View source for Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski

{{short description|Polish military leader (1895–1966)}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = <small>[[General]]</small> <br/>Tadeusz Komorowski
| nickname            = Bór
| image               = Tadeusz Bor Komorowski.jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = Komorowski in 1945
| order               = 4th [[Polish government-in-exile|Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile]]
| term_start          = 2 July 1947
| term_end            = 10 February 1949
| president           = [[August Zaleski]]
| predecessor         = [[Tomasz Arciszewski]]
| successor           = [[Tadeusz Tomaszewski (Prime Minister)|Tadeusz Tomaszewicz]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1895|6|1}}
| birth_place         = [[Khorobriv, Ternopil Oblast|Khorobriv]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1966|8|24|1895|6|1}}
| death_place         = London, England
| rank                = [[File:Naramiennik General Dywizji.svg|x15px]] [[Major general]]
| profession          = Soldier
| serviceyears        = 1913–1947
| allegiance          = {{flag|Second Polish Republic}} [[Poland]]
| branch              = {{ubl|[[File:Wappen Kaisertum Österreich 1815 (Klein).png|15px]] [[Austro-Hungarian Army]]<br />{{flagicon image|Orzełek legionowy.svg}} [[Polish Legions in World War I|Polish Legions]] <br/>[[File:Orzełek II RP.svg|15px]] [[Polish Armed Forces (Second Polish Republic)|Polish Army]]}}
| unit                = [[commanding officer|CO]] of the [[Home Army]]<br/>[[Commander in Chief|C-i-C]] of the [[Polish Armed Forces (Second Polish Republic)|Polish Army]]
| battles             = [[World War I|First World War]]<br/>[[Polish-Ukrainian War]]<br/>[[Polish-Soviet War|Bolshevik-Polish War]]<br/>[[World War II|Second World War]]
* [[Invasion of Poland]]
* [[Operation Tempest]]
* [[Warsaw Uprising]]
| awards              = [[File:Order Orla Bialego1.gif|40px|Order of the White Eagle (posthumously)]] [[File:POL Virtuti Militari Komandorski BAR.svg|40px|Virtuti Militari]] [[File:POL Virtuti Militari Złoty BAR.svg|40px|Virtuti Militari]] [[File:POL Virtuti Militari Srebrny BAR.svg|40px|Virtuti Militari]] [[File:POL Złoty Krzyż Zasługi BAR.svg|40px|Krzyz Zaslugi]] [[File:Srebrny Krzyz Zaslugi.jpg|40px|Krzyz Zaslugi]] [[File:POL Polonia Restituta Oficerski BAR.svg|40px|Polonia Restituta]] [[File:POL Krzyż Walecznych BAR.svg|40px|Cross of the Valorous]] [[File:POL Krzyż Walecznych BAR.svg|40px|Cross of the Valorous]] [[File:POL Krzyż Walecznych BAR.svg|40px|Cross of the Valorous]]
}}

[[Generał]] '''Tadeusz Komorowski''' (1 June 1895 – 24 August 1966), better known by the name '''Bór-Komorowski''' (after one of his wartime code names: ''Bór'' – "The Forest") was a Polish military leader.<ref name="polskieradio.pl">{{cite web |url=http://www.polskieradio.pl/39/247/Artykul/166690,Tadeusz-BorKomorowski |title=Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski |work=Historia |publisher=[[Polskie Radio]] |date=26 February 2009 |access-date=2 December 2013 |author=Mariusz Podgórski, Mikołaj Falkowski}}</ref> He was appointed commander-in-chief a day before the capitulation of the [[Warsaw Uprising]] and following World War II, 32nd [[Prime Minister of Poland]], 3rd [[Polish government-in-exile]] in London.<ref name="Paczkowski" />

==Life==
Komorowski was born in [[Khorobriv, Ternopil Oblast|Khorobriv]], in the [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]] (the [[Austrian partition]] of Poland). In the [[First World War]] he served as an officer in the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]], and after the war became an officer in the [[Polish Armed Forces (Second Polish Republic)|Polish Army]], rising to command the [[Grudziądz]] Cavalry School. He was a member of the Polish equestrian team that went to the [[1924 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/12249 |title=Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski |work=Olympedia |access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref>

After taking part in the fighting against the [[Nazi Germany|German]] invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II in 1939, Komorowski, with the code-name ''Bór'', helped organise the Polish underground in the [[Kraków]] area. In July 1941 he became deputy commander of the [[Armia Krajowa|Home Army]] (''Armia Krajowa'' or "AK"), and in March 1943 gained appointment as its commander, with the rank of Brigadier-General.<ref name="polskieradio.pl" /> He was sympathetic to the right-wing, antisemitic [[National Party (Poland)|National Party]]. As commander of the Home Army,  Komorowski reversed the pro-Jewish policies of his predecessor, [[Stefan Rowecki]]. Komorowski opposed aid to Jews seeking to mount [[ghetto uprisings]] and favoured the exclusion of Jews from the organisation. American historian [[Joshua D. Zimmerman]] accuses Komorowski of characterising Jewish partisans as "communist, pro-Soviet elements" and having "chilling indifference" to the ongoing Holocaust.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zimmerman |first1=Joshua D. |author-link1=Joshua D. Zimmerman |title=The Polish Underground Home Army (AK) and the Jews: What Postwar Jewish Testimonies and Wartime Documents Reveal |journal=East European Politics and Societies and Cultures |date=2019 |volume=34 |pages=15–17 |doi=10.1177/0888325419844816|s2cid=204482531 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==The Uprising==
{{Polish Underground State sidebar}}
In mid 1944, as Soviet forces advanced into central Poland, the [[Polish government-in-exile]] in London instructed Bór-Komorowski to prepare for an armed uprising in [[Warsaw]]. The government-in-exile wished to return to a capital city liberated by Poles, not seized by the Soviets, and prevent the [[Stalinism in Poland|Communist take-over of Poland]] which [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] had planned.<ref name="Mowiawieki" /> The [[Warsaw uprising]] began on Komorowski's order on 1 August 1944 and the insurgents of the AK seized control of most of central Warsaw.

On 29 September 1944, Bór-Komorowski was promoted to [[General Inspector of the Armed Forces]] (Polish Commander-in-Chief).<ref name="polskieradio.pl" /> On 4 October,{{sfn|Miller|2016|p=39}} after two months of fierce fighting, Bór-Komorowski surrendered to SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' [[Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski]]{{sfn|Miller|2016|p=39}} after [[Nazi Germany]] agreed to treat the Home Army fighters as [[prisoners-of-war]]. General Bór-Komorowski went into internment in Germany (at [[Oflag IV-C]]). Despite repeated demands, he refused to order the remaining Home Army units in [[Occupied Poland]] to surrender.<ref name="Mowiawieki">Piotr M. Majewski, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050310001408/http://www.mowiawieki.pl/drukuj.html?id_artykul=1164 63 Dni walki o Warszawę (63 days of fight for Warsaw)] Mowiawieki.pl ([[Internet Archive]])</ref>

==Life in exile==
After the war Bór-Komorowski moved to London, where he played an active role in Polish ''émigré'' circles. From 1947 to 1949 he served as Prime Minister of the [[Polish government-in-exile]], which no longer had diplomatic recognition from most Western European countries. He wrote the story of his experiences in ''The Secret Army'' (1950). After the war he was an upholsterer.

==Death==
He died in London on 24 August 1966, aged 71,<ref name="Paczkowski">{{cite book |title=The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom |author=Andrzej Paczkowski |year=2003 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=0271047534 |page=196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WoKQWem2yl4C&q=Komorowski }}</ref> and was buried in [[Gunnersbury Cemetery]] (also known as (New) Kensington Cemetery).

On 30 July 1994, Gen. Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski's ashes were buried in [[Powązki Military Cemetery]] in Warsaw.<ref>{{Cite web|title=POLISH HERO'S ASHES FINALLY BURIED IN HOMELAND|url=https://www.deseret.com/1994/7/31/19122791/polish-hero-s-ashes-finally-buried-in-homeland|agency=Associated Press|date=31 July 1994|website=Deseret News|language=en|access-date=19 May 2020}}</ref>

==Honours and awards==
* [[Order of the White Eagle (Poland)|Order of the White Eagle]] ([[posthumous award|posthumously]], 1995)
* Commander's Cross of the [[Order of Virtuti Militari]] (previously awarded the Knight's Cross, the Gold Cross and the Silver Cross)
* Grand Cross of the [[Order of Polonia Restituta]] (previously awarded the Officer's Cross)
* [[Cross of Valour (Poland)|Cross of Valour]] – three times
* Gold [[Cross of Merit with Swords (Poland)|Cross of Merit with Swords]]
* Gold [[Cross of Merit (Poland)|Cross of Merit]]
* Silver Cross of Merit
* Honorary citizen of Glowno (posthumously, 2004)

==See also==
* [[Operation Tempest]]
* [[Warsaw Uprising]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book | last = Miller | first = Michael | title = Knight's Cross Holders of the SS and German Police 1940-45 | publisher = Helion & Company | location = England| year = 2016 | isbn = 978-1-909982-74-1 }}

== External links ==
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=gov.archives.arc.95710|description="Longines Chronoscope with Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski" (2 November 1951)}}

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{{succession box|title=[[Prime Minister of Poland|Prime Minister of the Polish Republic in Exile]]|before=[[Tomasz Arciszewski]]|after=[[Tadeusz Tomaszewski (premier)|Tadeusz Tomaszewski]]|years=1947&ndash;1949}}
{{s-mil|}}
{{succession box|title=[[Armia Krajowa|Commander of the Home Army]]|before=[[Stefan Rowecki]]|after=[[Leopold Okulicki]]|years=1943&ndash;1944}}
{{succession box|title=[[General Inspector of the Armed Forces]]|before=[[Kazimierz Sosnkowski]]|after=[[Władysław Anders]]|years=1944&ndash;1946}}
{{s-end}}

{{Prime Ministers of Poland}}
{{General Inspectors of the Polish Armed Forces}}
{{AK Commanders}}
{{Armia Krajowa}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bor-Komorowski, Tadeusz}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1966 deaths]]
[[Category:Antisemitism in Poland]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Ternopil Oblast]]
[[Category:Military personnel of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]]
[[Category:Counts of Poland]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of Poland]]
[[Category:Polish generals]]
[[Category:Home Army officers]]
[[Category:Rada Trzech]]
[[Category:Poles in Austria-Hungary]]
[[Category:Polish people of World War I]]
[[Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Warsaw Uprising insurgents]]
[[Category:Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War]]
[[Category:Olympic equestrians for Poland]]
[[Category:Polish male equestrians]]
[[Category:Equestrians at the 1924 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Virtuti Militari]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Cross of Merit with Swords (Poland)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Silver Cross of Merit (Poland)]]
[[Category:Komorowski family]]
[[Category:Lviv Polytechnic alumni]]
[[Category:Polish anti-communists]]
[[Category:Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish sportsmen]]