Lieutenant Jerzy Rożałowski (1912–1944?) – cavalryman and underground soldier  and underground soldier

The aim of this article is to present the biography of a forgotten officer of the Polish Army – Jerzy Rożałowski, who, after graduating from the Cavalry Cadet School in Grudziądz, started his service in the 1st Cavalry Regiment of Krechowiecki. In the years preceding the outbreak of World War II, he took part in over a dozen horse competitions, winning numerous awards. The promising career of a cavalryman was interrupted by German aggression and the necessity to fight for independence. After the surrender of the Polish army, Lieutenant Jerzy Rożałowski evacuated to the territory of Lithuania, where he was interned and imprisoned in a camp. In Lithuania, he then meets his future wife – Krystyna Bichniewicz, the daughter of the landowner and the great-great-granddaughter of Fryderyk Chopin’s eldest sister Ludwika Jędrzejewiczowa, with whom he married in 1940. After escaping from the internment camp, Rożałowski joined the underground and, under the name of Ryszard Porębski, commanded the 1st Infiltration and Partisan Center of the Vilnius District of the Home Army, from which in June 1944 an independent partisan unit was formed, numbering about 200 soldiers. At the same time, Rożałowski worked closely with the 7th Vilnius Brigade of the Home Army. Lieutenant Jerzy Rożałowski went missing on July 11, 1944 in Vilnius during an attempt to contact the command of the Home Army.