital of Skierniewice County. The town is situated almost exactly half-way between Łódź and Warsaw.Skierniewice gained municipal rights...
.
1936 - 1938 - Commander of the 5th Podhale Rifles
Podhale rifles
Podhale Rifles is the traditional name of the mountain infantry units of the Polish Army. Formed in 1918 out of volunteers of the region of Podhale, in 1919 the smaller detachments of Podhale Rifles were pressed into two mountain infantry divisions, the 21st Mountain Infantry and 22nd Mountain...
Regiment in Przemysl
Przemysl
Przemyśl is a city in south-eastern Poland with 66,756 inhabitants, as of June 2009. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it was previously the capital of Przemyśl Voivodeship....
.
1938 - September 1939 - Head of the course at the Highest Military School.
In September 1939, appointed to the Division III of the General Staff as a Chief of the Department of Operations.
After the September campaign he moved to France.
December 1939 – June 1940 Head of Division III, Polish General Staff in France.
July 1940 – July 1943 Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme Commander in London.
He died in a plane crash on July 4, 1943, in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, together with the Polish Prime-Minister and Commander-in-Chief General Władysław Sikorski and his staff. Tadeusz Klimecki was buried in the cemetery of Polish airmen in Newark-on-Trent
Newark-on-Trent
Newark-on-Trent is a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. It stands on the River Trent, the A1 , and the East Coast Main Line railway. The origins of the town are possibly Roman as it lies on an important Roman road, the Fosse Way...
, England.
On December 3rd, 2010, bodies of Tadeusz Klimecki, Andrzej Marecki and Jozef Ponikiewski were exhumed, flown to Warsaw and then taken to the Department of Forensic Medicine in Cracow for examination.
On December 9th, 2010 Tadeusz Klimecki and Andrzej Marecki were buried in the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.
Promotions
- Captain - since June 1, 1919
- Major - since July 1, 1925
- Lieutenant Colonel - since January 1, 1931
- Colonel - since March 19, 1938
- Brigadier - since February 6, 1941
Orders and decorations
- Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari
- Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
- Cross of Valour
External links
- "Tadeusz Klimecki" by Przemysław Jaskółowski
- Family photos of general Klimecki, by Przemysław Jaskółowski
- Tadeusz Klimecki (Polish Wikipedia) General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces
- Chiefs of Polish General Staff
- David Irving "Accident — The Death of General Sikorski"David IrvingDavid John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
- Newark-on-Trent Cemetery
- General Sikorski Mystery - Polish Officers to be Exhumed at Newark
- Polish Radio: Funeral of two Sikorski's officers