The count fought for Poland his entire life. He remained faithful until the end

General Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki. Photo: Private archives

In the army of the tsar and the Polish Corps

Konstanty was the son of Count Hieronim Drucki-Lubecki. He was born in March 1893 in the family estate of Porochońsk. In 1914, he graduated from the Aleksandrov academy in St. Petersburg. Later on, he finished the Nicholas cavalry officer school. At first, he served in the 17th regiment of Nizhegorod Hussars, part of the 1st Caucasian cavalry division. As part of the 4th Caucasian corps, Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki, took part in the Alashkert defensive operation which was supposed to halt the attack of the 3rd army of the Ottoman Empire. On October 8th, 1915, he was awarded with the order of Saint Anna (IV degree) which carried the inscription “for bravery”. The 18th of November he received the order of Saint Stanislaus (III degree with swords and a bow). In December 1915, the cornet Drucki-Lubecki was transferred to the Akhtyrsky 12th Hussar Regiment, part of the 2nd brigade of the 12th Russian cavalry division. In 1916, he was a frontline scout and participated in the famous Brusilov offensive. In one of the battles, he was injured and evacuated to Kyiv. In June of 1917 he was awarded with the Order of Saint Stanislau (II degree with swords). Later, in November, he received the Cross of Saint Georgie (IV degree) for his contributions in the fight against the enemy.

In 1917, the count was accepted into the service of the Polish squadron led by Captain Konstanty Plisowski (the future commander of the Brest fortress in September 1939). In the spring of 1918, he was moved to the 3rd Ulan regiment of the 1st Polish Corps in Babrujsk in today’s Belarus. It was Count Drucki-Lubecki that was the liason officer between the Polish soldiers in Odesa and the 1st Polish Corps in Belarus. The newspaper Żołnierz Polski (Polish soldier), that was published in Babrujsk retold on April 26th 1918 that “Then we reached the Kyiv-Koziatyn railway line. It was here that Lieutant Count Drucki-Lubecki repelled the outnumbering Bolshevik forces and saved the squadron from annihilation”. On May 28th 1918, the command of the 1st Polish Corps stationed in the Babrujsk fortress, ordered to hand out honorary ribbons to the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Ułan regiment that showed great bravery in the battles against the Bolsheviks at Zhlobin, Zabalaccie and Krasny Bierah. Followed by the crossing from Odesa to Babrujsk. Number seventeen on that list was Count Drucki-Lubecki. In June of 1922, the Minister of Military affairs of the Second Polish Republic Kazimierz Sosnowski, changed this into the Cross of Valour.

Fighting for the Second Polish Republic

During the Polish-Bolshevik war Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki commanded the Polish units of the Wilno self-defence. In 1920, as part of the 3rd squadron of the 13th Ułan regiment, he served on the demarcation line with Lithuania. This was followed by engagement in the battles against the Bolsheviks in Berezina and the counter-offensive from Warsaw in August 1920. The cavalry soldiers led by Drucki-Lubecki reached Koydanava (today’s Dziarzhynsk) and moved their forward scouting in the direction of Minsk. After bloody battles the soldiers of the count reached Pryluky. On the October 29th 1921, Drucki-Lubecki was awarded with the Virtutti Military Cross (V degree) for this operation. In 1920 the captain took part in the so-called Żeligowski Mutiny that resulted in the creation of the Republic of Central Lithuania, that later became part of Poland proper.

Interbellum years

In July of 1922, Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki was nominated for the Cross of Merit of the Central Lithuanian Military. He would receive it only in October 1923. In 1922 he was transferred to the 23rd Grodno Ułan regiment where he became a major. In October 1923, he enrolled into the Higher War School before marrying the Countess Maria Antonina Krasińska. They had two daughters – Teresa (born 1925) and Elżbieta (born 1929). In 1925 Count Konstanty received the French War Medal of 1914-1918, which was followed by the highest French order – Legion of Honour in 1936. Drucki-Lubecki graduated with an officer’s diploma of the General Staff. From April 1929 to April 1932, he would command the 2nd Cavalry regiment.

In the 1930s the count lectured at the Centre for Cavalry training in Grudziądz. Then, he was the head of the department of tactics at the Higher War School. Drucki-Lubecki authored the Lecture on the history of the World War 1914-198 (Grudziądz 1927) and the textbook Cavalry Tactics (Warsaw 1934). In 1933 he received the Medal of Independence for his service with the 1st Polish Corps. After six years in military education, he was made the deputy commander of the Wilno Cavalry Brigade in 1938. From August he would command this military organization.

Military ID of Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki. Photo: Private archives

During the September Campaign

“Pray for your husband and father. Ask God that he will fulfil his duties with honour. […] Will there be war, will the peace last? I don’t know. But I believe in our victory” – Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki wrote in a letter to his wife on August 28th 1939. His daughter, Teresa Dangel, reminisced in an interview in Rzeczpospolita that a few days before the outbreak of war, August 28th or 29th 1939, the colonel departed for a new assembly point of the brigade. “A green uniform, officer’s boots, belt and a rogatywka. Father kissed us and told us not to worry”, his daughter remembered.

During the September Campaign of 1939, the Wilno Cavalry Brigade under the command of Colonel Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki was part of the “Prusy” army group. It took part in heavy fighting against the Germans next to Piotrków Trybunalski. On September 6th 1939, the 23rd Grodno Ulan regiment lost contact with the brigade command. Two other regiments: the 4th Zaniemeński Ulan regiment and the 13th Wilno Ulan regiment began their withdrawal towards the Vistula region. Polish cavalry had heavy losses because of German bombing raids targeting the roads. The Ulans of Drucki-Lubecki withdrew through Maciejowice – the town where Tadeusz Kościuszko, the hero of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was taken into Russian captivity in 1794. In 1939 the Polish soldiers defended the crossing in Maciejowice. The situation became critical, and Drucki-Lubecki decided to join up with the Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade under the command of General Władysław Anders. A unified cavalry brigade was formed as the remainder of the Kresy brigade would join up with the Wilno brigade.

During the withdrawal towards the Romanian border on September 26th 1939, the colonel was severely injured near the village of Leszczesna and taken into captivity by the Soviets. “Our sappers in Leszczesna fought back for around 30 minutes after which the soldiers on the western side managed to get on their horses and dash towards Rogóźno. The second unit led by the colonel surrendered following long negotiations with the Bolshevik political commissar.” This was underlined in the memoirs of the certificated Colonel Jerzy Grabicki, the commander of the unified cavalry brigade.

Victim of Soviet repression

The bullet of the Red Army soldier went through the cheek of the officer and damaged his jaw. The injured count was first kept in a hospital, then moved to a prison in Sambor. He would write his final letter home from there on October 7th 1939. “It is a strange turn of events: I fought the Germans and ended up in Soviet captivity”. In the NKVD prison the colonel would repeat to his fellow prisoners that the September Campaign was lost, but that Poland would win the war. In spring of 1940, the commander of the Wilno Cavalry Brigade and thousands of other Polish soldiers, were sent to a NKVD prison in Kyiv and executed by firing squad. Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki figures on the so-called Ukrainian Katyń list under the number 980. In 1964 he was promoted to brigadier general posthumously.

This article was first published in Polish by NEW.org.pl

The author is currently serving a 4-year sentence in a penal colony, accused by the Belarusian authorities of “promoting extremist activities”.

Ihar Melnikau is a Belarusian Ph.D. historian, essayist, journalist, blogger and editor of the history portal Historia Pobach. Associate Professor of Wrocław University. He is the author of various academic and journalistic articles and 18 books, including The border was near Minsk 1921-1941 and Forgotten Corps. The Polish Army in the Bobruisk Area 1918-1920, The death of Empire. The history of the Battle of Baranovichi in 1916, Collaboration. The anatomy of betrayal фтв щерукы in which he addresses little-known aspects of Belarusian history and Belarusian-Polish relations during the Second World War.

“We suport the Belarusian Awakening’24” is a project co-financed by Solidarity Fund PL within the framework of Polish development cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in the amount of PLN 230,000.

This publication expresses the views of the author only and cannot be identified with the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

history, Polish army, Second World War