Bronisław Bohatyrewicz
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Bronisław Bohatyrewicz
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| Born | February 24, 1870 Grodno, Grodno Governorate |
| Died | 1940 Katyn, Soviet Union |
| Allegiance | Poland |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
Bronisław Bohatyrewicz of Ostoja (1870–1940) was a Polish military commander and a general of the Polish Army. Murdered during the Katyn massacre, Bohatyrewicz was one of the Generals whose bodies were identified by forensic scientists of the Katyn Commission during the 1943 exhumation.
Life
Born February 24 or April 24, 1870 (sources differ)[1] in Grodno in a noble family being part of the Clan of Ostoja, Bohatyrewicz joined the Imperial Russian Army, where he received officers training.[1] In September 1918 he joined the Polish Army. He started as the commanding officer of Belarusian self-defence units in Grodno during the opening stages of the Russian Civil War and then the Polish-Bolshevik War.[2] Successful in the battle of Grodno, in 1919 he became the commander of the Polish 81st Infantry Regiment. After the war he continued his career in the army and received further training in the Higher War School in Warsaw. Between 1923 and 1926 he commanded the infantry units of the Polish 18th Infantry Division and the following year he was promoted to the rank of generał brygady and retired from active duty.[1]
Katyn
After the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Bohatyrewicz was arrested by the NKVD[3] and imprisoned in Kozelsk[4][5] in the Soviet Union. He was murdered in Katyn in the spring of 1940, aged seventy, during the Katyń massacre.[6][7] Among the Katyn victims were 14 Polish generals including Leon Billewicz, Xawery Czernicki (admiral), Stanisław Haller, Aleksander Kowalewski, Henryk Minkiewicz, Kazimierz Orlik-Łukoski, Konstanty Plisowski, Rudolf Prich (murdered in Lviv), Franciszek Sikorski, Leonard Skierski, Piotr Skuratowicz, Mieczysław Smorawiński and Alojzy Wir-Konas (promoted posthumously).[8]
Honours and awards
- Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari
- Cross of Valour - four times
- Silver Cross of Merit
- Merit Cross for Forces in Central Lithuanian
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Anna Cienciala (ed.), Katyn A Crime Without Punishment Yale, 2007 ISBN 978-0-300-10851-4. Page 386.
- ↑ Гарадзенцам пакажуць фільм «Катынь»: Ён нарадзіўся ў Гродне ў беларускай шляхецкай сям’і, у 1918‑1919 гадах арганізаваў і ўзначаліў аддзел мясцовай самаабароны, які потым быў пераўтвораны ў нацыянальную беларуска‑літоўскую дывізію. (Nasha Niva)
- ↑ Stanoslaw Swianiewicz In the Shadow of Katyn Witold, 2004 ISBN 1-894255-16-X Page 233
- ↑ J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest Notre Dame, 1962 Page 145
- ↑ The Crime of Katyn Polish Cultural Foundation, 1989 ISBN 0-85065-190-5 Page 18
- ↑ J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest Notre Dame, 1962 Page 23
- ↑ Allen Paul Katyn Naval Institute, 1996 ISBN 1-55750-670-1 Page 208
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.; Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.; Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.; Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.; Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.; Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.; Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- 1870 births
- 1940 deaths
- People from Grodno
- People from Grodno Governorate
- Polish generals
- Polish military personnel of World War II
- Katyn massacre victims
- Polish prisoners of war
- World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union
- Silver Crosses of the Virtuti Militari
- Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland) four times
- Recipients of the Silver Cross of Merit (Poland)
- Clan of Ostoja
- Belarusian people executed by the Soviet Union
