Tadeusz Jordan - Rozwadowski Tadeusz Jordan - Rozwadowski ( 19 May 1866 - 22 October 1928 ) was a Polish military commander , diplomat , and politician , a general of the Austro - Hungarian Army and then the Polish Army . Biography . Youth . Jordan - Rozwadowski was born in Babin , near Kałusz , Galicia , which formed part of the Austrian Empire ( Austria - Hungary from 1867 ) . The Jordan - Rozwadowski family , traceable to a Polish Bishop and his brothers ca . 900 AD , was a member of the Polish nobility , and a part of Traby clan ( " see Trąby Coat of Arms " ) . The Jordan commemorates a distant ancestor who fought in the crusades and as legend has it was the first Pole to explore the Jordan River valley . He was also descended from the Polish Patriot Kasimierz Jordan - Rozwadowski , who fought against the last partition of Poland . The family obtained the title of count from the Habsburg Emperor Joseph II in 1783 in the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian nobility . Officer in the Austro - Hungarian Army . Prior to the outbreak of World War I , he joined the Austro - Hungarian Army as an officer of artillery . He ( and subsequently his son ) was taught to ride at the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna . For many years , Rozwadowski also served as the Austrian Military Attaché in Bucharest , Romania . In 1914 he became the commanding officer of the 12th Artillery Brigade attached to the Kraków - based 12th Infantry Division . A skilled commander , he then became the commanding officer of the 43rd Infantry Division , which he led during the victorious battle of Gorlice . For his merits in that battle he was awarded the Military Order of Maria Theresa ( see also http : / / www . austro - hungarian - army . co . uk / mmto . htm ) . He is also credited with the discovery of an artillery barrage tactic called " Feuerwaltze " - " Fire - roller " . In the Austro - Hungarian Army he rose to the rank of " Feldmarschalleutnant " , a contemporary equivalent of the British rank of Major - General . Beginnings of the service in Polish forces . On October 26 , 1918 Rozwadowski became the Regency Council - nominated chief of staff of the Polnische Wehrmacht . After Poland regained independence , on November 15 of that year he resigned his post - and was assigned to the same duty within the newly restored Polish Army a week later . Until March 19 , 1919 he was also the commanding officer of the Wschód Army fighting on the fronts of the Polish - Ukrainian War in Galicia . Head of the Polish military missions to Paris , London , Rome . He was then dispatched to Paris , where he took part in the Polish delegation to the Peace Conference and was one of the people to sign the Versailles Peace Treaty . He also headed numerous Polish military missions to Paris , London and Rome . In June he became the official representative of Polish armed forces in Paris and was influential in obtaining international support for Poland ( for example , the volunteers for the Polish - American Kościuszko Squadron ) . Chief of Staff during the Battle of Warsaw . At the height of the Bolshevist Russia n offensive in the Polish - Soviet War , on July 22 , 1920 , he returned to Poland and assumed the post of the Chief of General Staff and a member of the State Defence Council . Opinions among historians vary as to the extent he was responsible for developing the extremely successful plan for the battle of Warsaw that turned the tide of that war , also known as " Miracle at Vistula " . Certainly he was considering a similar plan . Some argue , however that his input was even more important then that of Marshal of Poland , Józef Piłsudski , most often credited with turning the tide of the war . For his part in the war , Rozwadowski was awarded the Virtuti Militari ( Classes II and V ) and the Cross of the Valorous ( four times ) . After the end of hostilities he became the inspector - general of Polish cavalry units and authored the 1924 reform of the cavalry tactics and organization . He was also one of the early proponents of Polish tanks and airpower . In March 1921 , Jordan - Rozwadowski made use of his contacts in Bucharest to help start the Polish - Romanian Alliance , by negotiating a " Convention on Defensive Alliance " . Imprisoned after Piłsudski ' s coup . During the May Coup d ' État of 1926 he was the commander of the forces loyal to the legal government and assumed the role of the military governor of Warsaw . After the victory of Józef Piłsudski Rozwadowski was arrested in Warsaw on May 15 , 1926 and transferred with four other detained generals to a military prison on Antokol in Wilno ( Vilnius ) , where he was jailed in very strict conditions , in an unheated cell , for more than a year , until May 18 , 1927 . The press of the time repeated imprecise and false accusations of improper financial dealings during his service in the army . These were never were presented to him and remained only unsubstantiated rumors . Death and the aftermath . Soon after his release and retirement general Rozwadowski died under mysterious circumstances in a hospital in Warsaw . He was buried , amid rumors of poisoning , with military honours at the Łyczaków Cemetery in Lwów ( Lviv ) , among his fallen soldiers of the 1918 - 1919 Polish - Ukrainian War . In the years following his death , the official Polish media sought to erase Tadeusz Rozwadowski ' s memory . This policy also prevailed during the time of communist rule in Poland after World War II . Only since the fall of communism have historians in Poland been able to objectively question the circumstances of the Battle of Warsaw , as well as Rozwadowski ' s life and contributions to the history of Poland and Europe . Family . General Rozwadowski left behind a wife , a daughter , and a son . The greater part of his fortune was lost in a business venture to benefit the soldiers who fought under his command . His daughter , Melania Josefina , seems to have died under mysterious circumstances in the 1970s and never married . The son , Jozef , was an artillery officer in the Polish Army and was also awarded the Virtuti Militari . In the 1930s , he was forced to resign his commission and emigrate to the United States due to his continued support for the pro - democratic and anti - Piłsudski forces in Poland . Jozef ( " Joseph Jordan " ) worked as an engineer and designed the elevators in the Empire State Building . He also contributed to the design of the Polish Pavilion in the 1964 World ' s Fair . He was survived by one daughter , Melanie Josephine , and one granddaughter , Calia Brencsons - Van Dyk ( see List of Latvians ) , both also living in the United States .