Stanislav Poplavsky Stanislav Gilyarovich Poplavsky ( , ) ( 22 April 1902 — 10 August 1973 ) was a general in the Soviet and Polish armies . Biography . Poplavsky was born in Imperial Russia , near Kiev . His family ( father - Hilary ) was ethnically Polish , and in his younger years he considered himself a Pole . He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1930 onwards . He was drafted to the Red Army in 1920 and served for the first three years ( until 1923 ) as a private , then for four years ( until 1927 ) as an NCO , company commander in the 297th Rifle Regiment . Over the next few years he attended an officer school , and afterwards received his own commands : first of a platoon in the 137th Rifle Regiment ( 1930 – 1931 ) , then a platoon ( 1931 – 1933 ) and later a company in the School for Infantry Officers in Kharkov ( 1933 – 1935 ) . Before the Second World War he attended the Frunze Military Academy ( 1935 – 1938 ) where he became an instructor of military tactics ( 1938 – 1939 ) but in February 1939 he was relieved after a false accusation and given a manager ' s job at a " sovkhoz " . He returned to service shortly before the German invasion of the Soviet Union . He was first a member of the staff of the 162nd Rifle Division , next commander of 720th Rifle Regiment ( July – September 1941 ) , and then Chief of Staff of 363rd Rifle Division ( October 1941 - January 1942 ) . During the next four months he commanded the 184th , 256th and 220th Rifle Division s , and then the 45th Rifle Corps in the Soviet 5th Army ( June 1943 - September 1944 ) . In 1944 he was transferred to the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie ( Polish People ' s Army ) as one of the many Soviet officers who were to ensure that this allied formation remained loyal to communist ideals . As major general he commanded the Polish Second Army ( 26 September – 19 December 1944 ) and later the Polish First Army ( till 10 September 1945 ) . His units took parts in the breakthrough of the Pommernstellung ( Pomerania Wall ) fortification line , securing the Baltic Sea coast , crossing the Odra and Elbe rivers and the battle of Berlin . He was wounded four times in the war . After the war he remained in the Polish army , along with thousands of other Soviet officers , like Konstantin Rokossovsky , who were put in charge of almost all Polish military units , either as commanding officers or as their " advisors " . Popławski served as commander of the Polish forces occupying Germany , later being commander of the Silesian Military District ( until 22 November 1947 ) , Chief Commander of the Polish Land Forces ( until 21 March 1950 ) , and General Inspector of Military Training ( until 2 April 1949 ) . He also held political positions : on 2 April 1949 he became the 2nd Deputy Minister of National Defence and later was Deputy Minister himself . He was also a deputy to the Polish Sejm ( 1947 – 1956 ) , and from 1949 to 1956 he was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party ( PZPR ) . In 1956 he was commander of the military forces responsible for the suppression of the Poznań 1956 protests . Afterwards , with the beginning of the era of destalinization , he ( together with a significant number of other Soviet officers ) left the Polish Army , which was granted slightly increased independence , and returned to the Soviet Union , where he became the 1st Deputy of the Chief Inspector of Military Training of the Red Army , and from 1958 an advisor to the inspectors - general of the Soviet Ministry of Defense . He retired in 1963 with the rank of army general . Married with one daughter , he died on 10 August 1973 in Moscow and was buried in the Novodevichi Cemetery , Moscow . Awards . Poplavsky was the recipient of many awards , including Polish ( Commander Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari , Cross of Grunwald Second Class ) and Soviet ( Hero of the Soviet Union , Order of Lenin ( 3 times ) , Order of Suvorov ( I and II Class ) , Order of Kutuzov ( II Class ) , Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky ( II Class ) and Order of the Red Banner ( 4 times ) ) . Several items were named after him , particularly in the People ' s Republic of Poland , including a ship of the Polish Merchant Navy . Works . Author of memoirs " " Comrades of the front roads " " ( or " " Comrades of the struggle " ; Polish title : " Towarzysze frontowych dróg " , Warszawa 1964 , 1966 , 1970 , 1973 , 1983 ; Russian title : " Товарищи в борьбе ' , Moskwa 1963 , 1974 ; German title : " Kampfgefährten " , Berlin 1980 " ) . The original title was to be " On the land of forefathers " ( " Na ziemi przodków , За землю предков " ) , but it was changed by the censors .