Stanisław Szeptycki

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Stanisław Maria Szeptycki (1867-1950) – Polish military commander, general.

Born in 1867 he was a grandson of Aleksander Fredro and a brother of Andrzej Szeptycki (Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church). During the times of partitioned Poland he lived in the Austro-Hungarian partition and joined the Austro-Hungarian Army where he reached the rank of colonel. In 1914 he joined the Polish Legions in First World War, where he became the commander of the III Brigade of the Polish Legions, and from November 1916 to April 1917 the commander of entire Legions. After the Oath crisis he was the commander of German aligned Polnische Wehrmacht. Until February 1918 he was a general governor of Lublin, but resigned as a protest when Germany turned Chełm and surrounding arreas to the Ukrainians. He joined the newly recreated Polish Army in November 1918, where he replaced general Tadeusz Rozwadowski as a Chief of General Staff, a function he held until march 1919.

During the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920 he was the commander of the Polish North-East front and the Polish 4th Army. In 1919 he commanded the Operation Minsk. He disagreed with Polish commander-in-chief, Józef Piłsudski, whoch cost him his position, he joined the endecja opposition against Piłsudski. From June to December 1923 he was the Polish minister of military affairs; during that time he challenged Piłsudski to a duel for a perceived slight (Piłsudski refused the challenge). After Piłsudski's May Coup in 1926 he was dismissed from active service. After the Second World War from 1945 to 1950 he headed the Polish Red Cross (Polski Czerwony Krzyż).

He died in Korczyna in 1950.