Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz
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Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz | |
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in exile ) | |
Succeeded by | Piotra Krečeŭski (in exile) |
Personal details | |
Born | Polish Army | 10 February 1883
Rank | General |
Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz
Biography
Early life
Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz was born 10 February 1883 in
Following Stanisław's birth, his father left the landlord's service and acquired a small estate in Stakavievo near Vilnius.
After attending an agricultural school for four years in Belmontas, Bułak-Bałachowicz worked as an accountant, and in 1904 became a manager at the Count Plater's estates in Horodziec and Łużki.[1]
At the time, he had a reputation as a defender of the less fortunate and was often an arbitrator in disputes between the farmers and their landlord. As a result of these activities, he acquired the nickname "Daddy" (Bat'ka). His other nickname —"Bułak"— became part of his surname. It means 'cloud' (another source offering the translation 'a man who is driven by the wind') in the Belarusian language.[2]
World War I
After the outbreak of
During the German summer offensive of 1915, Warsaw was taken by the Central Powers and Bułak-Bałachowicz's unit was forced to retreat towards Latvia.
In November 1915, Bułak-Bałachowicz was assigned to the special partisan regiment in Northern front headquarters as a squadron commander. His regiment under the command of colonel Punin L. took action in the Riga area. For their audacious actions, partisans were nicknamed "Knights of Death".[2]
His unit was formed of four cavalry platoons: one of Cossack light cavalry, one of
For the German campaign, Bułak-Bałachowicz was decorated with six Russian decorations and three
Russian Civil War
On 5 March 1918, unaware of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed only two days before, Bułak-Bałachowicz's unit skirmished with a German unit near the village of Smolova. Although the enemy unit was severely defeated, forced to retreat and abandon its staff behind, Bułak-Bałachowicz was seriously wounded after being shot in the left lung. Transported to Saint Petersburg, he quickly recovered and rejoined with his brother Józef Bułak-Bałachowicz. The latter got involved in the creation of a Polish cavalry detachment commanded by ensign Przysiecki. The Bolsheviks disbanded the unit soon after its formation, executed its commander and started to persecute its members. However, with a help of the French military mission, a Polish cavalry detachment was finally created and Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz became its commander. The new unit received Leon Trotsky's recognition and was soon reinforced with non-Polish volunteers from all over Russia and was planned as a cavalry division of the Red Army.
Soon after its creation, Bułak-Bałachowicz was ordered to quell the "
, and he was soon thereafter promoted to lieutenant colonel.On 10 May 1919, Bałachowicz was given the command over an assault group and was ordered to drive it to the rear of the Bolshevik lines. Three days later his forces took the town of Gdov by surprise and on 29 May Bałachowicz entered Pskov. For this action, he was promoted to colonel by General Yudenich. Because of his victories, his subordinates (mostly Belarusian, Cossack, and Polish volunteers) nicknamed him "ataman", though some preferred to use the term Bat'ko – father.
Bułak-Bałachowicz became the military administrator of Pskov. He personally ceded most of his responsibilities to a municipal
However, once again Bułak-Bałachowicz evaded being captured. He handed over his division to his brother Józef and, together with 20 of his friends, left for Estonian-controlled Ostrov. There he once again created a partisan unit. With 600 men he broke through the Red Army front and started to disrupt its supply lines. Despite Yudenich's hostility towards Bułak-Bałachowicz, the latter cooperated with White Russian units during their counter-offensive in the autumn of 1919. His unit captured the railway node in Porkhov and broke the Pskov-Polotsk railroad, which added greatly to the White Russian's initial success. On 5 November 1919, his unit yet again entered the area between Pskov and Ostrov and destroyed the three remaining railway lines linking Pskov with the rest of Russia. However, Yudenich's army could not link up with the areas controlled by Bułak-Bałachowicz and their assault was finally broken.
On 22 January 1920, general Yudenich signed an order of dissolution of his badly beaten army. On 28 January 1920 general Bułak-Bałachowicz, together with several Russian officers, was arrested by the Estonian police. A large amount of money was found with him (roughly 227,000
Short service for the Belarusian Democratic Republic
Since 1918, Bałachowicz was in contact with the representatives of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (BDR) in the Baltic states. On 7 November 1919, the government of the BDR agreed to finance Bałachowicz's unit and on 14 November, Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz received his Belarusian citizenship and applied for official service for the Belarusian Democratic Republic. His unit was officially renamed to Special Unit of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in the Baltics (Belarusian: Асобны атрад БНР у Балтыі), received Belarusian uniforms and a seal. The unit issued its own field postal stamps and engaged in a few minor battles with the Bolsheviks.
Polish-Bolshevik War
In February 1920 Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz contacted
Transferred to
Formally independent, the division was one of the most successful units fighting in the ranks of the Polish Army during the Polish-Bolshevik War. The unit entered combat in late June 1920 in the area of
On 23 July 1920, during the Bolshevik offensive towards central Poland, general Bałachowicz's group started an organised retreat as a rearguard of the Polish 3rd Army. During that operation, Bułak-Bałachowicz abandoned the withdrawing Polish troops and stayed with his forces for several days behind the enemy lines only to break through to the Polish forces shortly afterwards. During the
On 15 September 1920 the unit was yet again advancing in pursuit of the withdrawing Red Army. That day the unit captured
Failed uprising in Belarus
In October Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz was stationed with his forces in Pinsk, where they received supplies and a large amount of former Red Army soldiers who were taken
On 2 November 1920, his units were renamed the
On 10 November 1920 Bułak-Bałachowicz entered
Representatives of Balachowicz participated in the organization and conduction of the
On 28 November the last organised unit under his command crossed the Polish border and was subsequently interned. The Soviet Russian government demanded that General Bułak-Bałachowicz be handed over to them and tried for high treason. The
Interbellum
Shortly after the
In 1923, there were false reports of his death in the local Polish press; supposedly, he had been murdered by White Russians in the Bialowieża Woods. The Jewish Telegraph Agency remarked on his reported passing: "The murder of this ruthless insurrectionary and counter-revolutionary leader brings an end to the career of a bloodthirsty pogromist," referring to a February 1921 report by the Federation of Ukrainian Jews, that more than 1000 Jews in Minsk and Gomel were killed by Balachowitz's men.[8]
World War II
During the
After the capitulation of Warsaw, general Bułak-Bałachowicz (formally retired) evaded being captured by the Germans and returned to civilian life. At the same time, he was the main organiser of Konfederacja Wojskowa (Military Confederation), one of the first underground resistance groups in German and Soviet-occupied Poland. In early 1940 the Gestapo found out his whereabouts. He was surrounded by a group of young conspirators in a house in Warsaw's borough of Saska Kępa and arrested by the Germans. According to the most common version, Bułak-Bałachowicz was shot by Gestapo agents on 10 May 1940, in the Warsaw centre, on the intersection between Francuska and Trzeciego Maja streets.[4]
For his resistance against Bolshevik forces that killed local Belarusian peasantry, members of the Belarusian minority in Poland regard him as their national hero.[9] [citation needed][4][5][10]
Honours and awards
- Cross of St. George, 4th class
- Medal of St. George, 4th class
- Cross of Valour (Poland)
- Cross of Valour of the Bułak-Bałachowicza Army
Notes and references
- ^ Belarusian: Станіслаў Булак-Балаховіч, Russian: Станисла́в Була́к-Балахо́вич
- In-line:
- ^ a b Bułak-Bałachowicz S.N. "General Bułak-Bałachowicz on his deeds: how it was in reality? // Civil war archive. Berlin, 1923
- ^ a b New Historical Herald, 2002, # 2
- ^ The nationality of Bułak-Bałachowicz was a matter of dispute even during the war. Józef Piłsudski described him with the following words: Today he's a Pole, tomorrow he'll be a Russian, the day after – a Belarusian and the following day perhaps an African.; as cited in: Cabanowski, op.cit.
- ^ a b c Mashko VV. Bułak-Bałachowicz Stanislaw Nikodimovicz (1883–1940). Novyi Istoricheskii Vestnik, 2002, No. 2 (7)
- ^ a b Raphael Mahler. Review: A Thousand Years of Pinsk. The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 34, No. 1 (July 1943), pp. 109–115. Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
- ^ Józef Jaklicz (2016). "Wspomnienia żołnierskie i listy z frontu. 2. Listy do żony". A więc wojna! Kampania wrześniowa 1939 oraz inne pisma i wspomnienia. Bellona. p. 188.
8.8.1920 [...] Przez dwie doby piłem z gen. Bałachowiczem. Jest to człowiek bez ideologii, zbój i morderca i takich samych ma towarzyszy – podkomendnych. Jest to dywizja, która swego czasu przeszła na naszą stronę, składająca się z Rosjan, Szwedów, Finów. Nie znają pardonu i przypominają barbarzyńców... Przy mnie rzucali mu pod nogi (Batce, jak go nazywają) głowy bolszewików ścięte szablami. Jeśli coś mu się nie podoba u jego oficerów lub żołnierzy, to osobiście ich strzela przed frontem, lub każe się samym wieszać. Spełniają to bez oporu, patrzą mu w oczy jak psy. Piłem z nim całą noc dzisiejszą, a rano on z grupą swoją, a ja z pułkiem poszliśmy na wypad. Masakra bolszewików była straszna. Pięciokrotnie większe zmasowane siły bolszewickie rozbiliśmy i zmusiliśmy do ucieczki. [...]
- ISBN 978-83-7666-412-5.
- ^ "Bulakiewitch, Pogromist and Insurrectionery, Killed By His Countrymen". No. Vol. IV #117. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. JTA. 15 June 1923. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
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has extra text (help) - ^ Aleksy Moroz (December 2004). "Dzień Bohaterów na Białostocczyźnie". Niwa (in Polish) (2004–12–09). Archived from the original on 9 October 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-7065-1327-1, p. 133-4.
- General:
- Rafał Berger (2001). "Generał Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz". Koło tradycji wojskowej generała Stanisława Bułak-Bałachowicza (in Polish). Retrieved 24 June 2006.
- Marek Cabanowski (2000). Generał Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz: zapomniany bohater (Bułak-Bałachowicz, a Forgotten Hero) (in Polish). Grodzisk Mazowiecki: Ośrodek Kultury. ISBN 83-904339-5-8. (review)
- Oleg Łatyszonek (1990). "Generał Bułak-Bałachowicz w wojnie 1920 r". Sybirak (in Polish). 2 (5): 7–12.
- Jarosław Tomasiewicz. "Ostatnia wojna pierwszej Rzeczypospolitej". Zakorzenienie (in Polish) (Wszystkie dzieci Rzeczpospolitej). Retrieved 24 June 2006.
- Tomasz Paluszyński, Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz w estońskiej wojnie narodowo-wyzwoleńczej w latach 1918–1919, w: Poznańskie Zeszyty Humanistyczne, t. VI, Poznań 2006, s. 81–99.
- Tomasz Paluszyński, Przejście oddziału generała Stanisława Bułak-Bałachowicza z Estonii do Polski (marzec 1920 roku), w: Polska i Europa w XIX-XX wieku. Studia historyczno-politologiczne, red. J. Kiwerska, B. Koszek, D. Matelski, Poznań 1992, s. 109–124.
- Janusz Cisek, Białoruskie oddziały gen. Stanisława Bułak-Bałachowicza w polityce Józefa Piłsudskiego w okresie wojny polsko-nolszewickiej (marzec-grudzień 1920). Rozprawa doktorska napisana w 1993 r. w Instytucie Historii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego pod kierunkiem prof. Wojciecha Wrzesińskiego.
- Pantalejmon Simanskij, Kampania białoruska Rosyjskiej Armii Ludowo-Ochotniczej gen. S. Bułak-Bałachowicza w 1920 r., w: "Bellona", t. XXXVII, 1931, s. 196–232.
- Marek Cabanowski, Generał Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz. Zapomniany bohater, Warszawa 1993, s. 204.
- Oleg Łatyszonek, Białoruskie formacje wojskowe 1917–1923, Białystok 1995.
- Oleg Łatyszonek Spod czerwonej gwiazdy pod biały krzyż, w: Zeszyty Naukowe Muzeum Wojska", nr 6, Białystok 1992.
- Zbigniew Karpus, Oleg Łatyszonek, Życiorys gen. Stanisława Bułak-Bałachowicza, w: Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne (Białystok), 1995, nr 2 (4), s. 160–169.
- Zbigniew Karpus, Wschodni Sojusznicy Polski w wojnie 1920 roku. Oddziały wojskowe ukraińskie, rosyjskie, kozackie i białoruskie w Polsce w latach 1919–1920, Toruń 1999.
See also
- List of unsolved murders
- Polish Defensive War