Henryk Sucharski
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2008-07-01T11:24:41Z
Cydebot
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Robot - Moving category Deaths of peritonitis to Deaths from peritonitis per [[WP:CFD|CFD]] at [[Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2008 June 21]].
{{Infobox Military Person
|name=Henryk Sucharski
|image=[[Image:Westerplatte Sucharski sabre.jpg|200px]]
|rank=[[Generał brygady]]{{ref|General}}
|born={{birth date|1898|11|12|mf=y}}
|placeofbirth=[[Gręboszów]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
|died={{death date and age|1946|8|30|1898|11|12|mf=y}}
|placeofdeath=[[Naples]], Italy
|allegiance=[[Poland]]
|serviceyears=from 1917
|commands=[[Westerplatte]]
|battles=[[Battle of Westerplatte]] during the [[Invasion of Poland (1939)|Polish Defensive War]]
|awards=[[Image:VM Krzyz Kawalerski.png|40px|Virtuti Militari]]
}}
'''Henryk Sucharski''' (1898–1946) was a [[Poland|Polish]] military officer and a major in the [[Polish Army]]. At the outbreak of [[World War II]], he was one of the commanders of the [[Westerplatte]] position in [[Gdańsk|Danzig]], which troops under his command defended for seven days against overwhelming odds. Although Sucharski survived the war and was posthumously promoted to the rank of [[Generał brygady|general]], his deeds did not match those of his troops. Despite his efforts to improve the defences, he later tried to persuade his fellow officers to surrender and suffered a [[nervous breakdown]] which required his deputy to assume command. The true nature of his role in the Westerplatte action did not become widely known until the 1990s.
==Early life and career==
Sucharski was born on [[November 12]], [[1898]], in Gręboszów, a village near [[Tarnów]], to a peasant family. He finished a local bi-yearly trade school and then a similar school in [[Otfinów]]. In early 1917 he graduated from the 2nd KuK Gymnasium in Tarnów and on [[February 13]] he volunteered for service with the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]]. During his service in the [[March Battalion]] of the [[Bochnia]]-based 32nd [[Landwehr]] Regiment, he passed his [[matura]] exams and in February 1918 graduated from an officers school in [[Opatów]]. Dispatched with his regiment to the Italian front of the [[World War I|Great War]], Sucharski was infected with [[malaria]] and spent the remainder of the war in various hospitals in [[Sanstino]] and then [[Celje]].
Upon his return to Poland, on [[February 7]], [[1919]] he joined the Polish Army and the Tarnów-based [[Polish 16th Infantry Regiment|16th Infantry Regiment]], in part composed of his former Austro-Hungarian unit. In March he took part in the defence of [[Cieszyn Silesia]] against the [[Czechoslovakia]]n invasion and in June he was promoted to the rank of Corporal. By the end of October he was transferred to the North-Eastern sector of the front of the brief [[Polish-Bolshevik War]] where he took part in fighting along the Lithuanian border during the brief [[Polish-Lithuanian War]] for the region around [[Suwałki]]. On [[January 14]], [[1920]] he was promoted to the rank of [[podporucznik|2nd Lieutenant]] and voluntarily joined the storming battalion of the [[Polish 6th Infantry Division|6th Infantry Division]]. For his bravery (and wounds) in the battle for [[Potnica]] and [[Bogdanówka]] on [[August 30]], [[1920]], Sucharski was awarded the Order of [[Virtuti Militari]], the highest Polish military decoration. He also received the [[Krzyż Walecznych|Cross of the Valorous]] and was promoted to [[porucznik|1st Lieutenant]] after the war.
In the interbellum Henryk Sucharski remained in active service. He graduated from a variety of courses for various branches of the military and on [[March 19]], [[1928]] he was promoted to the rank of [[kapitan|Captain]]. An instructor in the Infantry NCO School in [[Ostrów Mazowiecka]], in October of 1930 he joined the [[Brześć nad Bugiem]]-based [[Polish 35th Infantry Regiment|35th Infantry Regiment]]. After graduating from additional courses at the Centre for Infantry Training in [[Rembertów]] near Warsaw, on [[March 19]], [[1938]] Sucharski was again promoted, this time to the rank of Major.
==Westerplatte==
On [[December 3]] [[1938]] Sucharski became the commanding officer of the ''Military Transit Depot'' in Westerplatte, a Polish military outpost in the [[Free City of Danzig]]. A skilled organizer, Sucharski focused on improving the defences of the area under his command, a tiny ex territorial area within the German-dominated city. He strengthened the fortifications of the Westerplatte peninsula and increased the number of soldiers serving there.
His actual role during the defence of the Westerplatte after the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War is a matter of controversy. On the first day of the defence Sucharski emphasised the hopeless position of the small, surrounded Polish garrison and tried to convince his fellow officers to surrender. On [[September 2]], [[1939]], after a heavy aerial bombardment he suffered a nervous breakdown and his deputy, Captain [[Franciszek Dąbrowski]] assumed command of the outpost. However, Sucharski recovered sufficiently to finally surrender the position to the Germans after a week-long defence. In recognition of the bravery of Sucharski's men, General [[Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt]] allowed Sucharski to officially surrender with his officer’s [[szabla|sabre]].
After short stays in various German transit camps where the sabre was removed from his possession, on [[October 26]], [[1939]] Sucharski was imprisoned in [[Oflag IV-A Hohenstein|Oflag IV-A]] in the [[Hohenstein]] castle. He spent the remainder of the war in various German [[prisoner of war]] camps, including [[Oflag II-B Arnswalde|Oflag II-B]] in [[Choszczno|Arnswalde]] (from [[June 25]], [[1940]]) and [[Oflag II-D Gross-Born|Oflag II-D]] in [[Borne-Sulinowo|Gross-Born]] (from [[May 12]], [[1942]]). During the evacuation of Gross-Born in March 1945 he suffered a serious accident from which he never fully recovered.
After being liberated from the [[Schwerin]] sub-camp of the [[Oflag X-C Lübeck]] by the Americans, on [[May 28]], [[1945]] Sucharski joined the [[Polish II Corps]] and was transferred to Italy, where he briefly served as a commander of the [[6th Karpaty Rifles Battalion]] following [[January 25]], [[1946]]. On [[August 19]] [[1946]], he was sent to a British military hospital in [[Naples]] where he was interviewed by [[Melchior Wańkowicz]], who made Sucharski the main protagonist in his 1948 short story ''Westerplatte''. Henryk Sucharski died from [[peritonitis]] several days after the interview, on [[August 30]], [[1946]]. The following day he was buried in the Polish war cemetery in [[Casamassima]] near [[Bari]]. On [[September 1]], [[1971]] his ashes were returned to Poland and buried with military honours at Westerplatte, where it was decorated with the Commanders' Cross of the Virtuti Militari.
During the post-war years, Wańkowicz's mythologised account of Sucharski as a brave commander enduring under hopeless odds became the main source of information on Westerplatte action. The myth was propagated in numerous books and films while the truth behind Sucharski's deeds remained largely unknown to the public. It is often thought that the Communist authorities preferred to maintain the myth of Sucharski, a heroic son of a peasant and shoemaker, rather than support his deputy, [[Franciszek Dąbrowski]] who was born into a ''[[szlachta]]'' family. It was not until 1990s that the truth about Sucharski and Westerplatte started to become more widely known.
== Notes ==
# {{note|General}} Though Sucharski was posthumously promoted to the rank of [[Generał brygady]], he remains a Major in the popular culture of Poland. In fact he is referred to as ''Major Sucharski'' much more often than as ''Henryk Sucharski''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sucharski, Henrykhe}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Polish generals]]
[[Category:Polish military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Recipients of Virtuti Militari]]
[[Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany]]
[[Category:Polish prisoners of war]]
[[Category:Deaths from peritonitis]]
[[pl:Henryk Sucharski]]