Edmund Lesisz
Edmund Lesisz | |
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Born | (1906-04-01)1 April 1906 Kozienice, Radom Governorate, Russia |
Died | 21 January 1943(1943-01-21) (aged 36) Łódź, General Government, Germany |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Years of service | ??? – 1940 |
Rank | Captain |
Battles/wars | World War II
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Edmund Lesisz (1906-1943) was a Polish Captain who was known for being one of the main leaders of the Raid on Fraustadt and commanding the 55th Poznań Infantry Regiment [pl] during the Invasion of Poland.
Biography
Lesisz was a professional infantry officer, coming from a family with patriotic traditions, and a graduate of the Cadet Corps in Lviv. During the Invasion of Poland, Cpt. Ludwik Snitko, commanding a platoon of heavy machine guns and a platoon of armored cars, organized the Raid on Fraustadt which ended in a Polish victory. He was also a captain of the 55th Infantry Regiment as the commander of the 2nd company in the 1st battalion.[1][2]
After the conclusion of the Invasion, Capt. Lesisz was captured by the Germans and stayed in Oflag VII-A Murnau. There, in the fall of 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo for allegedly ordering the deaths of surrendered German soldiers at Fraustadt.[1] A similar fate befell his superior - Maj. Jan Dymowski who was the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 55th Infantry Regiment. Until January 1943 they were both held in a prison in Łódź, where they were to be tried but Lesisz was tortured and brutally murdered the day before the end of the trial on 21 January 1943.[1][3][2]
Legacy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Gorzow_Wielkopolski_Wsch_SA139_023_%28Edmund_Lesisz%29.jpg/220px-Gorzow_Wielkopolski_Wsch_SA139_023_%28Edmund_Lesisz%29.jpg)
Lesisz was posthumously awarded the Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari by the Polish government-in-exile during the 1970s.[1] He is also featured in a SA139-023 model as a Regio Bohater as a commemoration for the 100th Anniversary of Poland's independence.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d "Edmund Lesisz - ku pamięci. Ogrody Wspomnień. Cmentarz Internetowy". Ogrody Wspomnien (in Polish). Archived from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ a b "Wypad pod Wschowę. Polscy żołnierze na terytorium wroga". archiwum.leszno.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
- ^ a b "Kpt. Edmund Lesisz patronem pociągu w województwie lubuskim" (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. December 3, 2018. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.