Did you know that the Poles were not only the first to fight in World War II, but they set up the first Partyzantka (Partisan Unit) on 23 September 1939.  Henryk Dobrzański known as Hubal set up this mighty and successful force to continue fighting the Germans.

An Ułan of Piłsudski’s Polish legion during World War I and a professional cavalryman in the Polish army following independence, he was a deputy commander of his unit in September 1939 fighting the Germans in the east and then trying to defend Grodno against the Soviet Army which had invaded on 17 September following a pact with the Germans to divide Poland.

The unit was the only one to disobey orders to escape to neutral Lithuania and despite further losses, on 23 September a large group of them headed west to defend Warsaw from the Germans now under Dobrzański’s command. Following Warsaw’s fall they headed for the forests around Kielce from where they attacked German positions long after the official defence ended in October 1939.

Named Hubal, from his family coat of arms, he swore: “My weapons I will not surrender, my uniform I will not take off, so help me God”

All the soldiers, who numbered 300 at the height of fighting took on nicknames to protect their families from German terror, which was relentless – burning villages and killing their inhabitants in revenge.

To find out more about the Hubal Partisans. the site http://www.majorhubal.pl gives further details and to win a copy of the book Major Hubal – Historia Prawdziwa (in Polish) click on this link – the competition runs until 30 September.

Hubal or Henryk Dobrzański was a career cavalry officer. Born to the family (from Leliwa Coat of Amrma Branch) with the military cavalry traditions – Napoleonic Era and Nov Uprising Lancers) At 17 – he joined the II Legion to fight in the Polish independence war. At 29 he became the youngest member of the Polish Cavalry Core to receive the rank of the Major. DOBRZANSKI was an expert horseman – collecting 22 medals in the European and the Worlds Equestrian Championships. To his personal disappointment – he ”only” came 4th in the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Blaming his ”poor” showing on the weakness of his own character. (how many times do you hear this today

After the German Attack – Hubal marched towards Wilno – where he fought w the Soviet forces invading Poland from the East. He withdrew towards Warsaw but upon its capitulation on Sept 28th – he made a decision to never surrender. He motivated his decision by expecting British/French counter-offensive coming in the spring 1940.

Hiding in the deep forests between Kielce and Sandomierz – and using the knowledge of the area – Hubal’s unit executed several attacks on German forces.

During Early Spring of 1940 – German command had enough – dispatching the entire SS Brigade to deal w Hubals Unit. The command was given to one of the most notorious Nazi Criminals in Poland – the SS F Willhelm Kruger.

Kruger personally Hated Dobrzanski for embarrassing him during the battle of Hucisko – where Dobrzanski’s unit of some 200 men inflicted heavy losses on his brigade (6-7500 man) while breaking out of the encirclement (the SS reported 100 Kia Hubal’s unit lost 11)

He decided to take out his anger on the local villages – using the collective responsibility on his inhabitants. In the two week period his SS soldiers exterminated 12 villages killing 711 people. The news of the civilian casualties really affected Dobrzanski – in the words expressed by one of his soldiers: ”His face was stone – he never smiled again and it seemed his figure got smaller as if carrying all the weight of personal responsibility”.

The end came on April 30th where his location was betrayed by one of the villagers.

”The Germans led by an informant – came around our guard and hit the command post – killing Hubal – one of his officers and one Uhlan” – as one of his soldiers recalled later.

Germans collected his body – using it as a prop – in the series of famous photographs;  one of the originals was up on German eBay for $6000. Following the photo session – his body was desecrated and buried in an unmarked grave.

In an incredible turn of events – in 2017 a man walked into the Polish consulate in Munich. He introduced him self as a Grandson of the SS officer. Asking to remain anonymous – he handed over one painting taken from the Polish Presidential Palace in Spala – together with two albums – containing 700 unknown images taken during 1940-41 occupation of Poland. The pictures documented German soldiers plundering the Presidential Palace in Spala. Shockingly enough – two pictures towards the end of an album showed the dead body of Henryk Dobrzanski.

In the Memmory of Henryk Dobrzanski – code name HUBAL

Eternal Honor