Lt. Col. Zbigniew Rylski, known by his wartime codename “Brzoza”, a hero of the Home Army (AK) and member of the legendary Parasol battalion, passed away on Friday at the age of 102 – the Territorial Defence Forces (WOT) announced on platform X. He was the last surviving defender of Michler’s Palace, a battle immortalized in one of the most famous songs of the Warsaw Uprising.
It was emphasized that during the fighting in the area of the Evangelical cemeteries, despite being seriously wounded, he carried out the severely injured commander “Gryf”, later General Janusz Brochwicz-Lewiński. “From Wola, he set out with his unit to fight in the Old Town. He took part in an unsuccessful attempt to break through a corridor to Śródmieście,” the post read.
As reminded, his father, Zygmunt Rylski, also a lieutenant colonel and commander of the Praga District of the Home Army (AK), is the patron of the 181st Light Infantry Battalion of the Capital Territorial Defence Forces.
“The last soldier of ‘Parasol’ has passed away. Honour to his memory! Today, the mission of the Home Army Parasol Battalion is continued by the Special Forces Unit from Lubliniec,” wrote Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General Wiesław Kukuła, on platform X on Friday evening.
Zbigniew Wiesław Rylski, codenames “Andrzej”, “Brzoza”, alias “Andrzej Kaczor”, was born on January 23, 1923, in Lida. At the beginning of 1939, he and his family moved to Dubno in Volhynia. He belonged to the Polish Scouting Association (ZHP), initially to the troop of the garrison of the 39th Infantry Regiment of the Lwów Riflemen in Jarosław, and later to the troop of the garrison of the 43rd Infantry Regiment in Dubno. There, September 1939 found him. Rylski organized aid for prisoners of war held in a transit camp run by the NKVD on cemetery grounds near the garrison church inside the barracks.
At the end of October 1939, threatened with deportation deep into the USSR, he left Dubno with his mother and siblings for Brest, from where, with the help of paid guides, they crossed the Bug River to Terespol and then reached Warsaw. In early November, together with his family, he found shelter in his grandmother’s apartment at 1 Widok Street in Warsaw. In 1940, through “Lwowicz 1” (Mieczysław Weitzkorn) – an associate of Aleksander Kamiński, from 1941 the commander of the Praga District of the Small Sabotage Organization – Wawer – he joined the Gray Ranks (Szare Szeregi) in Praga, where he participated in sabotage operations.
In February 1942, he was assigned to the deputy commander for tactical affairs of the 6th Home Army District, Lt. Col. Antoni Żurowski, codenames “Bober”, “Andrzej”, “Antoni”, and took the oath. From March 1942 to February 1944, he served as a liaison officer between the District Command and the local commanders and the District Commander. In 1943, he began and completed the second course at the Reserve Infantry Cadet School of the District in Otwock, while simultaneously completing his high school curriculum and attending a driving course in Praga.
In March 1944, after the arrest of his father, Zygmunt Rylski, commander of the 6th Home Army District in Praga, he was, on the orders of Lt. Col. Żurowski “Bober”, transferred to the 3rd Home Army District – Wola and went underground in the LHD, at the school on Karolkowa Street, using false papers under the name Andrzej Kaczor. In the counterintelligence group of the 3rd District, he took the position of intelligence officer under the codename “Andrzej”. His main observation area was Wola, particularly the east-west artery – Wolska Street.
During the Warsaw Uprising, on August 1, 1944, at 4:30 p.m., as part of the assault group of the 3rd District, he participated in the capture of the hospital complex in Czystem, occupied by the Wehrmacht. The assault group was broken up and dispersed. Returning to the school on Karolkowa Street, from where he had set out with the group, he encountered a group of soldiers from the 2nd Company under the command of Stanisław “Kopeć” Jastrzębski of the Parasol battalion. “Kopeć” assigned him to build a barricade at the corner of Żytnia and Młynarska Streets. There, he was incorporated into the 2nd Assault Platoon of the 1st Company of the Parasol battalion. From that moment, under the command of Sgt. Cadet Janusz “Gryf” Brochwicz-Lewiński, he fought as an ordinary soldier in the defense of the barricade and in reconnaissance raids on Długosza, Tyszkiewicza Streets, and Opolski Square.
Later, he participated in the defense of buildings on Górczewska Street, and subsequently in defending the east-west route (Wolska Street in the area of Michler’s Palace and mills). After numerous German assaults and defensive battles, under “Gryf’s” command, he took part in a daring raid into German-occupied territory to neutralize tanks trying to break through Wolska Street. After the defenders withdrew from Michler’s Palace and mills, he continued to fight at Młynarska, Wolska, and the surrounding areas near “Wenecja” by Górczewska, and later in the defense of the Calvinist and Evangelical cemeteries.
On August 6, as part of “Gryf’s” group, he participated in a successful preemptive raid from the cemetery area onto Młynarska Street against two tanks. On August 8, 1944, during the fighting for the cemeteries, he was wounded in his right forearm. That same day, amid intense defensive fighting near the Halpert Chapel in the Evangelical Cemetery, he carried the severely wounded commander “Gryf” off the battlefield, brought him to the ambulance, and then to the St. John of God Hospital on Bonifraterska Street, ensuring immediate surgery before returning to the front line. On August 9, together with a group of Parasol soldiers, he moved from Wola to the Old Town. On August 13, during one of the counterattacks, he was severely wounded. As a convalescent, he stayed at the field hospital in the Krasiński Palace from August 13 to 19. After a few days of recovery, he returned to the front line and participated in further defensive battles and later in the attempt to break through to Śródmieście.
After the failed breakout attempt on the night of August 31 to September 1, he and a group of the wounded made their way through the sewers to Śródmieście, emerging at Warecka Street. After resting first at the Conservatory on Okólnik Street, he moved with others to the assembly point in the building of the Bulgarian Legation on Ujazdowskie Avenue, and later, in the first group, to Czerniaków, quartered at Zagórna Street. He took part in the defense fighting at 7 and 9 Ludna Street, the PKO building (corner of Ludna and Okrąg Streets), 2 Okrąg Street and nearby buildings, and at 14 Wilanowska Street in the Społem warehouses area, as well as 53 Solec, and 5, 3, and 1 Wilanowska Street.
In the night of September 23-24, he swam across the Vistula River to the opposite bank. In Saska Kępa, he was taken in by soldiers of the artillery of the People’s Polish Army. A few days later, he was arrested by the Military Information Service and transported to a hospital in Otwock. He escaped to avoid repression and deportation.
On October 14, 1944, he joined the ranks of the 2nd Army of the Polish Armed Forces. He was assigned to the 5th Independent Motor Transport Battalion stationed in the village of Niemce near Lublin. As a trained cadet and driver, he successively served as a squad and platoon commander. Later, he was transferred to the 6th Independent Motor Transport Battalion, where he served as company chief until the end of the war. He participated in the entire combat route of the battalion, taking part in the crossing of the Nysa River, where he was wounded for the third time.
After the war ended, in late May 1945, his unit was sent to Kicin near Poznań. In July, he was arrested by the Military Information Service and held for interrogation. Help from comrades enabled him to escape and travel to Warsaw, where he hid in Wola with Leokadia and Julian Śmielak at 4 Zawiszy Street, whom he had met during the occupation.
In September 1945, he reported to the Home Army Liquidation Commission at the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), and after speaking with Col. Jan Mazurkiewicz “Radosław”, holding documentation of his disclosure with the rank of cadet, he returned to his unit in Kicin, which was reorganized as the 38th Motor Training and Transport Company of the Military District Command No. 1 in Warsaw. A few days later, he was arrested for the third time by the Military Information Service and taken to a covert prison located in a private villa at 11 Płocka Street in Wola. For three months, from October 14, 1945, he was subjected to continuous interrogations, during which he was both mentally and physically tortured.
On January 17, 1946, in a show trial held before the military cadre and soldiers, the Military Garrison Court pronounced a death sentence (with the right to appeal for presidential clemency). He was imprisoned in Sieradz until March 20, 1947, when he was released under the subsequent amnesty. The Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Warsaw District ordered his release on March 12, 1947, recommending that he be referred to the appropriate recruitment command for demobilization. From the contents of the decision, it appears that the death sentence was never formally issued and had been proclaimed only during the trial as a means of intimidation. The actual sentence was two years’ imprisonment. Formally, Rylski was demobilized from the army on July 11, 1947, without any note of conviction or imprisonment.
From June 17, 1947, he worked as a driver at the Central Administration of Printing Plants in Warsaw. In December of that year, he was transferred to the Central Supply Office of the Printing Industry as chief storekeeper. In March 1950, he became head of the import department, and in February 1951, he was appointed deputy head of the commercial department of the same office. In June 1952, he became head of the commercial department. After two years and a reorganization, he was transferred to the Central Printing Administration as senior economist, with a planned transfer to a newly established printing house in Praga as head of procurement and investment. After nine years in that printing house, in March 1963, he was reassigned by the Union of Printing Enterprises to the House of the Polish Word (Dom Słowa Polskiego), where he worked until 1973. In the meantime, he completed a two-year post-secondary course in economics, earning a degree in economics. For the next five years, he worked at RSW Press printing plants as head of the investment, procurement, and administration department.
In 1993, he petitioned the Provincial Court for recognition of his detention and imprisonment in 1945–1947 as political repression. By decision of the Military Garrison Court in Warsaw dated June 4, 1997, and subsequently the Military District Court dated August 28, 1997, the January 17 sentence was annulled.