Edward Rydz-Śmigły

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Marshal of Poland Edward Śmigły-Rydz
Śmigły-Rydz in 1937
General Inspector of the Armed Forces
In office 12 May 1935 – 7 November 1939
President	Ignacy Mościcki
Preceded by	Józef Piłsudski
Succeeded by	Władysław Sikorski
Personal details
Born	(1886-03-11)11 March 1886 occupied Poland
Domestic partner	Marta Thomas-Zaleska
Awards
Signature
Nickname(s)	Adam Zawisza, Tarłowski
Military service
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary (1910–1911), (1914–1917)  Second Polish Republic (1918–1939)
Branch/service	Austro-Hungarian Army Polish Legions Polish Army
Years of service	1910–1911 (Austro-Hungarian Army) 1914-1917 (Polish Legions) 1918–1939 (Polish Army)
Rank	Fähnrich (Austro-Hungarian Army) Lieutenant colonel (Polish Legions) Marshal of Poland (Polish Army)
Commands	C-i-C of the Polish Armed Forces
Battles/wars	World War I Battle of Laski and Anielin Battle of Łowczówek Battle of Konary Battle of Tarłów Battle of Kostiuchnówka Polish-Ukrainian War Polish-Soviet War Vilna offensive Battle of Daugavpils Kiev offensive (1920) Battle of Boryspil Battle of Warsaw (1920) Battle of the Niemen River World War II Invasion of Poland

Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz

Born in 1886, he came from humble beginnings and was raised by his maternal grandparents after he became an orphan at age 13. He graduated with distinctions from the local Gymnasium. He completed his studies in philosophy and history of art at the Jagiellonian University.

During the

When war loomed, political differences fell away and defense became the national priority. Consequently, Rydz's stature eclipsed even that of the president.[1] The shock of the Polish defeat made objective evaluations of his legacy during and after the war difficult; his reputation, very much tied to the critical early months of World War II, remains tendentious and controversial.

Edward Rydz was born in the city of

Rydz finished his military education with distinction and was offered a commission in the Imperial Army, which he declined. In 1912 he became a founder of the Polish paramilitary group, the Riflemen's Association (Związek Strzelecki). Concurrently he completed his art studies, regarded a talented landscape and portrait painter by professors and critics.

Early Military Career

Drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army in July 1914, Rydz was transferred in August to the

Polish Military Organization (POW) and adopted the nom de guerre Śmigły ("Swift", "Deft"), which he later officially added to his surname

.

In October 1918 Rydz joined Ignacy Daszyński's socialist government in Lublin as minister of war. Having been promoted to brigadier general, he emphasized that on accepting the ministerial post he was to be seen as a deputy of Piłsudski. It was at this time that he began using the dual surname Śmigły-Rydz. On 11 November 1918 the government relinquished power to Piłsudski, who became Provisional Head of State. After some hesitation, Piłsudski (though displeased at Śmigły-Rydz having worked with the socialists) confirmed his rank of brigadier general in the Polish army.

Military triumphs

During the

Gayk Bzhishkyan, which in the end retreated to East Prussia

to be interned by the Germans.

Army inspector 1921-1935

At the conclusion of the Polish-Soviet war, Rydz was appointed Inspector General of the Polish Army in the Wilno district and later in Warsaw. In November 1924, he informally headed the so-called strike of the generals, in which a group of Polish Army commanders resigned to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the lack of reaction of the Ministry of Military Affairs to the statements of General Franciszek Latinik that were unfavorable to former legionnaires. In 1926, during Piłsudski's May Coup, Rydz took the Marshal's side and sent troops from Wilno to reinforce anti-government troops in Warsaw. Piłsudski never forgot this fidelity, and in 1929, Rydz was appointed the Marshal's deputy on all matters concerning the East.

"Second Man" in the State

baton from President Ignacy Mościcki, Warsaw

, 10 November 1936.

On 13 May 1935, following Piłsudski's death, Rydz was nominated by the president and government of Poland to serve in the capacity of the

Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego

In March 1939,

On 1 September 1939, the

John Gunther wrote after Śmigły-Rydz and Beck were interned in Romania that "They ought, one might say, to have been interned somewhere else before".^[3] As the Commander-in-Chief of Polish Armed Forces, Śmigły-Rydz took complete responsibility for Poland's military defeat in September 1939. Rydz had proven himself an extremely able commander on smaller fronts in earlier wars, but was not an experienced strategist in a great conflict. Indeed, in 1922, in an evaluation of Polish generals, Piłsudski had written about him: "in operational work he displays healthy common sense and a lot of stubborn energy. I could recommend him to everybody as a commander of an army, I am however not sure if he possesses sufficient abilities to function as commander-in-chief in a war between two states."

During his internment in Romania, Śmigły-Rydz initiated the creation of a

Śmigły-Rydz was transferred from the internment camp to the villa of a former Romanian prime minister in Dragoslavele, from where he escaped on 10 December 1940 and crossed illegally into Hungary. His flight to Hungary and rumours about his planned return to Poland were a source of considerable displeasure to his rival Sikorski, now Prime Minister. Sikorski had been in opposition to Śmigły-Rydz and Piłsudski from the time of the 1926 May Coup. Sikorski declared in a telegram to General

Rydz was married to Marta Zaleska, née Thomas; they had no children.

Edward Śmigły-Rydz's reputation after World War II was generally negative. In the

In 2016 a large and detailed oil painting was discovered amongst the archives of the

Polish Decorations

• Order of the White Eagle
• Commander and Knight of Virtuti Militari
• Grand Cross, Grand Officer and Officer of Order of Polonia Restituta,
• Four times
  Cross of Valour, Golden Cross of Merit (Złoty Krzyż Zasługi), and Cross of Independence
  with Swords.

• Grand Cross of the
  Order of the Star of Romania
  ,
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy,
• Grand Cross of the French Order of the Legion of Honour,
• Grand Cross of the
  Order of Saint Sava of Yugoslavia,^[5]
• Grand Cross of the
  Hungarian Order of Merit
  ,
• Grand Cross of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun,
• Knight of Latvia's highest military award,
  Order of the Bearslayer), 2nd class,^[6]
• Pulaski Medal (USA)
• Italian Cross of Military Merit.

Rydz was Honorary Doctor of the Universities of Warsaw and (then-Polish) Vilnius and the Warsaw University of Technology, as well as an Honorary Citizen of several Polish cities.

Tributes

• 
  Self-portrait, 1906
• 
  Autumn mountain landscape, 1910
• 
  Old Church in Zakopane, oil painting, 1910
• 
  Winter landscape from Olcza, 1910
• 
  Self-portrait, 1935

• On military tactics and theory
• Walka na bagnety (Bayonet Fight), Lwów 1914;
• W sprawie polskiej doktryny (Poland's Military Doctrine), Warsaw 1924;
• Kawaleria w osłonie (Cavalry in protection of troops), Warsaw 1925;
• Byście o sile nie zapomnieli - Rozkazy, Artykuły, Mowy (Do not forget the Might – Orders, Articles and Speeches), Warsaw 1936;
• Wojna polsko-niemiecka (The Polish-German War), Budapest 1941.
• Dążąc do końca swoich dróg (Toward My Path's End), Paris, 1947; London, 1989.
• Illustrations to Piłsudski's book 22 January 1863, Lwów 1920; Contributions to Art Exhibitions in Kraków (1916) and Warsaw (1917). Most of his paintings are lost.

• Coat of arms of Ryc
• Cult of Edward Rydz-Śmigły

Further reading

• Cepnik, Kazimierz Wódz Naczelny i Marszałek Polski Edward Śmigły-Rydz, Życie i Czyny, Lwów, 1937.
• Eckert,Marian. Historia polityczna Polski lat 1918–1939. Warsaw, 1989.
• Jabłonowski, Marek,i Stawecki, Piotr. Następca komendanta. Edward Śmigły-Rydz. Materiały do biografii. Pułtusk,1998
• Jędruszczak,Hanna, and Tadeusz Jędruszczak. Ostatnie lata Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej (1935–1939), Warsaw, 1970.
• Kaden-Bandrowski,Juliusz. Piłsudczycy, (The Piłsudskiites), Oświęcim, 1916;
• Mirowicz, Ryszard. Edward Śmigły-Rydz: działalność wojskowa i polityczna, Warsaw, 1988.
• Pepłoński,Andrzej Wywiad a dyplomacja II Rzeczypospolitej, Toruń, 2004.
• Piłsudski,Józef. Pisma zbiorowe, Warsaw: 1937.
• Seidner, Stanley S., "The Camp of National Unity: An Experiment in Domestic Consolidation," The Polish Review vol. xx, nos. 2–3, 1975, pp. 231–236.
• Seidner,Stanley S., "Reflections from Rumania and Beyond: Marshal Śmigły-Rydz Rydz in Exile," The Polish Review vol. xxii, no. 2, 1977, pp. 29–51.
• Seidner, Stanley S. Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz Rydz and the Defense of Poland, New York, 1978.
• Serwatka, Tomasz. "Edward Śmigły-Rydz," Gazeta:Historia mało znana,(January) 2007,[1]
• Stachiewicz, Wacław. Wierności dochować żołnierskiej, Warsaw, 1998.
• Zaremba, Paweł. Historia Dwudziestolecia 1918–1939, (A History of the Twenty Years, 1918–1939), 2 vols., Paris, 1967.

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Edward Rydz-Śmigły in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Military offices
Preceded by Józef Piłsudski	General Inspector of the Armed Forces 1935–1939	Succeeded by Władysław Sikorski

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