Today is the 156th anniversary of the birth of Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, Lieutenant General of the Polish Army, who in the period of the formation of an independent Polish state was Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces on the territory of the former Prussian partition in the years 1918-1919.

Dowbor-Muśnicki was born on 25 October 1867 in the Garbów estate near Sandomierz. He descended from the Lithuanian Dowbor family, whose members had lived in the Sandomierz area since the 17th century. After finishing gymnasium in Radom, he enrolled in the Nicholas I. Cadet Corps, and then continued his education at the Constantin’s Military School in St Petersburg. In 1888, he began active military service in the 140th Zarai Infantry Regiment in Kostroma. He took part in the Russian Japanese War (1904-1905) and the First World War, commanding, among other things, the XXXVIII Army Corps.

During the Wielkopolska Uprising (1918-1919), he was at the head of the Wielkopolska Army, creating an almost 100,000-strong army with which he fought against the Weimar Republic for the return of the lands of the Poznań Province in the Prussian partition to Poland. He postulated the idea of expanding the uprising towards Gdańsk, all the while leading the process of integrating the Wielkopolska Army into the Polish Army. During the Polish-Soviet War, he was one of the defenders of Lwów (today’s Lviv).

He described himself as a nationalist. He was in favour of the apolitical nature of the army, and avoided decisions that could lead to unnecessary bloodshed, seeking to protect the lives of soldiers. That is why, in May 1926, he did not support the so-called May Coup d’État by soldiers loyal to Józef Piłsudski.

He died after a long illness on 26 October 1937 in Batorowo. He had four children. His two daughters died tragically during the Second World War, Janina Lewandowska was killed in Katyn, and Agnieszka Dowbor-Muśnicka was executed by the Germans in Palmiry.

Since 20 March 1996, the 17th Wielkopolska Mechanised Brigade in Międzyrzecz has been named after General Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki.