Calendar card: 75th anniversary of the death of Major "The Dam" - 7.03.1949.

As head of Kedywu in the Inspectorate of AK Lublin-Puławy conducted over 80 diversion actions. The best guerrillas in fighting Germany in Lublin.

After the war, 1 of the most celebrated guerrillas, fighting the Sovietization of the country. He came out victorious from the NKWD-UB battles, the CWB – as long as there were prospects of success in this fight. During his effort to enter the West, he was arrested. Inhumanally “interrogated”, he went to his death with broken hands and ribs. In 1 day, he's gone bald. Major Hieronim Dekutowski "The Dam" died in his 31st year at the russian execution home close Rakowiecka, Mokotów.

The life and death of “The Dam” according to Tadeusz Płużański:

Jerome Decutowski was born on 24 September 1918 in Tarnobrzeg. Scout of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, associate of Marian Sodalition. Volunteer of the 1939 defensive war, on September 17 crossed the border with Hungary and was interned. He fled the camp and made his way to France, where he fought against Germany as part of the PFA, then evacuated to England.

In March 1943, sworn in as silent, he adopted the nickname “The Dam” and “Odra”. On the night of 16th to 17th September 1943, as part of Operation "Neon 1", he was thrown to Poland at the facility "Garnek" 103 (around Wyszkowa). The flight from England, the BB-378D of the RAF Squadron, lasted 12 hours and 30 minutes (the erstwhile effort of 9/10 September failed due to low clouds and deficiency of fuel in the aircraft; part of the halifaxes with Polish jumpers were shot down by Germany).

He initially commanded an AK branch in the Zamość Inspectorate, defending the Zamość population from displacement. In January 1944, he was appointed head of Kediv AK in the Inspectorate of Lublin-Puławy.
Władysław Siła-Nowicki, the post-war superior of Dekutowski, wrote in his memoirs: He shortly gained the reputation of an outstanding commander. He was characterized by courage, velocity of decision and at the same time by caution and a large sense of work for people. Perfectly trained in the usage of handguns and device guns, inconspicuous, but endowed with large individual charm, he was able to be demanding and keep iron discipline in his subordinate troops, which combined with moderation and care for each soldier provided him with a immense mir. They called him “Old”, though he was not yet 30 years old.

The 200-man troops under “Zaprze” carried out 83 combat and diversion actions. He participated in Operation “Burza” in Lublin, after which he tried unsuccessfully to go to the assistance of the fighting Warsaw.

After the Soviets entered, Decutowski did not uncover himself. Wanted by the NKVD and UB, he hid in erstwhile AK-owski quarters. Why didn't he just lay down his gun?

Bohdan Urbankowski wrote in his book Red Mass:

It began with the fact that the 4 soldiers of the Dam, surviving close Chodel, were invited to the station there. The MO/UB station commander, Abram Tauber, was a hebrew rescued by 1 of them, found respective shelters in the dam dens, after entering the Russians he became the head of UB in Chodl. The AK-ers may have expected any gratitude, but Tauber had them all tied up and hand-to-hand, 1 by one, shot. In retaliation, Decutowski crashed the station in Chodl. The date of this attack - 5/6 February 1945 - marks the beginning of the Anti-Soviet Uprising in these areas.

Entering the Soviets meant mass repressions and murders on Poles, especially soldiers of the AK. If they avoided exports to Siberia, they went to the UB executioner in the Lublin Castle (where, in addition to another murderers, acted, among others, later pursued by the Institute of National Memory Solomon Morel). The "wall" could not stand aside. He even devoted his life to fighting for a free homeland. My fiancée said,

I'm going to the woods, I don't know if I'll survive, we can't be together...

In consequence to communist terror, a poakowski self-defence unit (counting, as during the German occupation, about 200 soldiers) was created by a poakowski-based self-defence unit (counting, as during the German occupation, about 200 soldiers), which carried out many bravado actions against the NKVD, UB, KBW and MO.

In the summertime of 1945, at the command order, after the announced amnesty he dissolved the ward (part of his soldiers came out). Sam, considering amnesty as deception and deception, along with respective subordinates wanted to get to the West, but the group was broken up by the UB under the Holy Cross in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. They shortly resumed the test - this time, after crossing the green border, Czech safety caught up with them. "The dam" reached Prague, but not knowing the further way (at the US embassy they refused to aid him, claiming that the Czech Republic occupied by the Soviets was a democratic country!), returned to the country with a group of repatriates. In Lublin, as the most prominent commander, he was subjected to most of the troops and was part of the Association of Freedom and independency (WiN). Again, he led defensive and harassed actions against the communists, inflicting considerable losses on them.

Why were the soldiers especially dangerous for security?

Władysław Siła-Nowicki:

About 2 hundred-twenty people with advanced ideological level, well armed and trained, held in discipline, shook half the voivodship. This situation resembled any periods of the January Uprising, erstwhile the state government was only stabilised in large centres, and only illusory in the field. Of course, the guerrilla was based on the aid of the local population of the vast majority of villages, providing self-support, accommodation and information.

Rafał Wnuk in his book Lublin territory AK-DSZ-WIN 1944-1947 writes that Decutowski's troops expanded their network from Lubartowski to Tarnobrzeski in the south and from Zamość to east Kielce. Helping the dams was carried by a monastery in Radecznica, where the commanders' meetings were besides held.

From Ivan Sierov's report, Gen. NKWD, Chief of Death (16 IV 1945):

A group of armed bandits, numbering 11 people, raided the branch of the bank in Lublin, from where it robbed PLN 200,000. During the robbery, the chief of the first section of the Lublin Public safety Office, Lieutenant Kulwaniewski resisted and was killed.

In fact, the “Ball” branch took PLN 1.170 thousand, the first section of the WUBP in Lublin was the worst-investigator, and Antoni Kulwaniewski was a associate of the WKP(b), officer of the Red Army and LWP, postgraduate of the school of safety officers in Kujbyshev.
As part of the retaliation for the Dekutowski action, the Soviets arrested 43 people, of which 13 sentenced to death punishment and lost in the basements of the Lublin Castle.

Another study by the Lublin territory of WiN (III 1946) states:

The safety offices operate under the exclusive management of the NKVD. In their activities they usage trickery. At the end of March, the UB civilian group, acting as the AK's diversion group, citing the “Ball”, demanded contact with the Commandant of the Chodl facility, but asked, having been aware of the timing, the trick thwarted. This group then went to Bełżyc, where she was facilitated to contact the commandant of the facility. He was requested to get men for the alleged assault device at the MO station. As a result, the commanding officer and respective of his men were shot.

Stefan Korboński, a PSL activist, wrote in his book On behalf of the Kremlin on 3 October 1946: PAP's message from Lublin, according to which the “bands” of the “Professor” of the WiN and “Cisi” of the NSZ, armed with device weapons, together 50 people, attacked the village of Maniaki and burned it, including 11 farms belonging to the b. akovists. Korboński's Note: A speech about the clashing of the branch of Hieronim Decutowski's “Professor” 23 IX 1946 with Armenians from the village of Moniaki (not Maniaki), commonly called Moscow, ending with the death of 1 of them and the punishment of whipping others.
And comment: The best thought is that members of the WiN, which consists of undisclosed arkers, destruct the property of their exposed comrades. These lies are calculated to awaken in society the outrage against the underground. It reminds me of the Gestapo's toleration of bandits in order to blame their crimes on the conspiracy of the day and to make her sick in the eyes of the country. discipline has not gone into the forest, and present they have faithful followers in security. It is not free that people call it the “red Gestapo”. The village of Moniaki (along with respective others in the Lublin region) was a hatchery of communist pestilence before the war - later ALs, militias and ubeks. The dam has crashed many MO and UB facilities. In general, the captured communists were being punished with flogging and then released. If he killed, it was not for being a associate of the PPR or for being safe, but for highly harmful activity, though he spared many UBs too. He besides broke distant prisons by releasing the arrested. His unit was prepared for action on the Lublin Castle and even for detention on Rakowiecka in Warsaw, but in both cases any snitch reported these plans UB.

Thanks to the captured trucks, the dammen were able to make respective actions within 24 hours on the territory of 2 or even 3 counties and rapidly bounce off. They kept changing quarters, never stationed twice in a row in the same village.

After another amnesty from February 1947, together with Władysław Siła-Nowicki "Stefan" (inspector of WiN in Lublin) Dekutowski discussed with representatives of the Ministry of Public safety (e.g. with Colonel Józef Czaplicki, manager of the Department of III MBP for the fight against banditism, or independency underground; due to his hatred of the AK-owers called “Akower” – and Colonel Jan Tataj, head of the WUBP in Lublin) about the conditions of the release of the Lublin independency guerrilla.

Władysław Minkiewicz in the book Mokotów, Wronki, Rawicz. Memoirs 1939-1954 writes: As a result, a conference was held in the forests in Lublin, to which they flew by chopper from Warsaw Deputy Minister of safety Romkowski [Roman Romkowski - Natan Grunsapau-Kikiel] and manager of the Political Department of MBP, Luna Bristigerowa. The agreement was not concluded due to the fact that the safety didn't agree to have the WiNs arrested earlier regain their freedom.

As a consequence of the unsuccessful talks of the Dam, together with the commanders of the subdivisions of his group, he made another effort to enter the West. On September 12, 1947, he issued his last order, giving command to Captain Zdzisław Bronski "Uskok".

The people of the Dam, arriving successively (in mid-September 1947) at a metastasis point in Nysa, Opole, were put in the hands of the Katowice UB. Decutowski came by on September 16. present it is already known that 1 of the agents who led to the arrest of the “Protest” and its people was his deputy Stanisław Wnuk “Opal”.
Sneaky captured people were transported to Rakowiecka and subjected to violent investigation. Jerzy Kędzior and the well-known sadist Eugeniusz Chimczak interrogated (he besides prepared an indictment). It's been like this for over a year.

Stefan Korboński: The fact that the "bandit of the Dam" is Jerome Dekutowski's "public opinion" only learned after the trial began.
On 3 November 1948 in the Military territory Court in Warsaw, in addition to Dekutowski, his subordinates sat on the bench: Captain Stanislaw Łukasik "Ryś", Lieutenant Jerzy Miatkowski "Zawada" - adjutant Lieutenant Roman Groński "Żbik", Lieutenant Edmund Tudruj "Mundek", Lieutenant Tadeusz Pelak "Junak", Lieutenant Arkadiusz Vasilewski "Biały" and their political superior Władysław Siła-Nowicki. He accused Tadeusz Malik. They were tried by Kazimierz Obada and Wenceslaw Matusewicz (laws) and Józef Badecki (leader; he besides judged the captain Witold Pilecki and many another patriots).

Władysław Siła-Nowicki: Mrs Stillerowa [the defender] informed me that the compositional chair Józef Badecki is known for his very polite conduct of trials and very strict sentences. Indeed, justice Badecki, a cold killer, was inactive very polite. From the beginning, we were all morituri to him...

Nowicki writes that for the trial they were dressed in Wehrmacht uniforms: This uniform dishonored executioners, not victims. And infinitely more crucial than our clothes was what we said at the perjury court.

In court, everyone behaved decently, not cayally, not guilty of ridiculous charges. The “wall” took full responsibility.

On November 15, 1948, the “court” sentenced the men to respective death sentences. After the trial, they were transported again to Rakowiecka, besides in German uniforms and under a strong convoy. Decutowski was again subject to a brutal investigation, but as before, he did not betray anyone.

Władysław Minkiewicz: They were then driven with bags on their heads, so that no 1 would admit them (for fear of a possible reflection) as witnesses to various trials of their subordinate WiN members.

Reason for the WSR judgement in Warsaw of 15 November 1948:
The distribution centres of the Polish reaction in the form of the alleged emigration government of London, or the corps of Anders, which are connected with the agents of imperialist capitalist circles, utilized for their purposes peculiar topographic conditions of the Lublin province, and a certain amount of the confused members of the erstwhile “AK” from the German business (...). Disposal centers have found adequate supporters of their ideology for leaders. These include the defendants. The suspect Nowicki alternatively represents an inspirational factor, as he himself calls political (...). another defendants with Hieronim Dekutowski, ps. “The Dam”, are a well-executive origin with a large scope of activities. They make a centre for terrorist-robbery and diversionary gangs serving as mostly band commanders. The impertinence and cruelty of the accused was exploited by their higher management to make in the area of war. Lublin during the period from July 1944 until about half of 1947, the outbreak of confusion and fire, which had to be annihilated by the large effort of authorities and society.

The dam, together with its subordinates, was sent to a caesos cell, where more than a 100 people were sitting at the time. They attempted to escape - they decided to drill a gap in the ceiling and through the attic to get to the roof of one-story farm buildings, and then slide down on the associated sheets and jump down the sidewalk of Rakowiecka Street.
Minkiewicz: At night it spread on the concrete level of the court and placed all the benches against the wall, and the stools were made into a pyramid, reaching to the ceiling. After this pyramid, Józio Górski [criminal prisoner] came in all night with a sharpened concrete spoon, and he laboriously drilled a gap in the ceiling, carefully collecting debris into a typical prison bag, called samara. Then he threw this debris into the toilet and flushed the water to leave no trace. How do you avoid snitches? To this end, all the insiders had night shifts, and in any thoughtful way, they would let Mountainsky know if any of the uninitiated woke up and went to the toilet. At the time, Mountainski interrupted work and sat quietly at the top of his pyramid. After a fewer weeks, the gap was wide adequate for Mountainski to enter the attic and take the way to the window above the low economical buildings. In fact, an effort to escape could already have been made, but it was decided to wait for the time erstwhile the moonless nights would arrive, which would give greater guarantees of avoiding the pursuit of the frequently circulating patrols of the CBW.

When there were only a twelve days left to complete the plan, 1 of the criminal prisoners felt that the action was besides risky and ratted out the refugees, hoping to alleviate the sentence. Dekutowski and Power-Nowicki went to prison for a fewer days, where they sat naked, chained up.

Nowicki was helped by household connections - he was Dzierżyński's nephew. Aldona Dzierżyńska-Kojałowicz, a sister of Cheka's creator, wrote to Bierut: "I love him like my own son, and so by memory of my unforgettable brother Felix Dzierżyński, I beg the Citizen of the president for the grace of giving life to Władysław Nowicki.

It was different with Decutowski. The requests for the grace of his family, including the eldest sister of Sophia Sliwa, were of no use, made by the president of the French Republic (since the late 1920s she lived in France, decorated with the Legion of Honor for her participation in the French opposition movement).

Irena Siła-Nowicka, Władysław's wife, writes about her visit to the office of passes in Sucha, Warsaw: It was morning. The colonel who signed the permissions to see was gone. So I sit down and wait for him, and meanwhile, the secretaries, the young girls, they were busy in the files. Red folders - death penalty, green - everything else. They take these red folders and 1 of them reads the name Decutowski Jerome. What a comic name he says. And my heart froze - I know what a red folder means! So they typed any data about these convicts, but I don't know anything else - not erstwhile or where these sentences are to be executed.

Nowicka then went into custody on Rakowiecka: I enter the gate with the guard, then the corridor. People walking by, carrying a man on a stretcher. I don't know if he was alive or dead, but it made a terrible impression on me. After a while, we hear the sound of wooden trees - they lead prisoners. I see Vlad. He says, "What about mine?" I say, I don't know, we did everything we could. It's not like I'm gonna tell him about the files on Smoal. As it turned out, on that very day, On March 7, 1949, 7 large men were shot in Mokotów, accompanied by Vladek's weapons. And he heard those shots, said goodbye to his friends...

The execution was ordered by the president of the ultimate Military Court Władysław Garnowski.

Ewa Kurek in his book Zaporoczyca writes about the last moments of Dekutowski:

He was thirty, 5 months and 11 days old. He looked like an old man. Grey hair, broken teeth, broken hands, nose and ribs. Her fingernails are broken. We will never give up, he shouted, passing on his last message through the prisoners. According to the documents, the conviction was executed by execution (at 7 p.m.) The Mokotov legend, however, is that the mediocre executioners packed the Major “The Dam” into a bag, hung the bag under the ceiling and fired, saturating their hatred with a view flowing from the ceiling of impertinent blood. Then, at five-minute intervals, they murdered his soldiers: “Rysia”, “The Frog”, “The Mundka”, “The White”, “The Junaka” and “The Wage”. GLORIA VICTIS!

They march quietly like shadows

through mountains, forests and fields.

There will be sighs,

They're moving forward – that's their cut.

They're moving on due to the fact that that's their fate.

- and neither regret nor longing.

Nothing can turn them back from this path.

Because this is the Infantry Dam.

And erstwhile the moon goes beyond the cloud

And there will come a quiet, beautiful night,

It's the forest infantry pulling ropes

- you can see their strength and power.

Though their hard hand was Germanic,

To fight them was the desire

And there must always have been a victory,

Because this is the Infantry Dam!

Now, to the second occupier,

We haven't dried 1 blood yet.

After betraying us, it reaches down our throats,

Sibiru's taiga wants to take us.

Stalin was wrong, the executioner was wrong,

And with him, that rabid rabble.

To Katyn, to Castle, to Siberia, to blood

- will pay the Infantry Dam.


Piotr Szubarczyk

♪ I can't believe it ♪