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Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2023
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery
Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2023
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery
Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2023
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery
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ID: WOJ-000596-W (RO-0094)

Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery

ID: WOJ-000596-W (RO-0094)

Grave of Polish legionaries from 1914 in the village cemetery

Buried in the Berbești village cemetery are soldiers of the 2nd infantry regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the Polish Legions, killed in a clash with Cuban Cossacks on 6.10.1914. Colonel Zygmunt Zieliński's group, consisting of two battalions, fought several skirmishes with Cossack troops in the Mary River valley, leading to the withdrawal of the Russians from the Marmara Syhot. In studies on the history of the Second Brigade, the battles fought there are referred to as the Battle of Bardfalu (the Hungarian name for Berbești) or the Battle of Kracsfalu (the Hungarian name for the nearby village of Mara). At the entrance to Berbești, on the banks of the Mara River, the legionaries of the 2nd Battalion were attacked on 6 October during a night's rest by nearly 30 mounted Cossacks. The ensuing firefight resulted in the retreat of the attackers, but 6 legionaries were killed (8 according to some sources), while 3 Polish soldiers were wounded. The fallen were buried the following day in an unnamed mass grave, which until recently had only been marked by a broken wooden cross. Its location was determined by Dr Laurenţiu Batin, a historian and author of the Berbești monograph, who conducted archival research and used eyewitness accounts of the burial of Polish soldiers. It is most likely that sergeant Zygmunt Karol Lagiewski from the 7th company, privates Jan and Jozef Bojarek from the 2nd company and 3 legionaries from the 7th company, unknown by name, are buried here.
Dr Laurenţiu Batin, who holds the position of mayor of the municipality of Giulești at the same time as his research work, decided to commemorate the fallen together with other villagers. In 2013, on the grave of the legionaries, he erected at his own expense a wooden decorative monument in the form of a cross made according to traditional Marmara woodcarving. At its base was embedded a wooden plaque with the inscription in Romanian and Polish: "TO THE MEMORY OF THE POLISH SOLDIERS IN OUR VILLAGE DURING WORLD WAR I, AND ALL THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THE UNITY OF THE ROMANIAN PEOPLE". A cast-iron post from the pre-war Polish-Romanian border was placed next to the grave. The consecration ceremony for this commemoration, which took place on 10.10.2013, was attended by around 500 residents of Berbeşti and the surrounding area as well as representatives of the local authorities, district authorities, historians and teachers. Also present were: Polish Ambassador in Bucharest and guests from Poland.
Today, the surroundings of the grave are enclosed by a wooden fence set on a solid foundation. An information board has been set up at the edge of this separate plot. Clean-up work is also underway on the entire village cemetery, which has been fenced off from the road with a woven wooden fence and a carved gate with a shingled roof.
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List of buried persons

3

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Grób polskich legionistów z 1914 r. na wiejskim cmentarzu
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