Wacław Lipiński

Wacław Lipiński (1896–1949) was a Polish historian, military officer and resistance fighter, lieutenant colonel in the Polish Army of the Second Polish Republic, recipient of Polish highest military decoration, the Order of Virtuti Militari.

Lipiński fought in World War I, the Polish-Ukrainian War and the Polish-Soviet War and became involved with the intelligence service. After the war, he worked as a historian. Lipiński retired from the army 9 months before the joint German-Soviet invasions of Poland. He was attached to the propaganda department during the siege of Warsaw, escaping with his family when the city fell.

In 1942 he returned to Poland as a resistance leader and was arrested by the Nazis in 1944. After the Russians overran Poland he led the anti-Soviet resistance. Arrested by the communists in 1947 he died in prison 2 years later.

World War I

Born on 28 September 1896 in Łódź, Lipiński was involved in the scouting movement from 1911 and joined the paramilitary Polish Rifle Squads in 1912. He was a member of the Polish Legions in World War I, He then joined the precursor of the Polish intelligence service, the Polish Military Organisation.

Works Bajończycy i armja polska we Francji (Bayonians and the Polish army in France) (1929) Polityka zagraniczna Piłsudskiego i Becka (Foreign policy of Piłsudski and Beck) (1943) Walka zbrojna o niepodległość Polski w latach 1905-1918 (The armed struggle for the independence of Poland in 1905–1918) (1931) Wśród lwowskich orląt (Among Lwów eaglets) Dziennik: wrześniowa obrona Warszawy 1939 r. (Diary: September defense of Warsaw of 1939) (1989) Wielki Marszalek (The Great Marshal)