Antoni CHRUSCIEL
Polish Army & Home Army (AK)
Brigadier General Antoni Chrusciel was born on 16 June 1895 in Gniewczynie Łańcucka.
From 1909 he worked in secret scouting in Jarosław. In 1914 he graduated in the 6th C-Class. K. K. The Gymnasium in Jarosław (in his class until 1913 was Stanisław Graff). In August 1914, he joined the East Legion, and in September this year, after the dissolution of the legion, he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army, in which he was sent to the non-commissioned school and then the reserve officers. After graduating from the officer school in the years 1915 to 18, he was successively: the commander of the platoon, the school instructor and the commander of the company in C. and K. Lieutenant Antoni Chruściel contributed significantly to the fact that his unit, as the only one in the Austrian army, returned to the garrison with weapons and equipment in November 1918.
He fought in World War I and in the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920. On 1 January 1919, he was admitted to the Polish Army with seniority on 1 August 1916, was part of the 11th Reserve with a call to active duty during the war until demobilization and from 1 November 1918 he was allocated to the 14th Infantry Regiment in Jarosław. In the above-mentioned ward he commanded a fifth company, and from December 1921 – I battalion. On 19 August 1920, he was promoted to the rank of captain in the infantry, in the group of officers of the former Austro-Hungarian army.
On 3 May 1922, he was promoted to captain with seniority on 1 June 1919 and 854th in the corps of infantry officers. From October 1922, he was commander of 3m companies, followed by 6 companies in the 42nd Infantry Regiment in Bialystok. During his service, he studied at the Faculty of Law and History of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwow; he graduated in 1923. On 10 October 1923 he was transferred to the Cadet Corps No. 1.”Marshal Józef Piłsudski” in Lwow as a company commander.
On 23 May 1927, he was transferred to the 6th Regiment of the Podhale Gunners in Stryj as the second battalion commander. In the years 1929-1931 he was a student at the Normal Higher War School in Warsaw. On 1 September 1931, after completing the course and obtaining a diploma from a certified officer, he was transferred to the Infantry Training Centre in Rembertów. In October 1934 he returned to WSWoj as a lecturer in tactics. In January 1937, he began an internship as deputy commander of the 40th Infantry Regiment “Children of Lviv”
In March 1938, he took command of the 82nd Siberian Rifle Regiment “Tadeusz Kościuszko” in Bresc. He fought in the September 1939 campaign (until 28 September). After the surrender of the Modlin Fortress —one of the last Polish strongholds to fall after the Soviet German invasion. he was captured by the Germans and was imprisoned in the Soldau Transit Camp (KL) in Działdowo, from which he was released at the end of October.
He joined the Polish Underground (the Home Army) and became deputy commander of the Warsaw region with the codename “Monter”. From June 1940 he served as the head of the 3rd Tactical and Training Department of the Union of Armed Struggle. From October, he was the chief of staff of the Warsaw District, and from May 1941, the commander of this District.
On 10 August 1942, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel of the Permanent Service. Chrusciel commanded all Polish forces during the Warsaw Uprising under General Bor-Komorowski but became a German POW again once the uprising failed. He stayed in Oflag XIII D Nernberg-Langwasser, and then in Oflag IV C Colditz, from where he was released in May 1945 by the American army.
For his participation in the Uprising hr had been promoted by the order of General Kazimierz Sosnkowski to the rank of Brigadier General.
After being liberated, he went to London. In July 1945 he became deputy chief of the Chief of Staff for the Military Affairs. In September 1945, he became the deputy head of the Chief of Staff for General Affairs, and then the head of the Main Liquidation Commission of the PSZ and the Inspector of the Liquidation Commission. From March 1947 he was also a member of the Supreme Council of the Home Army Soldiers.
He was banned from returning to Poland by the postwar communist authorities. On 15 March 1989, the government of the Polish People’s Republic of Poland, Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski, repealed the resolution depriving Chrustral of citizenship.
From 1950, he was a delegate of the Freedom and Independence Association to the United States, where he travelled several times, choosing to live permanently in Washington in 1956, where he worked until his death at a law firm and as a translator. He passed away on death on 30 November 1960, at the age of 65 years.
On the initiative of the American Polonia, his remains were transferred to the sanctuary in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, called the American Częstochowa.
On 28 July 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, the ashes of the General and his wife were solemnly brought to Warsaw, Poland. On 30 July 2004, his state funeral was held at the Military Cemetery in Powązki. His ashes were placed near the graves of veterans of the struggles for the freedom and independence of Poland, under the registration number 341.
Source: Aquila Polonica Facebook post