Bolesław Kontrym

Bolesław Kontrym

Bolesław Kontrym (born August 27, 1898 died January 2 or 20, 1953)), also known by his codenames: Żmudzin, Biały, Bielski, and/or Cichocki, was a Polish army officer, cichociemny, soldier of the Armia Krajowa, organizer of the secret police force, and participant in the Warsaw Uprising.

Biography

Kontrym was born in Zaturka near Łuck (Wołyń). His military career started when, he volunteered to the Imperial Russian Army in March 1915,. Initially, he as serving in the 106 Infantry Regiment at which he finished NCO training in Saratov. Between August and December of 1915, he was commanding the platoon of 250th Infantry Regiment and from Jun 1916 he was serving as an adjutant of the 3 Battalion of 127 Infantry Regiment. In August 1917, he was promoted to the commanding officer of the cavalry recon unit of the 660th Infantry Regiment at the same time he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He joined Polish Army units that were forming in Russia and from 1918 he was serving in the 5th Polish Cavalry Regiment of the II Polish Army Corpus. The II Polish Army Corpus was disarmed and intern by Germans at Kaniow on May 1818. Bolesław Kontrym escaped from the German POW camp and he was trying to join Polish Army units in Murman, Russia. On October 1918 he was arrested by the Bolshevik’s Cheka and conscripted to the Red Army. He fought against Polish Army as a commander of 82 Infantry Regiment and 28th Brigade of the 10th Infantry Division. For his commanding talents and bravery, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times. On February 1921, he was transferred from his unit to study at Frunze Military Academy. During that time, he contacted Polish Military attaché płk. Romuald Wolikowski, to whom he passed Soviet military secrets. His espionage activities were discovered and he had to escape to Poland.

He was serving in Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade He was the member of Cichociemni. He also fought with distinction in Warsaw Uprising.

He was arrested by Służba Bezpieczeństwa and executed for treason.

Medals

Poland

• Virtuti Militari V class
• Krzyż Walecznych three times.

Soviet Union

Order of the Red Banner three times

See also

J. Marszalec, Sily bezpieczenstwa w Powstaniu Warszawskim (copright 2000 in Warsaw) Biography on Kontrym (In Polish)