Aleksander Jeljaszewicz
Aleksander Jeljaszewicz, known as "Sasza" (22 March 1902 – 18 August 1978).[1] was a Major in the Polish Army. He was the commander of the last Tatar/Islamic unit in the Polish military.
Aleksander Jeljaszewicz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname(s) | Sasza |
| Born | 22 March 1902 Vilna, Russian Empire |
| Died | 18 August 1978 (aged 76) Gdańsk, Poland |
| Allegiance |  Poland |
| Service/ |  Polish Army |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Early life
An ethnic—Polish (Lipka) Tatar, Jeljaszewicz was born in Vilna, Russian Empire, the son of Jan (John), a captain in the Russian Imperial Army. Between 1912-1919 he was a student at Corps of Cadets in Pskov, and later in Kiev. Evacuated to Turkey and Yugoslavia, he finished officers' school as a cavalry officer in 1923. In 1924 and 1925, he was serving in the Serb border guards' unit, only to return to Poland in 1925.
In the Polish Army
The same year, he joined the Polish military and was sent to the Cavalry Officers' School in Grudziadz. He became a professional (soldier) officer in 1928 in the "Zaniemianskich" ("Beyond Niemen River") 4th Regiment of Uhlans in Vilnius garrison. In 1938, he was transferred to the 13th Regiment of Wilno Uhlans "Wilenskich" ("From Vilnius") in Nowa Wilejka (at present part of Vilnius), where he was the commander of the 1st Tatar Squadron (1 Szwadron Tatarski). The last mounted Tatar unit in the history of the Polish military. In 1939, he participated in the September Campaign.
September Campaign
In the first days of September, the 13th Regiment of Wilno Uhlans "Wilenskich" fought near Piotrkow; next, it crossed the Vistula near Maciejowice. Near Maciejowice on the 9 or 10 September, the Tatar squadron executed the last charge against German infantry.
The charge has become a symbol of the closing of the chapter in the history of the Polish military: the end of the last Islamic/Tatar unit. Soon after, 13th Regiment of Wilno Uhlans was dispersed by the enemy during fighting near the village of Suchowola near Lublin. Jeljaszewicz together with the few of his men who have not been dispersed tried to reach the Romanian Bridgehead, but was stopped, and spent the rest of the war in a German oflag.
It has to be noted that many individual Polish Tatars did escape the Germans and the Soviets, re-joined the Polish military; and as of present form a community in Great Britain. One of them was recently investigated by two Jewish organizations because of charges of Anti-Semitism, but was found not guilty, and received official public apologies from both organizations, but not from the accuser.
After war
He came back to Poland and lived in Gdansk. He worked in PZU. He was an active member of the local Tatar community paving the way for people like Professor Selim Chazbijewicz ("Mirza Selim Juszenski--Chazbijewicz" last part the clan name or the coat—of—arms' name), the main historian of the Polish Tatars. He died in Gdańsk, and was buried in the Islamic Tatar Cemetery in Warsaw.
Other Polish non-Christian World War Two soldiers
See also
- Polish cavalry charges and propaganda
- Polish cavalry brigade order of battle in 1939
- Polish Tatars
- People from Gdansk
- List of Vilnius-related people
References
- Aleksander Miśkiewicz, Tatarzy w służbie Rzeczypospolitej, Tygodnik Wileńszczyzny, 3 - 9 sierpnia 2006 r. nr 31 (wydanie internetowe nr 308)