Antoni Heda

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Antoni Heda
Nickname(s)Szary (Gray)
Born11 October 1916
Małomierzyce, Poland
Died15 February 2008(2008-02-15) (aged 91)
Years of service1937–1939
RankBrigadier General
Battles/warsWorld War II, Anti-Soviet resistance
AwardsVirtuti Militari Virtuti Militari Cross of the Valorous
2005
Plaque commemorating general Antoni Heda at Gdynia Chylonia train station. Here he was arrested by communist Ministry of Public Security.

Antoni Heda (11 October 1916 – 15 February 2008) was a Polish military commander and a notable veteran of the

codename
was "Szary" (Grey).

Early life and activities at the beginning of the Second World War

Antoni Heda was born in 1916 in the village of

Polish Army
in 1937, he was dispatched to the Reserve Officer School (Szkoła Podchorążych Rezerwy). Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he was demobilized and started working for the State Arms Works at Starachowice.

Mobilized prior to the outbreak of the

Brześć Fortress. After the outbreak of a Nazi-Soviet war
when the prison was taken over by the Germans, he managed to escape from the prison camp.

Underground activities during the Second World War

Heda returned to his home area and joined the ranks of the

Holy Cross Mountains), he became a notable resistance leader after his raid on the Gestapo prison in Starachowice. Out of 80 political prisoners liberated from there, 60 decided to join the resistance and thus Heda formed a permanent partisan unit stationed in the forests of the area. He then joined the partisan unit of Jan Piwnik
Ponury, one of the most successful partisan commanders of World War II.

Heda took part in a variety of actions against the Germans in occupied Poland, among the best known are:

  • Raid on the German prison in Iłża on 6 August 1943.
  • Disarming of a 45 men strong unit of the Wehrmacht stationed in Pakosław near Iłża on 15 September 1943.
  • Action against the village of Gozdawa near Sienno, which had been cleansed of their Polish inhabitants and then settled with Germans; the action took place on 23 September 1943.
  • March 1944 assault on the Starachowice Arms Works, in which the partisans dressed in German uniforms secured the entire factory, seized its treasury and secured several hundred pieces of arms.
  • Battle of Jeleniec of 1 April 1944, in which the partisans managed to defeat a considerable German force that was trying to ambush them.
  • Raid on Końskie on 5 and 6 June 1944, in which the partisans secured the entire city and set free the prisoners of a local prison.

During Operation Tempest Heda's unit was attached to the 2nd battalion of the Polish 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment under Capt. Stanisław Poręba Świątek and took part in battles of Radoszyce, Trawniki and Szewce.

Anti-Soviet resistance

After the Soviet-backed

Smersh
prison in Kielce overnight of 4 August 1945. As a result, the partisans managed to liberate several hundred political prisoners, mostly former members of the Home Army.

Heda was using a false identity (Antoni Wiśniewski) but the

Gdynia Chylonia railway station. Imprisoned at Rakowiecka and later in Rawicz and Wronki
, Heda was sentenced to death on 7 consecutive charges, but his sentence was later changed to life imprisonment.

After the end of

martial Law in Poland
.

After Poland managed to get back its independence from the

Riflemen Union, a paramilitary youth organization. He participated in Polish political life. In 1997 he spoke against adoption of a new Polish Constitution (created by post-Communist Democratic Left Alliance) by saying: "is against the Polish nation, it is for atheists and communistic masons."[1]

On 3 May 2006 he was promoted to the rank of

generał brygady (he received the nomination in 2004 and accepted it in 2006). For his service he also received the highest of Polish military awards, Virtuti Militari (4th and 5th class), as well as the Cross of Valour
(Krzyż Walecznych) and other decorations.

He described his life in two books: Wspomnienia Szarego (Szary's Memoires) and Szary przeciw zdrajcom Polski (Szary against traitors of Poland).

General Antoni Heda died in Warsaw on 15 February 2008. His funeral took place on 21 February 2008, starting with a Funeral Mass at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army celebrated by Fr. Bishop Maj-Gen.

Lech Kaczynski posthumously awarded him the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
, "for outstanding contribution to the independence of the Polish Republic". Heda was buried beside his wife in the family grave in the parish cemetery.

References

  1. ^ Cole, David H. (1998). "Poland's 1997 Constitution in Its Historical Context". St. Louis- Warsaw Transatlantic L.J.
  • (in Polish) Antoni Heda ps."Szary" Short bio on Starachowice city page. Last accessed on 24 June 2006.
  • (in Polish) Antoni Heda Short bio on Iłża city page. Last accessed on 24 June 2006.

Further reading

  • Antoni Heda, Wspomnienia Szarego (Szary's Memoires), Warszawa 1991
  • Antoni Heda, Szary przeciw zdrajcom Polski (Szary against traitors of Poland)

External links

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