Zygmunt Henryk Berling (27 April 1896 – 11 July 1980) was a Polish general and politician. He fought for the independence of Poland in the early 20th century. Berling was a co-founder and commander of the First Polish Army, which fought on the Eastern Front of World War II.

Military career before World War II

Zygmunt Berling was born in Limanowa, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on 27 April 1896. He joined the Polish Legions of Józef Piłsudski in 1914, serving in the 2nd and 4th Legions Infantry Regiment (Pułk Piechoty Legionów). Between the "oath crisis" of June 1917 and October 1918 he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army. At the end of the World War I he joined the reborn Polish Army, becoming the commander of an infantry company in the 4th Infantry Regiment. During the Polish–Soviet War, he gained fame as an able commander during the Battle of Lwów and received the Virtuti Militari medal.

After the war, he remained in the military and in 1923 he was promoted to the rank of major, first serving on staff of the 15th Infantry Division of V District Corps Command in Kraków. In 1930, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and started his service as a commanding officer, first in the 6th Infantry Regiment and then in the 4th Infantry Regiment. Berling retired from active duty in June 1939 because of divorce problems and conflicts with his superiors.

thumb|1928 army document signed by Berling when he was a major – Krakow.

World War II

Berling did not participate in the Polish defence effort during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. After the city of Vilnius was occupied by the Soviet Union under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Berling, along with many other Polish officers, was arrested by the Soviet secret police (NKVD). He remained in prison until 1940, first in Starobilsk and later Moscow, eventually agreeing to cooperate with the Soviets. The sentence was vacated by General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, the Polish commander-in-chief of forces loyal to the London government in exile.

thumb|left|General Berling in [[Warsaw, 1947]]

From 1940, Berling had been involved in efforts to create a Polish division in the Soviet Union, at first within the Soviet Red Army. In September 1942 and during the following months, he and Wanda Wasilewska appealed to Joseph Stalin for permission to establish the Polish division. On 8 April 1943, Berling proposed the establishment of a new Polish army; permission was granted after the break in Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations.

In May 1943, the communist-led Polish People's Army was created in the Soviet Union. It was a new formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East. Berling was nominated to be the commander of its first unit, the 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division, and was promoted to general by Stalin. He was transferred to the War Academy in Moscow, where he remained until his return to Poland in 1947. In Poland, Berling organized and directed the Świerczewski General Staff Academy. He retired from the military in 1953.

thumb|Berling gravestone at [[Powązki Military Cemetery]]

Government career

Zygmunt Berling held a variety of government positions after 1953. Between 1953 and 1956, he was Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of National Agriculture Industries (Ministerstwo Państwowych Gospodarstw Rolnych), between 1956 and 1957 he was Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture (Ministerstwo Rolnictwa) and from 1957 to 1970 he was General Inspector of Hunting (Inspektor Generalny Łowiectwa) in the Ministry of Forestry (Ministerstwo Leśnictwa). In 1963, he joined the Polish United Workers' Party.

He is buried at Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Promotions

  • 50px Chorąży (Standard-bearer) - 20 August 1915
  • 50px Podporucznik (Second lieutenant) - 1 November 1916
  • 50px Porucznik (First lieutenant) - 1918
  • 50px Kapitan (Captain) - 1920
  • 50px Major (Major) - 31 March 1924
  • 50px Podpułkownik (Lieutenant colonel) - 1932
  • 50px Pułkownik (Colonel) - 1 May 1943
  • 50px Generał brygady (Brigadier general) - 10 August 1943
  • 50px Generał dywizji (Major general) - 22 July 1944
  • 50px Generał broni (Lieutenant general) - 7 October 1963

Awards and decorations

  • :
  • 70px Order of the Builders of People's Poland
  • 70px Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
  • 70px Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
  • 70px Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari
  • 70px Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st class)
  • 70px Order of the Cross of Grunwald (3rd class)
  • 70px Order of the Banner of Labour (1st class), twice
  • 70px Order of the Banner of Labour (2nd class)
  • 70px Cross of Valour
  • 70px Cross of Valour, twice
  • 70px Gold Cross of Merit
  • 70px Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945
  • 70px Cross of Independence
  • 70px Bronze Medal of Merit for National Defence
  • :
  • 70px Order of Lenin, twice
  • 70px Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
  • 70px Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
  • 70px Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
  • 70px Order of Friendship of Peoples

See also

  • Polish contribution to World War II

Notes

References

  • Short bio and photo of pre-war Jagiellonian University ID
  • Biography at the Institute of National Remembrance