Marian Porwit was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 military officer, a Colonel of the Polish Army and a military historian. A commander of one of the sections of the Polish front during the Siege of Warsaw

Siege of Warsaw (1939)

The 1939 Battle of Warsaw was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army garrisoned and entrenched in the capital of Poland and the German Army...

 of 1939, after the war he became one of the most renowned historians documenting the history of the Invasion of Poland

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

.

Born September 25, 1895 in Gorlice

Gorlice

Gorlice is a city and an urban municipality in south eastern Poland with around 29,500 inhabitants . It is situated south east of Kraków and south of Tarnów between Jasło and Nowy Sącz in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship , previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship...

 (then in Austro-Hungarian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 Galicia), following the outbreak of the Great War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 Porwit joined the Polish Legions

Polish Legions in World War I

Polish Legions was the name of Polish armed forces created in August 1914 in Galicia. Thanks to the efforts of KSSN and the Polish members of the Austrian parliament, the unit became an independent formation of the Austro-Hungarian Army...

, where he served with distinction. In 1918 he joined the re-established Polish Army and fought in the Polish-Bolshevik War. In 1926 during the May Coup he supported president Stanisław Wojciechowski and the legal government of Wincenty Witos

Wincenty Witos

Wincenty Witos was a prominent member of the Polish People's Party from 1895, and leader of its "Piast" faction from 1913. He was a member of parliament in the Galician Sejm from 1908–1914, and an envoy to Reichsrat in Vienna from 1911 to 1918...

. For this reason when Józef Piłsudski forced the government to resign, Porwit's military career slowed down until World War II. By 1939 he was promoted to the rank of colonel. Attached to the staff of General Walerian Czuma

Walerian Czuma

Walerian Czuma was a Polish general and military commander. He is notable for his command over a Polish unit in Siberia during the Russian Civil War and the commander of the defence of Warsaw during the siege of that city in 1939.-Biography:...

, Porwit became the commanding officer of the Western Area of the defense of Warsaw during the siege of 1939. The troops under his command defended the westernmost approach towards the city center from September 8 to September 28 before collapsing.

Taken prisoner of war by Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, Porwit spent the remainder of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in POW camps. Liberated in 1945, he moved to London, where he became a member of the Sikorski Institute. However, in 1946 he decided to return to Poland. He settled in Warsaw, where he continued his historical career. He died April 26, 1988 in Warsaw.

Porwit's son, Krzysztof Porwit, became an economist.

Awards

• Golden Cross of the Order Virtuti Militari (Poland)
• Silver Cross of the Order Virtuti Militari (Poland)
• Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)
• Cross of Valour (Poland) – 4 times
• Cross of Merit (Poland)
• Knight Cross of the Légion d'honneur
  Légion d'honneur
  The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
  
  (France)
• Big Silver Bravery Medal – 2 times (Austria-Hungary)
• Small Silver Bravery Medal (Austria-Hungary)
• Bronze Bravery Medal (Austria-Hungary)