Career
Tokarzewski served in the Polish Legions from 1914 until 1917, then in the Prisoner Of War (Polish Military Organization). He was a commanding officer of the "5th Infantry Legion Regiment" during the Polish-Ukrainian War, which fought in LwóWest After Poland regained independence in 1918, Tokarzewski served in the Polish Army.
In April 1919 he participated in the Polish-Soviet War, when Wilno was seized by Poland.
From 1924 until 1926 he was commanding the 19th Infantry Division in Wilno, from 1928 until 1932 a commanding officer of the 25th Infantry Division in Kalisz and from 1932 until 1939 a commanding officer of the Corps area (okreg korpusu) in Grodno, Lwów and Toruń. During the Polish Defensive War of 1939, he was commanding the Operation Group (grupa operacyjna) of the "Armia Pomorze" (Pomeranian Army).
He fought in the Battle of Bzura and was the second-in-command of "Armia Warszawa" (Army Warsaw) which was commanded by general Juliusz Rómmel, during the defence of Warsaw. In occupied Poland, on 27 September 1939 he founded the resistance movement "Służba Zwycięstwu Polski" (Polish Victory Service) and was its commander-in-chief until December 1939, when he became the commanding officer of the "3rd Lwów area (ZWZ)" under Soviet occupation.
Crossing the new German-Soviet border, in March 1940 he was arrested and imprisoned by the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs. After being released from prison, Tokarzewski was appointed a commanding officer of the "6th Infantry Division" of the Polish Army in the Soviet Union (Anders Army) in August 1941.
From March 1943 until 1944 he served as the second-in-command of the Polish Army in the East. In 1944 he became a commander of the 3rd Polish Corps which was formed in Egypt. After the war he stayed in exile in England and settled in London.
From 1954 on he was the General Inspector of the Armed Forces of the Polish forces in exile.
He died on 22 May 1964 in Casablanca, Morocco. In September 1992 the urn with his ashes was transferred from Brompton Cemetery in London to Poland and buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.
In 2006, General Tokarzewski"s medals and battledress came up for public auction. Two Canadians, who were aware of the unfortunate history of Poland during, were successful in their bid and brought the items to Canada.
The two then donated the entire collection to "Poland and the Polish people" during a ceremony at the Polish Combatants" Association, Branch#20, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The collection was displayed at the Branch #20 museum until March, 2007, when it was shipped to Warsaw to be displayed in the Warsaw Military Museum in that city.