The Lwów Eaglets - the heroic young defenders of Poland in the East

The Lwów Eaglets – the heroic young defenders of Poland in the East

21/11/2024
History

The defence of Lwów during the Polish-Ukrainian war started on 31 October 1918. The young volunteers, the so-called Orlęta Lwowskie or Lwów Eaglets, were the most famous among the brave Polish soldiers. Many students fought bravely and died for the independence of Poland.

The Battle for Lwów 1918-1919 referred to in Polish historiography as the Defence of Lwów, was a series of Polish-Ukrainian battles that lasted from 1 November 1918 to 22 May 1919, ending with the lifting of the encirclement of Polish forces in Ukraine.

The conflict began on 1 November 1918 when the Austro-Hungarian soldiers of Ukrainian nationality captured most of the public administration buildings in Lwów which at the time was a city with an overwhelming Polish population (80%). The city council of Lwów voted to become a part of the Polish state.

The Ukrainian troops proclaimed the West Ukrainian People’s Republic as a new state on territory that was a part of a newly re-established Polish state after the 123 years of partitions by Russia, Germany and Austria.

Polish underground military organisations, the Polish inhabitants of Lwów, including the youth, later known as the Lwów Eaglets, took to their arms against the aggression in their city. The volunteers were supported by the Polish army, including troops from Krakow under the command of General Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski.

The first stage of the 1918-1919 conflict ended on the night of 22-23 November 1918, when units of the Ukrainian Halytska Army withdrew from Lwów, but days after formed a blockade and started to siege the city. After an offensive by the Polish Army, the Ukrainian army ended the siege of Lwów and finally withdrew on 22 May 1919.

The Lwów Eaglets

Among the 1,421 young volunteers, there was a 14-year-old Jurek Bitschan who was one of the juvenile defenders of Lviv in November 1918. When Jurek’s mother joined the city’s defence, her son decided to follow her decision. He ran away from home and volunteered for military service.

Before leaving the house, Jurek left a note to his stepfather, saying:

“Dear Daddy, I am going to report to the army today. I want to show that I can find enough strength to serve and endure. I also must go when I have enough strength and the army is still lacking for the liberation of Lwów. I have already done as much as I need for my studying.”

Jurek was killed during the fighting on 21 November. He was hit by an exploding Ukrainian shell in the Łyczaków Cemetery. The other day, after Lwów had already been liberated, his body was found by his stepfather.

His story became a tragic symbol of the struggle for the liberation of Poland. Jurek was buried in the uniform of a fifth-grade student at the Lwów Cemetery of the Armed Forces.

In November 1920, the Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski visited Lwów. In recognition of the city’s struggle, Lwów was awarded – as the only Polish city in history – the Virtuti Militari Cross. Now the Cemetery of the Lwów Eaglets is a part of the Łyczakowski Cemetery in Lwów.

After the Second World War, the cemetery was repeatedly looted and devastated.

On 25 August 1971, Red Army tanks and bulldozers entered the cemetery, using them to destroy the colonnade and graves. The tombstones were broken, fragments of which were later used to build a statue of Lenin in Lwów.

However, the stone lions that stood at the foot of the triumphal arch were saved, as they were moved to the outskirts.

In 1989, employees of the Polish company Energopol which worked on a construction project in Ukraine began cleaning up the devastated necropolis.

In the following years, there were several attempts to reconstruct the cemetery, but each of them was hampered by the Ukrainian authorities. It was only at the beginning of the 21st century that the Polish and Ukrainian sides reached an agreement and started joint work on the reconstruction of the necropolis. Its ceremonial opening took place in 2005 with the participation of Presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski and Viktor Yushchenko.

In December 2015, thanks to the involvement of the Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Society for the Care of Military Graves in Lwów, two stone lions returned to the cemetery.