Aleksander Waszkiewicz

Grave of Aleksander Waszkiewicz

Aleksander Waszkiewicz ( Russian Александр Вашкевич Alexander Waschkewitsch ; * 1901 in Białowieża , then Russian Empire ; † after April 21, 1945 ) was a Polish-Soviet major general of the Polish People's Army in World War II .

Life

Waszkiewicz was of Belarusian origin. He became a member of the Red Army in 1919 and took part in the Polish-Soviet War . He then attended the Army Academy in Smolensk and Moscow as an officer . After the beginning of the German-Soviet War he was the commander of various rifle regiments. In October 1943 he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for his services in the fighting on the Dnieper . He also received the Order of Lenin and rose to brigadier general . In September 1944, due to his now Polish birthplace, he became commander of the 5th Infantry Division of the 2nd Polish Army of the Polish People's Army. Alongside the Red Army, the division advanced into Germany in the spring of 1945. As part of Operation Lausitz , the Battle of Bautzen followed at the end of April . Waszkiewicz was wounded in the heavy fighting and on April 21 was captured by armored forces of the Wehrmacht near Tauer . He is said to have been tortured during interrogation in captivity and then shot dead. His body was found near Stiftswiese at the beginning of May and buried with full military honors in the war cemetery in Warsaw .

He was posthumously promoted to major general and awarded the Virtuti Militari .

literature

• Eberhard Berndt: The battles for Weißenberg and Bautzen in April 1945. Wölfersheim-Berstadt 1999.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fallen Soviet Generals: Soviet General Officers Killed in Battle, 1941-1945
2. ↑ Budziszyn 1945 - zapomniana bitwa (Polish)