Jerzy Bordziłowski

Jerzy Bordziłowski (Alternative name: Yuri Vyacheslavovich Bordzilowskij , Russian Юрий Вячеславович Бордзиловский * 16th November 1900 in Ostrow Mazowiecka , Congress Poland , Russian Empire ; † 5. April 1983 in Moscow ) was a Soviet lieutenant general of the Red Army and Lieutenant General of the People's Army of the People's Republic of Poland who was chief of the general staff between 1954 and 1965 . He also acted from 1951 and 1953 as president of the football association PZPN ( Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej ) and from 1952 to 1956 a member of the Sejm as a representative of the Polish United Workers' Party PZPR ( Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza ) .

Life

Officer training and World War II

Bordziłowski, who spent his childhood in the Ukrainian city ​​of Cherson , began to study at the local Institute for Political Science in 1918 after attending school. However, he broke off this course a year later after joining the Red Army on September 1, 1919 to take part in the Polish-Soviet war on the Soviet side . He was transferred to Kiev , but returned to the front two months later and took part in the Russian Civil War. In September 1920 he began training at the Officers School of Engineering in Kiev, which he graduated in 1922. He then found various uses as an officer in the engineering troops of the Red Army and also began studying at the pioneer faculty of the Military Technical Academy in Moscow in 1928 , which he finished in 1931.

After further assignments as an officer in the engineering troops, Bordziłowski was during the Second World War in 1941 chief engineer officer of the 21st Soviet Army, with which he took part in the Battle of Smolensk from July 10 to September 10, 1941 . He was then from July to September 1942 chief engineer officer of the 64th Soviet Army and involved with this in the initial phase of the Battle of Stalingrad . In September 1942 he became chief engineer officer of the Red Army units deployed on the Voronezh Front and as such was promoted to major general of the engineering troops on October 1, 1942 . He subsequently took part in the Citadel operation from July 5 to 16, 1943 , in the Belgorod-Kharkov operation between August 3 and 23, 1943 , the so-called "Operation Rumyantsev" after Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Sadunaiski , Participated in the Battle of the Dnieper from August 20th to December 20th, 1943 . Most recently he was chief engineer officer of the 33rd Soviet Army from November 1943 to July 1944 and most recently a participant in Operation Bagration on the German-Soviet front .

Service in the Polish People's Army and Chief of the General Staff

In July 1944, Major General Bordziłowski was to serve in the result of the merger in 1943 established the Polish Armed Forces in the Soviet Union (Polskie Siły Zbrojne w ZSRR) with the Communist underground army Armia Ludowa incurred People's Army (Ludowe Wojsko Polskie) drafted. At first he was chief engineer officer of the 1st Army between September 24, 1944 and 1945 and as such was promoted to lieutenant general of the Soviet engineering troops on July 11, 1945 . From November 15, 1945 to January 1948, he worked first as chief engineer of the Polish People's Army and then between January 1948 and June 1952 as Inspector General of Engineers of the Polish People's Army.

In 1951 Andrzej Przeworski replaced PZPN ( Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej ) as president of the football association and held this position until he was replaced by Jan Rotkiewicz in 1953. On November 20, 1952, he was also appointed as a representative of the Polish United Workers' Party PZPR ( Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza ) Member of the Sejm , in which he represented constituency no. 51 Katowice until November 20, 1956 .

On March 23, 1954, Bordziłowski succeeded Division General Borys Pigarewicz as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the People's Republic of Poland (Siły Zbrojne Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej) and remained in this position for eleven years until he was replaced by Division General Wojciech Jaruzelski on February 5, 1965 was at the same time between June 21, 1954 and March 1968 Vice Minister for Defense and was promoted on July 7, 1954 to Colonel General of the Engineering Troops. His last position was between 1965 and 1968 as chief inspector of the military schools of the Polish People's Army before he returned to the Soviet Union in March 1968.

honors and awards

In the course of his military career, Bordziłowski received several awards and received from the People's Republic of Poland the highest Polish Order of Military Merit Virtuti Militari , the Order Odrodzenia Polski ( Grand Cross , Grand Officer , 2 × Commander , Officers Cross , Knight's Cross ), the Order of the Banner of Labor (Order Sztandaru Pracy) First class (2 x), the Order of the Cross of Grünwald (Order Krzyża Grunwaldu) Third class, the medal “For participating in the battles for Berlin” (Medal “Za udział w walkach o Berlin”), the medal of “Armed Forces in the Service of the Fatherland” (Medal “Siły Zbrojne w Służbie Ojczyzny”), the medal for “Services to the Defense of the Country” (Medal “Za zasługi dla obronności kraju”), the Cross of Brave (Krzyż Walecznych) , the Cross of Merit of the People's Republic of Poland in gold (Złoty Krzyż Zasługi) (2 x)

On the part of the Soviet Union he was awarded the Order of Lenin (2 x), the Order of the Red Banner (5 x), the Order of Kutuzov, Second Class, and the Order of the Great Patriotic War .

Web links

• Entry on the Sejm's homepage
• Entry in The Generals of WWII