Eugeniusz Plawski was born on to Aleksander Pławski, a brigadier general in the Imperial Russian Army on 26 March 1895 in Novorossiysk in the Russian Empire. He graduated from the Sea Cadet Corps in Khabarovsk and from the Sea Cadet Corps in Saint Petersburg. He also finished the Naval Aviation School in Sevastopol and the submarine navigation course in Toulon.

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He began his career in 1914 as a midshipman in the Black Sea Fleet fighting the entire 1st World War against Bulgarians, Turks and Germans. He became a watch officer on the destroyer Derzky. From 1916 he was the aide-de-camp to the commander of the 2nd destroyer flotilla, then he served in the torpedo brigade and in the anti-submarine defense. In 1917 he became the navigation officer on the destroyer Gnevny. After the outbreak of the revolution, he assumed command of the destroyer Zorkiy.

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After the rebirth of Poland, he came to Warsaw and was accepted to the Polish Navy. He was an operations officer in the river port Modlin, then he served in the Marine battalion with which he participated in the liberation of Pomerania. During the Poland's Wedding to the Sea, he gave the order to hoist the Flag of Poland. In 1920 he took command of the naval base in Puck. From 1924 he commanded the minesweepers ORP Czajka and ORP Mewa and the gunboat ORP General Haller. In 1927 he was appointed as the director of science in the Navy school of specialists. In the years 1928–1931 he led the Polish submarine navigation course in France. In 1931 he became commander of the submarine ORP Żbik. In the years 1932–1936 he took command of the submarine flotilla. In 1936 he was transferred to the Polish Navy Command. In 1939 he was sent on a mission to France seeking military assistance in case of Third Reich's invasion of Poland.

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At the outbreak of the 2nd World War, he stayed in France and tried to form an aid convoy for Poland. Then he was sent to London. In 1940 he assumed command of the French destroyer Ouragan transferred to the Polish Navy. On 24 October 1940 he became commander of ORP Piorun on which he escorted convoys on the Atlantic and Mediterranean During the hunt for the Bismarck as part of the 4th flotilla on 26 May 1941 he had sighted her and had drawn Bismark’s fire for an hour during the period of dusk hoping that this would assist the other destroyers to get in their attack. From 1941 to 1943 he was a military attaché in Sweden. On 15 May 1943 he took command of the cruiser ORP Dragon. In 1944 he became chief of staff of the Polish Navy.

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Eugeniusz Plawski was awarded the following medals:

• Cross of Valour (Poland)

• Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)

• Navy Medal (Poland)

• Order of the Dannebrog

• Legion of Honour

• Order of Vasa

• Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)

 

After the dissolution of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, Pławski gave the banner and the flag of Polish Navy to the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London. In 1946–1947 he commanded ORP Baltyk, a Polish Resettlement Corps camp in Okehampton, Devon. In 1948 he moved to Canada where, among other activities, he was recruited by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) as an interpreter and analyst.

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Commodore Eugeniusz Pławski, Chief of Staff of the Polish Navy during the later years of the Second World War, wrote his memoir in 2003. It was published in Polish under the title “Fala za Falą“ (“Wave after Wave”), a 450-page illustrated, hard-cover book.

 

Eugeniusz Pławski died on 22 May 1973 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was buried in The Gardens of Gethsemani Cemetery. On 16 June 2004 his ashes were brought to Poland and interred, along with those of his wife, in the Polish Navy cemetery in Gdynia.

 

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Copyright: Plawski family

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