Poland 1937 Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly

Edward Rydz-Śmigły

(Berezhany, March 11, 1886 - Warsaw, December 2, 1941) was a political, military, painter and poet Polish.

After many successes as a military commander during the Polish-Soviet War, Edward Rydz-Śmigły succeeded Józef Piłsudski as Marshal of Poland (11 November 1936) and Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces (since 1939). 

In this capacity he faced the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the first European stage of World War II; given the large Polish army inferiority in the face of enemies, to avoid capture Rydz-Śmigły had to flee abroad with Ignacy Mościcki and other members of the government. He stayed for a time in Romania, where he was also arrested. 

In the fall of 1941 he returned incognito to Poland to fight the Germans, but died shortly after in Warsaw because of a heart attack.

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