Certified lieutenant colonel Władysław Steblik (1898–1971) – officer of the Polish Army and military historian. Sketch for a biography

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the fate of the certified lieutenant colonel Władysław Steblik. He was born on October 22, 1898 in Tresna near Żywiec. During World War I he fought in the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian army, and in 1918 he joined the Polish Army. In the years 1918-1921 he took part in the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Soviet wars. During the interwar period, he served in the 12th Infantry Regiment, graduated from the War School in Warsaw, was deputy military and air attaché at the Polish Embassy in Berlin, and in the Polish campaign of 1939 he was in the 2nd Department of the Army Staff "Krakow". After the capitulation of the army, he was taken prisoner by the Germans, he was held, among others, in Oflag VI B Dössel. This camp was mistakenly bombed by Allied air forces, and one of the wounded prisoners of war was Lieutenant Colonel Steblik. After being released from German captivity, Lieutenant Colonel Steblik spent almost three years in hospital due to wounds sustained during the air raid. During his stays in hospitals for two years, he developed an outline of the military operations of the "Kraków" Army in the Polish campaign of 1939. Lieutenant Colonel Steblik initially decided to stay in exile, but due to the death of his wife and serious health problems he had to return to post-war Poland. The lieutenant colonel was of interest to the communist security authorities.