The Heroes Have Fallen Here - Orłowo 1914 I World War
Channel: Robert GRZ
Date: 2021-01-16

For over a hundred years, we believed in the legend of General Samsonov. The defeated commander shot himself in the head, and the golden rubles of his army buried during the escape are waiting for a find. There is evidence that Alexander Wasilewicz Samsonov, obese and suffering from asthma, was not able to escape on foot. Abandoned by his staff at night, in the middle of the Masurian forest, he died of the accompanying breathlessness. Is it possible? The general was not such an old man after all, he was 55 years old during the battle.

 "we buried the crates, we will find it, there will be enough for many". If even a low-ranking soldier was going to come back for the money, let alone the colonels or lieutenants who had information and possibilities to return to Wielbark. After a few weeks, the Russian offensive in Masuria was launched. The Russians stayed there until the beginning of December 1914. The cash register and the buried epaulettes as well as the personal belongings of the members of Samsonov's staff had already been excavated then

On the advice of his officers, he got rid of the epaulettes, and left his personal belongings with a golden watch, a gold medallion set with precious stones with pictures of his wife and children. The most valuable was the golden saber he got from the tsar for his bravery during the Russo-Japanese War.

- All these things were found by Michał Jedamski, a forest worker on the general's body. He buried the body and kept the valuable items for himself. The watch was taken from him by German policemen. The medallion with photos, which was the key object in the identification of the general's body, was "given" to the widow for only 1,000 rubles in gold.

 And the golden saber?
Jedamski, Mazur by origin, did not give her back to the general's widow. He sold it for gold. Some saw the golden saber back in the 1980s. Maybe it will still be found.