Edmund Lesisz | |
Birth Date: | 1 April 1906 |
Birth Place: | Kozienice, Radom Governorate, Russia |
Death Place: | Łódź, General Government, Germany |
Branch: | Polish Armed Forces |
Branch Label: | Branch |
Serviceyears: | ??? – 1940 |
Rank: | Captain |
Battles: | World War II |
Edmund Lesisz (1906-1943) was a Polish Captain who was known for being one of the main leaders of the Raid on Fraustadt and commanding the during the Invasion of Poland.
Lesisz was a professional infantry officer, coming from a family with patriotic traditions, and a graduate of the Cadet Corps in Lviv. During the Invasion of Poland, Cpt. Ludwik Snitko, commanding a platoon of heavy machine guns and a platoon of armored cars, organized the Raid on Fraustadt which ended in a Polish victory. He was also a captain of the 55th Infantry Regiment as the commander of the 2nd company in the 1st battalion.[1] [2]
After the conclusion of the Invasion, Capt. Lesisz was captured by the Germans and stayed in Oflag VII-A Murnau. There, in the fall of 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo for allegedly ordering the deaths of surrendered German soldiers at Fraustadt.[1] A similar fate befell his superior - Maj. Jan Dymowski who was the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 55th Infantry Regiment. Until January 1943 they were both held in a prison in Łódź, where they were to be tried but Lesisz was tortured and brutally murdered the day before the end of the trial on 21 January 1943.[1] [3] [2]
Lesisz was posthumously awarded the Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari by the Polish government-in-exile during the 1970s.[1] He is also featured in a SA139-023 model as a Regio Bohater as a commemoration for the 100th Anniversary of Poland's independence.[3]