Anniversary of the communist terrorist attack on the Warsaw Citadel.
Today, in our calendar, we will look at attempts to destabilise Poland, which were undertaken by the anti-Polish utmost left in the early 1920s.
The most celebrated and undoubtedly the bloodiest terrorist attack in the interwar was an assassination by the left on 13 October 1923 in the Warsaw Citadel.
The assassination was a consequence of an order issued by Vladimir Milutin – a advanced typical of the Communist global (Comintern). He ordered the Bolshevik agent in Poland to increase agitation and diversion activities. It was to trust primarily on the strength of strikes and terrorist attacks to undermine the authority of Polish authorities.
Head of the far left agent network in Warsaw was Mieczysław Łoganowski. He had the thought of murdering Józef Piłsudski. This was to be done by the members of the communist militia disguised as endecided students. Moscow, however, did not agree to specified bold action.
The deficiency of acceptance contributed to another idea. This time, during the central celebrations of the National Festival of 3 May in Warsaw, a powerful explosive was to explode, the goal of which was to be Piłsudski and the Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch. This plan was besides withdrawn under the influence of Komintern's chief. Therefore, political parties, state offices, military additions commands, railway stations, offices and newspapers became the real target. In the autumn, the celebrated Citadel of Warsaw appeared on the left.
October 13, 1923 at 9 a.m., The Citadel was shaken by a massive explosion. As a consequence of the explosion, the main military powder area was blown out, along with 40 wagons filled with top quality Italian artillery powder. The detonation was so strong that it left a ten-meter crater behind. The inhabitants of Żoliborz fled their homes and apartments in terror.
All buildings in the Citadel and the area were damaged. In various parts of Warsaw, windows flew out of the buildings, balconies collapsed. The blast broke the constructions of both towers of St. Florian Church in Prague. A powerful cloud of black biting smoke hovered over the city.
As a consequence of an assassination by the far left, 28 people died and 90 were injured. Among the victims were not only the full crew of gunsmiths and people working in the separation of ammunition, but besides families serving in the citadel of soldiers, especially women and children.
The service made all effort to detect the initiators and assassins. Suspects fell - and rightly - to the far left. For this reason, more than 200 people connected with the communist movement were arrested in Warsaw alone, and respective twelve more were detained in another parts of the country.
On the basis of the evidence of Józef Cechnowski, a repentant associate of the communist terrorist network who cooperated with the police and became its agent, Lieutenant Walery Bagiński and Lieutenant Antoni Wieczorkiewicz were accused of preparing the assassination. The only evidence of their relation with the tragic event was the singing – immediately after the detonation – of the revolutionary song “The Red Flag”.
The territory Military Court in Warsaw, before which the trial was pending, sentenced them to expulsion from the army and death punishment by shooting. In the face of uncertainty whether they were liable for the assassination, president Stanisław Wojciechowski exercised the right of grace and replaced their conviction with a life sentence.
To this day we do not know the names of the people who committed the assassination of Citadela Warszawska. However, the fact remains that the names of Baginski and Wieczorkiewicz were named 2 Warsaw streets in PRL. The patrons of the capital streets were besides another communist terrorists: Władysław Hibner, Władysław Kniewski and Henryk Rutkowski. This far left has rewarded its criminals.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.