The Standard of the 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment

The regiment’s standard is a symbol of its glory; it was awarded the Virtuti Militari cross by Józef Piłsudski for its campaigns between 1918 and 1920. The standard, which miraculously escaped destruction or capture by the Germans during the Second World War, is currently kept at the Polish Institute and General Sikorski Museum in London .

Throughout the early period of its history, from the formation of its first squadron in Kuban in the summer of 1918, through its time in Odessa, Bessarabia and Bukovina, right up to the campaigns of 1919 and 1920, the regiment did not have its own standard. It was not created until the turn of 1920–1921 on the initiative of a group of former pupils of the Immaculate Sisters’ School in Jazłowiec. The standard was presented to the regiment by Marshal Józef Piłsudski on 20 March 1921 on the open fields near Tomaszów Mazowiecki .

It complies with the provisions of the Act on the Emblems and Colours of the Republic of Poland of 1919. The banner panel is a square measuring 65 x 65 cm, made of damask. On its right-hand side is a crimson knight’s cross, with a golden laurel wreath inscribed in the centre bearing the words ‘HONOUR AND FATHERLAND’. The left side is similar, except that the centre of the cross is white and the laurel wreath contains an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment was among the small number of military units which, for their exceptional service in the Polish–Ukrainian and Polish-Soviet War were awarded the Virtuti Militari Cross, 5th Class ( fifteen infantry regiments, four cavalry regiments, one sapper battalion and twelve artillery batteries and squadrons also received this honour). The Virtuti Militari Cross, number 2514, was pinned to the banner by Marshal Piłsudski during the ceremony on 20 March 1921 . Another symbol of this honour is the blue-and-black ribbon, originally attached to the flagpole beneath the finial. It bears visible marks from rifle bullet impacts dating from 1939.

Next to it is a second ribbon in the national colours, with the inscription ‘AWARDED FOR EXCEPTIONAL VALOUR IN THE 1939 CAMPAIGN IN POLAND’ embroidered in gold. Its origins are rather complicated. Shortly before the capitulation of Warsaw in September 1939, by decision of General Juliusz Rommel, the standard of the 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment was awarded the Virtuti Militari for a second time . Guided by the principles adopted for the decoration of soldiers, General Rómmel awarded the order one class higher, i.e. the 4th class . This decision was taken in great haste, without examining its compliance with the regulations governing decorations. After the end of the Second World War, the Order’s chapter concluded that the statutes did not provide for the possibility of awarding the Virtuti Militari Cross twice to a regimental standard. In order to honour the regiment’s distinction, it was decided to exchange the second award of the Virtuti Militari War Order for precisely such a ribbon. The ceremonial presentation of the banner took place on 12 November 1966 at the Sikorski Polish Institute in London.

An integral part of the standard was also a finial in the shape of a silver eagle, its talons resting on a base bearing the regiment’s number. It is currently housed at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. The flagpole, however, has not survived , having most likely been destroyed before the capitulation of Warsaw in 1939.

The Charge at Wólka Węglowa

During the September Campaign, the standard accompanied the 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment throughout its entire combat route , from Poznań to Warsaw. It saw its fiercest fighting whilst breaking through to the encircled city of Warsaw following the defeat at the Battle of the Bzura.

On 19 September 1939, the famous charge at Wólka Węglowa took place. Weakened by previous fighting and deprived of artillery support, the Polish cavalry units had little chance of forcing a passage to Warsaw through the tightening ring of German tanks and motorised infantry. The commander of the 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment, Colonel Edward Godlewski, concluded that the only chance of breaking through the enemy lines would be to act swiftly in a mounted formation and exploit the element of surprise . As it turned out, this was the right decision and the regiment, despite heavy casualties in terms of those killed and wounded, broke through to Warsaw . The charge at Wólka Węglowa was the last in the history of the Polish cavalry to be carried out by the entire cavalry regiment .

Whilst breaking through the German lines, the regimental standard was carried by Corporal Franciszek Maziarski , who had graduated top of his class from the regimental non-commissioned officers’ school in 1937. During the charge, his horse was wounded first, and then he himself was wounded. Before falling to the ground, however, he managed to hand the regimental standard over to Corporal Mieczysław Czech, who successfully broke through with it to Bielany.

Contrary to the legend that later emerged – perpetuated, amongst others, by the Italian war correspondent Mario Appelius and several Polish authors – the Jazłowiec Uhlans did not charge with the standard unfurled at Wólka Węglowa. In reality, it was housed in a protective leather cover , from which only the silver eagle on the pole and the ribbon in the colours of the Virtuti Militari, riddled with bullets from German machine guns, were visible. Pulling the standard out of its cover would only have risked drawing German fire onto it, and consequently its loss.

The banner’s subsequent history

On 24 September 1939, at the barracks of the 1st Light Cavalry Regiment at Łazienki Królewskie in Warsaw, a muster of the 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment took place, along with a farewell ceremony for the standard . It was then taken down and entrusted to the Narbutowicz family, the owners of the tenement house at 25 Nowogrodzka Street, for safekeeping . The body of the banner was concealed inside a mattress, whilst the finial bearing the eagle was hidden in the loft.

This tenement house escaped destruction during the Warsaw Uprising, as well as demolition by the Germans following its fall. The Narbutowicz family were displaced along with the civilian population of Warsaw in October 1944, but by March 1945 they had managed to return to their flat. Although it had been ransacked by looters, the mattress with the hidden banner fortunately remained in place. Only the finial with the eagle was stolen; however, years later, under unclear circumstances, it found its way into the Polish Army Museum.

The banner, together with the Virtuti Militari cross and the ribbon, was taken to the United Kingdom after the end of the Second World War and deposited at the Polish Institute and the General Sikorski Museum .

Jazłowiec and Lviv

Finally, it is worth mentioning briefly two places particularly associated with the 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment. The first of these is Jazłowiec , where the regiment fought its first major battle on Polish soil following its arrival from Romania. Between 11 and 13 July 1919 , alongside units of the 10th Infantry Division, the regiment broke through the Ukrainian defences on the Stypy line. Much credit for this was due to its commander, Major Konstanty Plisowski, who, following this battle, was exceptionally promoted to the rank of colonel, skipping one rank, whilst the regiment was awarded the honorary title of the ‘Jazłowiec Uhlans’.

It is from this time that the special bond between the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Uhlans dates , the latter having been frequent guests at the Jazłowiec Palace. This exceptional relationship was symbolically sealed by the coronation of the statue of Our Lady of Jazłowiec by Primate August Hlond , which took place on 8–9 July 1939 . Due to the already tense international situation, not the entire regiment took part in the ceremony, but only two squadrons, together with Colonel Godlewski, the colour guard and the band.

The second place to go down in the history of the 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment was the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv . The regiment moved into the former Austrian cavalry barracks in the autumn of 1921 and was quartered there until mobilisation in 1939. These were two complexes situated on Łyczakowska Street: the first in the immediate vicinity of Bartosz Głowacki Park (the so-called ‘Jałowiec barracks’) and the second at the junction with St Peter’s Street (now Miecznikowa Street), not far from the Lychakiv Cemetery. The barracks buildings have largely survived to this day, and some of them are used by the Ukrainian Border Guard.