Michał Sokolnicki (General)

Michał Sokolnicki

Michał Sokolnicki (born September 29, 1760 in Wierzeja , Gmina Duszniki, † September 24, 1816 in Warsaw ) was a Polish general and military engineer in the French army, as well as the author of several scientific dissertations.

Life

He was born as the son of Franciszek Sokolnicki and Urszula. Poklatecka was born into a noble Polish family. Until 1777 he was taught by the French priest Jan Courieu with a focus on mathematics and history. In the years 1777–1779 he studied at the cadet school ( Akademia Szlachecka Korpusu Kadetów ) in Warsaw. With particular zeal he devoted himself to the study of military engineering and fortress construction and graduated from school with the rank of lieutenant . In the years 1780–1781 he was at the court of the magnate August Kazimierz Sułkowski in Rydzyna , where he became acquainted with his nephew Jozef Sułkowski . There he did his first engineering work. This consisted of digging a canal that drained the marshy area in the winter season, freezing the ground. In the years 1781–1787 he traveled abroad, probably to improve his knowledge in field and civil engineering. 1789 founded the rank of Major with Colonel Jakub Jasinski , the Vilna Corps of Engineers and lectured on technical design. In addition to his work in the topographic office in Vilnius , he was a member of the Congregation for Safeguarding the New Government Constitution. In 1791 he was sent to Saxony to carry out studies in the field of hydrography and military engineering, the results of which he presented in a special report to the military commission in 1792, which then led to his promotion to lieutenant colonel .

In the struggle for freedom 1792–1794

In 1792, while the struggle for freedom was beginning, he was appointed quartermaster general of the Lithuanian army and was involved in building fortifications, artillery posts and warehouses. In June 1792 he built a floating bridge in Grodno in the form of an arch over the river, over which the Polish army could withdraw with its artillery. During the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794, he was in the rank of colonel and commanded a cavalry regiment. He took part in the defense of Warsaw against the Prussians and then fought under Jan Henryk Dąbrowski in the battles near Kamionna. He took part in the occupation of Bydgoszcz and invaded the suburbs of Thorn with his troops . Then he fought in General Sierakowski's division while he was retreating. During the surrender talks in Radoszyce , he was promoted to major general on November 13 , but this rank was not recognized. On December 24th, he was brought to Saint Petersburg and imprisoned with the Warsaw Presidents Ignacy Zakrzewski , Ignacy Potocki , Tadeusz Mostowski and Jan Kiliński . After the death of Tsarina Catherine II , he was able to leave unfree exile and escorted Zakrzewski, who was sick, through Volhynia to his estate in Inelechow. During this time, Sokolnicki's personal ambition became apparent, as well as the intention of marrying Marianna Zakrzewska, who later became his brother's wife - Jan Nepomucen. In September 1797 he traveled with Józef Mostowski and Władysław Jabłonowski via Poznań and Leipzig to Paris .

With the Polish Legion

In view of the failure of the plans to found his own Polish Legion, he offered his services to Dąbrowskis. At the beginning of 1800 he was appointed chief of staff , then adjutant to the commandant, in March he was appointed chief of the brigade and, after the death of Colonel Gawroński, he was appointed deputy commander of the Polish Legion . In addition to the formal commander General Kniaziewicz , he carried out all duties of an active commander in the Legion. He then fought with the French troops in the war against Austria (battles near Offenbach, Philipsburg, Sankt Christoph, and Gars). After the peace he accompanied the Polish Legion to winter quarters in the Krems Valley in 1801 and moved to his headquarters in Kremsmünster , where he spent his free time in the local abbey . After the order to leave the Danube region, he left the winter quarters in Austria and marched to Strasbourg , but on the way to Augsburg received the order to go to Italy. The Legion crossed Switzerland , reached Turin and marched via Milan into Tuscany . General Sokolnicki was called to Lyon , where General Dąbrowski had established his headquarters at that time. Instead of the resigned General Wielgorski, he was to be added to the list of officers of the General Staff of the Polish Corps as Général de brigade . The consul Bonaparte agreed to this appointment, but an illness prevented Sokolnicki from marching off with the Danube Legion. Until the reorganization of the Legion in 1803, Sokolnicki remained in Italy, where he dealt with scientific topics and new publications. In 1804 he was appointed a member of the Academic Society of Sciences. In the winter of 1806 Napoleon carried out the campaign to Pułtusk . In 1807 he took over the leadership of the first brigade of the 3rd Legion of the Polish Army with the rank of brigadier general, with which he fought in Pomerania ( Danzig - Neufahrwasser - Weichselmünde ). Under his leadership, Stolp was conquered by February 19, 1807 , and on April 19, by order of Napoleon, he was awarded the Legion of Honor . On August 1, 1808, he received the final royal patent, which made him Brigadier General of the Duchy of Warsaw . In January 1809 he became the commander of the cavalry brigade of the 3rd Polish Division and became governor of Krakow .

In the campaign of 1809 Sokolnicki took part in the course of the Polish-Austrian war under Poniatowski in the battle of Raszyn and the skirmishes near Falenty, Grochów (April 25) and together with General Rożniecki in the storming of Sandomierz (May 17). His victory at the Battle of Góra Kalwaria was crucial and enabled later successes.

By decree of August 14, 1809, he received the nomination for Major General of the Duchy of Warsaw and two days earlier, on August 12, the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honor. He took command of the First Brigade of the Zajączek Division in Lublin . During this time he developed close relationships with Stanisław Zamojski and Princess Izabela . On March 10, 1810 he received the rank of Général de division and rose to the command of the Radom military district .

In the same year he fell seriously ill, spent several months in Puławy and then went to Waldeck-Pyrmont for a cure . He used this treatment time for scientific studies that were published in Paris in 1812. (Including strategic and topographical studies on the defeat of the Roman legions under Varus near Lippstadt in the Teutoburg Forest). He visited Belgium , where, on the way to the museum, at the request of Princess Iszabella Zamoiski, he bought valuable items from the time of the revolution and secularization. By March 1811 he had sent around 30 consignments of pictures, engravings, Gothic stained glass windows and medallions to Puławy. Sokolnicki also traveled to Paris, where he presented Napoleon with the status of his campaign in 1800, the war of 1806 and the campaign of 1809. He was removed from the files of active officers in the Duchy of Warsaw because of his criticism of Joseph Poniatowski, using his unauthorized leave of absence as a pretext. He stayed in Paris, where he was engaged in scientific work. As an active member of Stowarzyszenie Akademickie Nauk and Towarzystwo Zachęty Naukowej , he presented his work in the field of technology and hydraulics. His demotion in the Duchy of Warsaw did not disturb his career in Paris, where he began strategic work on Napoleon's staff in connection with the prepared expedition to Russia. In doing so, he developed an unrealistic conceptual structure that already envisaged the rebuilding of the Kingdom of Poland.

During the Wars of Liberation

In the early summer of 1812 he accompanied Napoleon on his journey through Dresden , Poznań to Königsberg , where the emperor issued his last order to found the grand army . In Königsberg he was accepted into Napoleon's personal staff named Maison Militaire de l'Empereur under General Duroc . Sokolnicki led his own department for secret affairs, which mainly carried out political, topographical reconnaissance and intelligence work. On the way to Moscow, however, the emperor gave him increasingly important tasks and used him as a personal adjutant during the fighting near Smolensk , Borodino and near Moscow.

In the spring campaign of 1813 , Sokolnicki resumed his staff and reconnaissance work for the movements of the enemy armed forces, for which Napoleon sent him on a mission to Krakow . On June 7, 1813, Marshal Berthier ordered in Bunzlau that Sokolnicki had to make himself available for active service in the Polish corps. Sokolnicki was given command of the Polish 7th Light Cavalry Brigade, with which he operated against the Prussian-Russian troops in the Zittau , Löbau, Hohenstein, Colditz, Altenburg and Penig regions . At the beginning of October he commanded the 4th Cavalry Corps on behalf of General Kellermann's illness . In the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (October 16, 1813), two brigades of his corps covered the right wing of the French and carried out a series of counter-attacks that pushed the lines of Hungarian infantry back from the corps of the Prince of Hesse-Homburg. Then his cavalry took part in the attack on the enemy center by attacking the left wing. On the third day of the battle (October 18), his cavalry corps shielded the positions between Loessnig and Wachau . Sokolnicki stayed in November with the remnants of Polish troops, which were led by General Dąbrowski to Sedan . In 1814 he commanded the imperial honor guard together with General Wojczyński . On the orders of General Dąbrowski he took part with Colonel Szymanowski in a delegation to Fontainebleau to Napoleon and to Tsar Alexander I in Paris to secure the future of Poland. After his return, Sokolnicki was given the honorable mission of bringing the body of the last king back home. On the way to Nancy he took over the remains of King Stanislaus I Leszczyński , which had been desecrated several times but was already venerated as a relic in Poland . The coffin reached Warsaw via Poznań .

At this time, as a result of a Paris publication about the campaign at the end of the summer of 1814, indignation broke out, which critically examined the events of General Krukowiecki after the battle of Leipzig. General Sokolnicki, who was still in Paris, reported on the historical outlines of the campaign of 1813, taking into account the 7th Cavalry Division he led. A long and arduous legal process began, first in Paris, then in Warsaw, in which Sokolnicki and General Jan Krukowiecki faced each other as opposing parties. The trial was not complete until Sokolnicki's death. Before that he withdrew from public life and devoted himself again to scientific and written work. He lived in the Warsaw tenement house of the banker Isaac Ollier, where he also educated his two nephews Peter and Michał. Michal Sokolnickis died on September 24, 1816 as a result of an accident he had suffered the day before in Warsaw during the military parade on Sächsischer Platz . He was buried on September 26th in the catacombs of the Świętokrzyski Cemetery (closed in 1836).

literature

• К.А.Залесский: Наполеоновские войны 1799–1815 . Биографический энциклопедический словарь, Москва, 2003

Web links

• Biography on https: //web.archive.