Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Gostkowo, Ciechanów County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland
About Józef Smoleński
- Józef Smolenski (1894 - 1978) was a soldier of Polish Legions in World War I and General brygady of the Polish Army.
- He fought in World War I, Polish–Soviet War and World War II, serving in the military forces from 1914 until 1945. Born on September 18, 1894 in the village of Gostkowo, Russian-controlled Congress Poland, Smolenski studied at the University of Liege, Belgium, and at Warsaw University of Life Sciences, where he joined the Riflemen's Association and moved from Congress Poland to Austrian Galicia. On August 6, 1914, Smolenski marched from Kraków towards Russian Poland, as a soldier of 2nd Platoon, First Cadre Company.
- He then served in 1st Uhlan Regiment of Wladyslaw Belina-Prazmowski.
- After the Oath crisis, he was interned by the Germans in Szczypiorno, to be released in November 1918.
- Smolenski then joined the newly created Polish Army, serving until September 1922 in the 7th Regiment of Lublin Uhlans.
- He then studied at Wyzsza Szkola Wojenna in Warsaw.
- After graduation, he became officer of the Polish General Staff, and in 1925 - 1928 served in the 4th Cavalry Division in Lwów. In May 1930, Smolenski was named commandant of the 2nd Regiment of Grochow Uhlans, stationed in Suwalki.
- In August 1935 he was sent to the Cavalry Training Center in Grudziadz, which he commanded until November 1938.
- In February 1939, Smolenski became head of the Second Department of Polish General Staff. After the 1939 Invasion of Poland, Smolenski managed to escape to France.
- In May 1940, General Wladyslaw Sikorski appointed him deputy of General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, commandant of the Union of Armed Struggle.
- Using nom de guerre Lukasz.
- Smolenski was responsible for sabotage and planning of an armed uprising in occupied Poland.
- In August 1940, after the collapse of France, he came to London, and was named commandant of Second Department of the General Staff.
- He was one of the main advisers of General Sosnkowski.
- In 1941 - 1945, he held different posts in the Polish Armed Forces in the West, including command of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division.
- After the war, he was an active member of Polish community and chair of Jozef Pilsudski Institute in London.
- On January 1, 1964, he was promoted to the rank of General brygady. Józef Smolenski died in London on January 19, 1978, and was buried at Gunnersbury Cemetery.
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