Wladyslaw Raginis
Władysław Raginis (born June 27, 1908 in Dünaburg , Latvia , † September 10, 1939 near Wizna ) was a Polish captain in the army in the first days of World War II .
Raginis became known as the commander of the fortification line at Wizna during the German invasion of Poland, and there he offered resistance to the German armed forces for three days. The positions of his units were among others from the German 10th Panzer Division under General Ferdinand Schaal and the XIX. Armored Corps attacked by General Guderian . During the entire duration of the fight from September 8 to 10, 1939, the Polish positions were also attacked by the German air force. The strength of the German units is put at 42,000 soldiers and 350 tanks. The German army also had enormous artillery and air support. In contrast, there were only 720 Polish defenders, who were comparatively weakly armed, because the Poles had only six light artillery pieces, 42 machine guns and two armor-piercing rifles at their disposal. The Polish positions were taken by the Germans on September 10th after bitter fighting. The German advance in this area was considerably delayed by the enormous resistance. Captain Raginis' bunker fell as the last resistance. The Polish defenders only gave up when Guderian threatened to shoot hostages.
The commander of the position, who ordered his soldiers of the last bunker to surrender, while he himself remained in his position and with a hand grenade, killed three German soldiers storming the bunker and himself with a hand grenade , because he had his crew before , became the symbol of the defense Promise given that if he lost, he would not leave the position alive.
The defense of the Wizna position is characteristic of the beginning of the second war because of the balance of power. After the war, a memorial plaque was erected in honor of the defenders with the following text: “Tell the fatherland that we fought to the end and that we did our duty”.
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- Biography (polish)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Raginis, Wladyslaw |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Polish captain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 27, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Daugavpils , Latvia |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 10, 1939 |
| Place of death | at Wizna |