Konstanty Plisowski was born on 8 June 1890 in his family village of Nowosiółki in
Podolia, to a family of
szlachta ancestry of
Odrowąż coat of arms. In 1908 he joined the Russian army, and served with distinction until 1917. During World War I, Plisowski was transferred to the 1st Polish Corps. Since 1917 served as a commander of the cavalry regiment attached to the
Polish 4th Rifle Division under general
Lucjan Żeligowski. After Poland
regained her independence in 1918, he joined the
Polish Army. The following year, during the Polish-Ukrainian War he was assigned to the
14th Uhlans Regiment as its commanding officer. He became famous as a cavalry commander after the
Jazłowiec cavalry charge (11 July 1919) that became part of the popular culture as one of the synonyms of bravery. During the
Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920 Plisowski served as a commander of the 6th cavalry brigade and later of the 8th cavalry brigade. He was also briefly the commanding officer of
Rómmel's 1st Cavalry Division. He took part in the famous
Battle of Komarów. After the war he remained in the army and served at various command posts. At the same time he was also a professor of tactics at the Higher War School in
Warsaw. On 4 January 1929 he was promoted to
generał brygady, but in 1930 was demobilised and retired due to his poor health. During the
Polish Defensive War of 1939 Plisowski found himself in
Brześć, where he volunteered for the army. He was made the commander of the Brześć Fortress and managed to organise resistance against the advancing German XIX Panzer Corps of general
Heinz Guderian. After the unconcluded
Battle of Brześć, in which his four infantry battalions managed to halt the advance of four German divisions for four days, Plisowski retreated with his men and joined the forces of general
Franciszek Kleeberg. He was assigned to the
Cavalry Operational Group of general
Władysław Anders as his deputy. On 24 September he was made the commanding officer of the
Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade, with which he fought both against
Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union.
Death in Kharkov On 28 September 1939 Plisowski was taken
prisoner of war by the Soviets and sent to the Special NKVD Interrogation Camp for Polish PoWs in
Starobielsk. Following the orders of
Joseph Stalin, he was murdered at the District Directorate of the NKVD in
Kharkov in the spring of 1940, aged forty-nine, in what became known as the Katyn Massacres, and buried in a nameless mass grave in
Piatichatki, where the Cemetery of Victims of Totalitarianism in Kharkov was officially opened on June 17, 2000. Since 20 March 1996, the
Polish 6th Armoured Cavalry Brigade bears the name of General Plisowski.
Other Polish generals murdered in Kharkov The victims of the Katyn Massacres include 20 or so Polish generals, among whom
Leon Billewicz,
Stanisław Haller, Aleksander Kowalewski,
Kazimierz Łukoski, Franciszek Sikorski,
Leonard Skierski,
Piotr Skuratowicz were murdered at the same location as Pilowski. ==Promotions==