Władysław Ważny, pseudonym Tygrys, born on 3 February 1908 in Ruda Różaniecka, was a second lieutenant in the reserves of the Polish Army and a teacher. He took part in the September Campaign, after which he made his way through Hungary to France. He was interned in Switzerland with the 2nd Infantry Rifle Division, but managed to escape and reach Spain, after which he was arrested while crossing the French-Spanish border in the Pyrenees. Imprisoned and then in the Miranda de Ebro concentration camp, he escaped from it to the UK, where he underwent a parachute and diversion course. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant, he was transferred to France as deputy commander of the Northern District of the Polish Organisation of Independence Fighters (Polska Organizacja Walki o Niepodległość) and head of the intelligence network "Monika W." He organised a reconnaissance and information group in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. He was active in France from March 1944, transmitting, among other things, information on the location of V1 and V2 rocket launchers and reports on missile transport to London by radio. As a result, Allied aircraft bombed 120 V1 launchers. Ważny's intelligence net also destroyed two landing ramps of flying bombs, located an aircraft engine factory in Albert, which the Allies then managed to bomb, and destroyed a goods train with 200 aircraft engines. Lieutenant Important also detected the start of German construction of a V3 missile launcher. The Germans continually tried to locate the 'Tiger' through goniometric bearings, which they finally succeeded in doing on 18.08.1944. During a firefight in an attempt to stop him, Lieutenant Ważny was killed. He was posthumously promoted to captain and awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari V Class and a number of other Polish and French decorations in 1946.

The grave of Władysław Ważny is located in the small cemetery next to the church in Montigny-en-Ostrevent. His tombstone, in the form of a tall truncated pyramid set on a horizontal slab, topped by a red sphere with a Lorraine cross drawn on it, is distinctive. On the tombstone the inscription: "THE LATE / CAPTAIN / WŁADYSŁAW WAŻNY / PSEUD. "TYGRYS" / MURDERED BY GERMANS / ON 18.8.1944 / IN THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM/ OF POLAND AND FRANCE / Eternal rest May you give him / ZUPRO 1952" (ZUPRO is an abbreviation of the Association of Participants in the Polish Resistance Movement in France). A horizontal plaque also reads:

"FOR YOUR FREEDOM AND OUR FREEDOM / LATE IMPORTANT WŁADYSŁAW / PZ. "TYGRYS" / POLISH ARMY OFFICER, PARATROOPER / DIED A HERO'S DEATH AT THE AGE OF 37 / MURDERED BY GESTAPO AGENTS / IN A FEARLESS FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOM / OF POLAND AND FRANCE / ON 19.8.1944 / TO HIS MEMORY / FELLOW OFFICERS SOLDIERS OF THE P.O.W.N. / ETERNAL REST DEIGN TO GIVE HIM / Z.U.P.R.O. 1952"

Photo of the commemoration: Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick / Montigny-en-Ostrevent - Cimetière de l'église Saint-Nicolas (03, tombe de Władysław Ważny) / Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org