Background
Tadeusz Komorowski was born in Khorobriv, in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (now village in Kozova Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine).
Tadeusz Komorowski was born in Khorobriv, in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (now village in Kozova Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine).
In the First World War he served as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and after the war became an officer in the Polish Army, rising to command the Grudziadz Cavalry School.
After taking part in the fighting against the German invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II in 1939, Komorowski, with the code-name Bór, helped organise the Polish underground in the Kraków area. In July 1941 Tadeusz became deputy commander of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa or "AK"), and in March 1943 gained appointment as its commander, with the rank of Brigadier-General.
In mid 1944, as Soviet forces advanced into central Poland, the Polish government-in-exile in London instructed Tadeusz to prepare for an armed uprising in Warsaw. The government-in-exile wished to return to a capital city liberated by Poles, not seized by the Soviets, and prevent the Communist take-over of Poland which Stalin had planned. The Warsaw uprising began on Komorowski's order on 1 August 1944 and the insurgents of the AK seized control of most of central Warsaw. Elements of the Soviet Army stood only 20 km (12 mi) away but on Joseph Stalin's orders gave no assistance. In September 1944, Bor-Komorowski was promoted to General Inspector of the Armed Forces (Polish Commander-in-Chief). On 2 October, after two months of fierce fighting, Bór-Komorowski surrendered to the Germans on condition that Germany treat the AK fighters as prisoners-of-war, which they did. Bór-Komorowski went into internment in Germany (at Oflag IV-C). Despite pressure from the Germans, he refused to issue orders of surrender to Home Army units that continued fighting in German-controlled Poland.
After the war Tadeusz moved to London, where he played an active role in Polish émigré circles. From 1947 to 1949 he served as Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, which no longer had diplomatic recognition from most Western European countries. He wrote the story of his experiences in "The Secret Army" (1950). After the war he was an upholsterer.
Tadeusz died in London aged 71. After his death in London on 24 August 1966, he was buried in Gunnersbury Cemetery (also known as (New) Kensington Cemetery). On 30 July 1994 Gen. Bor-Komorowski's ashes were buried in Powazki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.