Józef Unrug

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Józef Unrug
Born (1884-10-07)7 October 1884
Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
Died 28 February 1973(1973-02-28)
Lailly-en-Val, France
Allegiance  German Empire
Poland Second Polish Republic
Service/branch  Kaiserliche Marine
 Polish Navy
Years of service from 1907
Rank Wiceadmirał
Commands held C-i-C of the Polish Navy
Battles/wars World War I, Polish-Soviet War, Invasion of Poland (1939)
Awards

Józef Michał Hubert Unrug (German: Joseph von Unruh; 6 October 1884 – 28 February 1973) was a German-born Polish vice admiral who helped reestablish Poland's navy after World War I. During the opening stages of World War II, he served as the Polish Navy's commander.

Biography

Unrug was born in Brandenburg an der Havel into the Germanized family of Tadeusz Unrug, a major-general in the Prussian Army. After graduating from gymnasium in Dresden, Unrug completed Navy School in 1907 and began service in the German Navy. During World War I he commanded a U-boat, earning promotion to the command of a submarine flotilla.

After Poland regained independence, Unrug left Germany and volunteered for the Polish Army. Soon afterward he was transferred to the nascent Polish Navy, where he served as chief of the Hydrographic Division and then as commanding officer of a submarine flotilla. One of the most skilled officers in the Polish Navy, Unrug was quickly promoted to Rear Admiral. Despite his problems with the Polish language, in 1925 he became commander of the Polish Navy.

During the 1939 invasion of Poland, Unrug executed his plan of strategic withdrawal of the Polish Navy's major vessels to the United Kingdom ("Operation Peking"). At the same time, he commanded all Polish submersibles to lay naval mine fields in the Bay of Gdańsk ("Plan Worek"). After that, these vessels either escaped to the United Kingdom or were interned in neutral countries.

Despite having thus lost control of the Navy, Unrug remained commander of land forces in an attempt to prevent German recovery of the Polish Corridor. However, on 1 October 1939, after both Warsaw and Modlin had capitulated, Admiral Unrug decided that further defense of the isolated Hel Peninsula was pointless, and the following day all units under his command capitulated.

Unrug spent the rest of World War II in various German POW camps, including Oflag II-C in Woldenberg, Oflag XVIII-C in Spittal, Stalag X-B in Sandbostel, Oflag IV-C (Colditz Castle) and finally Oflag VII-A Murnau. In the latter camp he was the eldest-ranking officer and the commander of the Polish soldiers interned there. The Germans treated him with great respect as a former German officer by bringing former Imperial German Navy friends to visit him with the intention of making him switch sides. Unrug responded by refusing to speak German, saying that he had forgotten that language in September 1939. To the irritation of the Germans, Unrug would always insist having a translator present or communicate in French, even though he spoke his native German fluently. Unrug's spirit and unbowing attitude proved to be an inspiration to his fellow prisoners.[1]

After Poland was taken over by the Soviet Union in 1945, Unrug went to the United Kingdom, where he served in the Polish Army in the West and took part in its liquidation. After the Allies withdrew support for the Polish government, Unrug remained in exile in the United Kingdom, and then in France. He died on 28 February 1973 in a Polish Veterans Hospital in Lailly-en-Val near Beaugency, at the age of 88. On 5 March the same year he was buried in a chapel of Branicki family palace in Montresor. In 1976 a stone tablet commemorating Admiral Unrug was erected in Oksywie.

Honours and awards

Gold Cross of the Virtuti Militari
Polonia Restituta, Commanders' Cross
Gold Cross of Merits with Swords
Gold Cross of Merit
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
Iron Cross, First and Second Classes (Germany)
Order of Dannebrog (Denmark)
Order of the White Elephant (Siam)
Royal Order of the Sword (Sweden)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kazimierz Sławiński: Wspomnienie o kontradmirale, "Morze" Monthly, 9/1973, p.17
Authority control
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