Zygmunt Henryk Berling | |
|---|---|
 General Zygmunt Berling (wearing the uniform of a colonel) | |
| Born | (1896-04-27)27 April 1896 |
| Died | 11 July 1980(1980-07-11) (aged 84) |
| Allegiance |  Second Polish RepublicPolish People's Republic |
| Branch |  Polish Legions Polish Army Polish People's Army |
| Years of service | 1914–1953 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Unit | Polish Legions |
| Commands | 6th Infantry Regiment 4th Infantry Regiment 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division First Polish Army |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Virtuti Militari |
Zygmunt Henryk Berling (27 April 1896 – 11 July 1980) was a Polish general and politician. He fought for the independence of Poland in the early 20th century. Berling was a co-founder and commander of theFirst Polish Army, which fought on theEastern Front of World War II.
Zygmunt Berling was born inLimanowa, then part of theAustro-Hungarian Empire, on 27 April 1896.[1] He joined thePolish Legions ofJózef Piłsudski in 1914, serving in the 2nd and 4th Legions Infantry Regiment (Pułk Piechoty Legionów). Between the "oath crisis" of June 1917 and October 1918 he served in theAustro-Hungarian Army. At the end of theWorld War I he joined the rebornPolish Army, becoming the commander of an infantry company in the 4th Infantry Regiment. During thePolish–Soviet War, he gained fame as an able commander during theBattle of Lwów and received theVirtuti Militari medal.
After the war, he remained in the military and in 1923 he was promoted to the rank ofmajor, first serving on staff of the 15th Infantry Division of V District Corps Command inKraków. In 1930, he was promoted tolieutenant colonel and started his service as a commanding officer, first in the 6th Infantry Regiment and then in the 4th Infantry Regiment. Berling retired from active duty in June 1939 because of divorce problems and conflicts with his superiors.[2]
Berling did not participate in the Polish defence effort during theInvasion of Poland in 1939. After the city ofVilnius was occupied by theSoviet Union under the terms of theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Berling, along with many other Polish officers, was arrested by the Soviet secret police (NKVD). He remained in prison until 1940, first inStarobilsk and laterMoscow, eventually agreeing to cooperate with the Soviets.[3]
After theSikorski–Mayski agreement of 17 August 1941, Berling was nominated to be chief of staff of the recreated 5th Infantry Division, and later commander of the temporary camp for Polish soldiers inKrasnovodsk. Berling refused to leave the Soviet Union with the army led byWładysław Anders, of which Berling was formally a member. Along with two other officers, he was triedin absentia before an Anders' Army court which sentenced them to death.[3] The sentence was vacated by GeneralKazimierz Sosnkowski, the Polish commander-in-chief of forces loyal to theLondon government in exile.
From 1940, Berling had been involved in efforts to create a Polish division in the Soviet Union, at first within the SovietRed Army. In September 1942 and during the following months, he andWanda Wasilewska appealed toJoseph Stalin for permission to establish the Polish division. On 8 April 1943, Berling proposed the establishment of a new Polish army; permission was granted after the break in Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations.[4]
In May 1943, thecommunist-ledPolish People's Army was created in the Soviet Union. It was a new formation ofPolish Armed Forces in the East. Berling was nominated to be the commander of its first unit, the1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division, and was promoted to general by Stalin.[4] He became the overall deputy commander of the Polish Army on theEastern Front on 22 July 1944.
On 1 August 1944, the underground PolishHome Army, loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in London, began the 63-day longWarsaw Uprising, an attempt to free the city from the occupyingGerman forces before the arrival of the Red Army. On 15–23 September, when the uprising was in its later phase, with hisFirst Polish Army on the east bank of theVistula River and thePraga district ofWarsaw already secured, Berling led a rescue effort that involved crossing the Vistula and establishing abridgehead on the west bank. The failed operation, possibly not fully consulted with Berling's Soviet military superiors, resulted in heavy Polish Army casualties and may have caused Berling's dismissal from his post soon thereafter.[5] He was transferred to theWar Academy in Moscow, where he remained until his return to Poland in 1947. In Poland, Berling organized and directed theŚwierczewski General Staff Academy. He retired from the military in 1953.
Zygmunt Berling held a variety of government positions after 1953. Between 1953 and 1956, he was Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of National Agriculture Industries (Ministerstwo Państwowych Gospodarstw Rolnych), between 1956 and 1957 he was Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture (Ministerstwo Rolnictwa) and from 1957 to 1970 he was General Inspector of Hunting (Inspektor Generalny Łowiectwa) in the Ministry of Forestry (Ministerstwo Leśnictwa). In 1963, he joined thePolish United Workers' Party.
He is buried atPowązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.
Chorąży (Standard-bearer) - 20 August 1915
Podporucznik (Second lieutenant) - 1 November 1916
Porucznik (First lieutenant) - 1918
Kapitan (Captain) - 1920
Major (Major) - 31 March 1924
Podpułkownik (Lieutenant colonel) - 1932
Pułkownik (Colonel) - 1 May 1943
Generał brygady (Brigadier general) - 10 August 1943
Generał dywizji (Major general) - 22 July 1944
Generał broni (Lieutenant general) - 7 October 1963Polish People's Republic:_BAR.svg)
Order of the Builders of People's Poland
Grand Cross of theOrder of Polonia Restituta
Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Silver Cross of theVirtuti Militari
Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st class)
Order of the Cross of Grunwald (3rd class)
Order of the Banner of Labour (1st class), twice
Order of the Banner of Labour (2nd class)
Cross of Valour_2r_BAR.svg)
Cross of Valour, twice
Gold Cross of Merit
Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945
Cross of Independence
BronzeMedal of Merit for National Defence
Soviet Union:
