Wanda Gertz

Major Wanda Gertz (13 April 1896 – 10 November 1958) was a Polish woman of noble birth, who began her military career in the Polish Legion during World War I, dressed as a man, under the pseudonym of "Kazimierz 'Kazik' Żuchowicz". She subsequently served in the Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet (Women's Voluntary Legion) of the Polish Armed Forces during the Polish–Soviet War. In the interwar period she became a reserve officer but faced discrimination and was stripped of her officer rank. She worked closely with Marshal Piłsudski and remained an activist in the cause of women in the military.

With the outbreak of World War II her experience and skills in Special operations were ultimately recognised by military men and having joined the resistance in 1939 under codename, "Lena", she became an officer and commander of an all-female battalion in the Home Army. She was awarded the highest Polish military honours, a singular rarity for any woman of her generation to achieve.

Early life and background She was born Wanda Gertz von Schliess in Warsaw, to Florentyna and Jan Gertz von Schliess. Her family originally came from Saxony, but had settled in the Commonwealth of Two Nations during the eighteenth century, while the House of Wettin occupied the Polish throne. Gertz's father fought in the January Uprising of 1863–64, and Gertz grew up hearing the stories of her father and his comrades. Years later she wrote:

As a five-year-old girl I had never had any dolls, only innumerable toy soldiers, which my older brother, his friends and I played with. Even then, I knew that high military rank was not for girls. My fondest dream was to become an officer. However, as a girl, I could only be a private.

In 1913, Gertz completed the Kuzienkowa Gymnasium in Warsaw. She then trained in Bookkeeping with the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce. While still at school she had joined the 4th, Emilia Plater troop of the then illegal Girl Guides. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, she joined the Konfederacja Polska (Polish confederation), a national independence lobby organization. Gertz distributed political leaflets and made clothes for prisoners of war. She then joined the 4th Warsaw Battalion, but in August 1915 after the Battalion had been absorbed into the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legion, women were prohibited from serving on the front line. She organized clandestine communications, acted as courier, and was assistant to the divisional commander, Stanisław Kozarski. In April 1942 Gertz was ordered to create and command a new unit Dywersja i Sabotaż Kobiet - "oddział Dysk" (Women's Diversion and Sabotage unit), as part of the Kedyw. Its members carried out attacks on German military personnel, airfields, trains and bridges. Gertz seems to have been sceptical about the planned Warsaw Uprising, and prohibited members of her group from taking part, though many did so anyway. before finally being liberated on 13 May 1945 by troops of the U.S. 89th Infantry Division.

Post-war life Plaque commemorating Wanda Gertz at the Church of John the Baptist, Warsaw. As part of allied Polish forces in Germany under British command, Gertz arrived with them in the United Kingdom, returning to Europe after the German surrender to serve as Inspector for Women Home Army Soldiers. She travelled throughout Germany and Italy in search of displaced Polish women. From May 1946 until February 1949 she was part of the Polish Resettlement Corps, serving as Inspector of Women Soldiers in the north of England. Her task was to prepare them for civilian life in Britain. After demobilisation Gertz worked in a canteen until her death from cancer on 10 November 1958. Her funeral was attended by many veterans, including Aleksandra Piłsudska, and Generals Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski and Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski. In 1959 her ashes were taken to Poland and interred at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Publications W pierwszym pułku artylerii - Służba Ojczyźnie - "In the first regiment of artillery - service to the fatherland", Warsaw, 1929

Awards