Stanislav Poplavsky

Stanislav Gilyarovich Poplavsky (Станислав Гилярович Поплавский, Stanisław Popławski) (22 April 1902 – 10 August 1973) was a general in the Soviet and Polish armies.

Poplavsky was born in Imperial Russia, in Podolia.

His family (his father's name was Hilary) was ethnically Polish, and in his younger years he considered himself a Pole.

In February 1920, he was drafted into the Red Army, and participated in the Russian Civil War.

Poplavsky served for the first three years (until 1923) as a private, then for four years (until 1927) as an NCO, company commander in the 297th Rifle Regiment.

During the Rzhev-Vyazma operation, his unit was assigned to 29th Army, Kalinin Front.

During the battle, his unit pulled ahead and was surrounded by enemy forces.

A month later, his unit was in a complete encirclement.

He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1930 onwards.

Over the next few years he attended an officer school, and afterwards received his own commands: first of a platoon in the 137th Rifle Regiment (1930–1931), then a platoon (1931–1933) and later a company in the School for Infantry Officers in Kharkov (1933–1935).

Before the Second World War he attended the Frunze Military Academy (1935–1938) where he became an instructor of military tactics (1938–1939) but in February 1939 he was relieved after a false accusation and given a manager's job at a sovkhoz in Tula region.

Poplavsky, who distinguished himself in a difficult situation, was immediately appointed with a promotion as chief of staff of the 363rd Rifle Division, which was hastily formed in the Ural Military District, and already in December entered the battle as part of the 30th Army of the Kalinin Front, and took part in the Klin-Solnechnogorsk offensive operation.

Poplavsky served as the commander of 720th Rifle Regiment (July–September 1941), and then Chief of Staff of 363rd Rifle Division (October 1941 – January 1942).

During this time, he participated in the Białystok–Minsk and Smolensk battles.

At the beginning of the Battle for Moscow, during the Vyazma and Bryansk defensive operation, his regiment was surrounded.

For distinctions in the battles of summer and autumn of 1941, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

In January 1942, he was appointed as the commander of the 185th Rifle Division.

But with air supply, the unit managed to organize an active defense using the terrain conditions, prevented the destruction of the division and at the end of February 1942, it successfully broke through the front line to join the main army forces.

In May 1942, he was appointed as the commander of the 256th Rifle Division, which was assigned to the 39th Army, Kalinin Front.

During the Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive in March 1943, his division fought over 170 kilometers and crossed six rivers on the move, preventing German troops from gaining a foothold along their lines.

From June 1943 to September 1944, he commanded the 45th Rifle Corps in the Soviet 5th Army on the Western, 1st Belorussian and 3rd Belorussian Fronts.

At the command of the corps, he participated in the Second Battle of Smolensk and Operation Bagration.

In September 1944 he was transferred to the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (Polish People's Army) as one of the many Soviet officers who were to ensure that this allied formation remained loyal to communist ideals.

As major general he commanded the Polish Second Army (26 September – 19 December 1944) and later the Polish First Army (until 10 September 1945).

His units took parts in the breakthrough of the Pommernstellung (Pomerania Wall) fortification line, securing the Baltic Sea coast, crossing the Odra and Elbe rivers and the Battle of Berlin.

He was wounded eight times in the war and showed high organizational skills in planning combat operations, and commanding troops.

For his successful operations, he was noted 15 times in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin.

For skillful command and control of troops in breaking through enemy defenses on the Oder River and in the battles for Berlin on 29 May 1945, Poplavsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war he remained in the Polish army, along with thousands of other ethnically-Polish Soviet officers, including Konstantin Rokossovsky, who were put in charge of almost all Polish military units, either as commanding officers or as their advisors.

Poplavsky served as commander of the Polish forces occupying Germany, later being commander of the Silesian Military District (until 22 November 1947), Chief Commander of the Polish Land Forces (until 21 March 1950), and General Inspector of Military Training (until 2 April 1949).

He was also a deputy to the Polish Sejm (1947–1956), and from 1949 to 1956 he was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party (PZPR).

He also held political positions: on 2 April 1949 he became the 2nd Deputy Minister of National Defence and later was Deputy Minister himself.

In 1950, he was seconded as president of the Legia Warsaw sports club.

He replaced General Eugeniusz Luśniak in this position, who was forced to resign in a wave of purges in the army of pre-war officers.

Luśniak was arrested shortly thereafter and charged with espionage.

Sentenced to 15 years in prison, he died in 1954 in a prison in Wronki.

On 12 August 1955 he was appointed General of the Soviet Army.

He returned to service shortly before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, as the head of the Operational Division of the Staff of the 162nd Rifle Division.

From 16 to 29 June, he was the chief of staff of the unit, and then was appointed commander of the 220th Rifle Division on the Kalinin and Western Fronts.

But a few days later, on 6 October, he broke through the encirclement with a battle and withdrew his regiment along with several other units of the 19th Army.