Stanisław Kopański was born to Polish parents on 19 May 1895 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. After finishing middle school, he began his studies at the Petersburg Civil Engineering Institute. In 1916 he was enlisted in the Russian army. He graduated from the Officers Artillery School in Petersburg and was sent to the German front.

 

After the outbreak of the February revolution in Russia, he joined the 1st Polish Corps led by General Jozef Dowbor-Musnicki. In November 1918, Stanisław Kopański started serving in the Polish Army. He participated in the expedition of General Edward Rydz-Smigłi at Wilno, during which he was seriously injured and lost an eye. After a few months he was appointed commander of the Cadet school of cavalry in Warsaw.

 

From September 1919 to October 1920, he fought on the Bolshevik front as part of the 1st Cavalry Division under General Juliusz Rómmel. After the end of the military operations, he continued his interrupted studies at the Warsaw University of Technology, obtaining a diploma as a civil and bridge engineer.

In April 1924, he attended the division commanders’ course at the Artillery School in Torun. After graduating, he became a lecturer of ballistics and deputy director of science at the Officers’ Artillery School in Torun. In 1925, he did an internship at the French Artillery School in Fontainebleau. In 1926, he married Janina de Rathel and they had a daughter Anna and son Tadeusz. From 1927-1929 he continued his studies at the Higher Military School in Paris.

 

After returning to Poland, he worked in the III Operational Division of the Main Staff in anti-aircraft defense. In May 1930, he became the commander of the 6th Division of the Heavy Artillery Regiment in Lwow. In June 1932, he was transferred to the III Division of the General Staff. At the beginning of 1935, he was appointed Deputy Commander of Armoured Weapons in the Ministry of Military Affairs.

 

From May 1937 to September 1938, he commanded the 1st Motor Artillery Regiment in Stryj. He was then directed to a six-month enhancement course at the Military College. On 13 March 1939, Stanislaw Kopański was appointed as the head of Division III of the Main Staff and promoted to the rank of certified Colonel.

 

During the September 1939 campaign, he served as the head of the III Division of the Chief of Staff. On 18 September, the day after the Russians invaded Poland, he evacuated to Romania.

 

After reaching France, he was assigned the role of Chief of the Armoured Forces in the forming Polish Army. From April 1940, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and put in command of the Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, being formed in Homs on the border between French-held Syria and Lebanon. The unit was composed mostly of Polish soldiers who were able to escape internment camps in Hungary and Romania and make it to Allied-controlled territory, much like Kopański himself.

 

From August to December 1941, he took part in the heroic defense of Tobruk, and later in the pursuit battles for Gazala and Bardia. The Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade fought as the first large Polish unit after the September defeat in Poland and the Fall of France. General Stanisław Kopański stayed in the Middle East and North Africa until July 1943.

 

On 30 June 1940 the Brigade joined the British forces stationed in Palestine. In September 1942, he took command of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, which was based on the brigade he had previously commanded. Initially composed of 319 officers and 3,437 soldiers, Kopański's brigade soon grew to roughly 5,000 men. After the death of General Władysław Sikorski in the Gibraltar crash, General Kopański was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces in the West.

 

In 1944, General Kopański was promoted to the rank of Division General. After the war, he was the General Inspector of the Polish Resettlement Corps (1947-1949).

 

After the corps disbanded in 1949, Kopański settled near London in the United Kingdom. He remained an active member of the Polish government-in-exile and until 1970, held the honorary title of Chief of General Staff. On May 13 of that year, his office was disbanded and transformed into the office of the General Inspector of Polish Armed Forces in Exile.

 

General Kopański remained actively involved in the veteran community until the end of his life, focused on supporting various social and economic veteran associations. He also collaborated with the Sikorski Institute and was a member of the Council of Three. He wrote two volumes of memoirs: "My Service in the Polish Army 1917-1939" (London 1965) and "War Memoirs 1939-1946" (London 1961).

 

On 23 March 1976, general Stanisław Kopański died in London at the age of 81 years. He was buried in the Northwood Cemetery. In December 2023 the remains of Kopański and his wife, Janina Kopańska, were returned to Poland and received a military funeral at Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

 

General Stanisław Kopański was awarded:

• Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari

• Grand Cross of Polonia Restituta

• Officer's Cross of Polonia Restituta

• Cross of Valour (twice)

• Gold Cross of Merit with Swords

• Gold Cross of Merit

• Medal of Independence

• Companion of the Order of the Bath (UK)

• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (UK)

• Distinguished Service Order (UK)

• Chevalier of Legion of Honour (France)

• Croix de Guerre ((France)

• Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945

• Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

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Source: Several posts on Facebook

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Copyright: Kopański family

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