Tytus Potocki

Tytus Potocki was born to Mieczyslaw and Leonia (nee Kobylańska) in Kośmierzyn, Tarnopol province, Poland on 27 July 1902.

Tytus came from a notable Polish noble family, which contributed to the cultural development and history of Poland's Eastern Borderlands (today Western Ukraine), and is renowned for numerous Polish statesmen, military leaders, and cultural activists. He lived in Kośmierzyn with his parents, his sister Aniela, and another sister (name unknown).

When he married his first wife Warytyna Łucka, his family allocated 450 hectares of land to him. This consisted of forestry and farms, which he ran efficiently with his wife. They had one son (name unknown).

From 20 August 1939 to 15 September 1939, he served in the Supply Vehicle Unit No.665 of the Polish Army. After Poland was invaded by the Germans on 1 September 1939 and then by the Soviets on 17 September 1939, he was separated from his family and deported by the Russians to Siberia for forced labour. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, and Stalin made a declaration of the so-called “amnesty” for the Poles, allowing them to form an Army under General Anders,

Tytus enlisted with the 1st Krechowiecki Cavalry Regiment on 15 October 1941 and was evacuated with the Polish Army from the U.S.S.R. to Persia on 14 May 1942, and then to Palestine. He spent a couple of months at the 63 British General Hospital in Cairo, and on 15 November 1942 was transferred to the Polish 5 Infantry Division. On 27 March 1943 he was assigned to the 316 Transport Company, and on 17 December 1943 he received the rank of rifleman. On 8 February 1944 he reached the rank of corporal, and on 23 April 1944 was transferred to 22 Transport Company of the Polish 2nd Corps with which he served in Italy, taking part in the Battle of Monte Cassino. On 17 March 1945 he was decorated with the Monte Cassino Cross No. 44250.

On 26 August 1945 he was transferred to the Polish Military Units in the Middle East and reported to the Guard Battalion. On 23 October 1945 he was admitted to a Sanatorium in Bhamdoun, Lebanon, and was treated in the TB Section until 21 December 1945, when he was transferred to a J.W.S.W. temporary camp. On 17 January 1946 he was assigned to a Backup Company and then on 6 February 1946 he was again transferred to the J.W.S.W. Guard Battalion and was assigned to the 10 Company of the Polish 2nd Corps. Around August/September 1946 he was transferred to the 8 Company, and then at the beginning of 1947 he was evacuated to the U.K.

During this time, he found out through the Red Cross that his wife Warytyna had died during the war, but that his son had survived and was living in the Ukraine (previously Polish territory). On 19 February 1947 Tytus enlisted with the Polish Resettlement Corps and lived in Iscoyd Park Camp, Shropshire, where he worked at the No.4 Polish General Hospital.

In the meantime he met Florentyna Misiewicz (née Bronowicka), a widow whose husband had been killed in Wołyń by the Ukrainian Nationalists in May 1943. Florentyna was living in Tilstock Camp, Shropshire, with her two younger daughters Alina and Danuta. Tytus married Florentyna on 14 February 1948 and moved to Tilstock but continued working at the hospital in Iscoyd Park, to which he commuted by bike. Florentyna worked some days at a local farm and the rest of the time in a small Polish bakery. In September 1948 Tytus’ service with the PRC terminated, and in October 1955 Tytus and Florentyna moved to Bradford in Yorkshire to join Florentyna’s family, , who had moved there earlier. In the 1980s Tytus health deteriorated and he lived at the Polish Home in Penrhos, Pwllehli, North Wales, where he died on 7 April 1987.