Aleksander Krzyżanowski (18 February 1895 – 29 September 1951) was a Major of the Home Army of Poland during World War II.
Biography[]
Aleksander Krzyżanowski was born on 18 February 1895 in Bryansk, Bryansk Oblast, Russian Empire, and he served in the artillery of the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before joining the new Polish Army in 1918. During the Polish-Soviet War, he fought at the Battle of Daugavpils, and at the start of World War II he led the Polish 26th Light Artillery Regiment. He organized a partisan unit to resist Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland during the war, and he considered the Soviet Union to be another enemy, as Soviet partisans in Poland attacked Home Army forces as well as Wehrmacht soldiers. In 1944, he took part in Operation Ostra Brama in Lithuania, but the Soviets took Vilnius instead of the Poles and defeated the Home Army. Krzyzanowski was captured on 17 July 1944 by the Soviets after being lured in for a "debriefing", and died in prison in Warsaw on 29 September 1951.