Wacław Micuta Wacław Micuta , also known as " Wacek " ( December 6 , 1915 , Petrograd - September 21 , 2008 , Geneva ) was a Polish economist , functionary of the United Nations and a soldier – participant in the German - Polish War 1939 and a commander of one of two Polish tanks ( captured from the Germans ) in the Warsaw Uprising with the rank of first lieutenant . Life . Micuta was born to a Polish family from the Kresy in Petrograd , Russia . In 1922 his family moved to Poznań where he finished secondary school and studied economics . He was also active in the scouts movement . He finished his military enlistment in Włodzimierz Wołyński with a rank of second lieutenant . After finishing his studies in June 1939 he became the secretary to the voivode of the Silesian Voivodeship , Michał Grażyński although he held this position only briefly , due to the beginning of World War II . Mobilized , he took part in the Polish September Campaign of 1939 , fighting , among others , at the Battle of Bzura . On 19 September , during an attack on German positions in Laski he suffered a serious wound to his right hand . Subsequently he was captured and sent to a German POW camp from which he escaped in 1940 and came to Warsaw . There he was brought into the Polish underground by Jan Nowak - Jeziorański . At first he was the adjutant of Major Jan Włodarkiewicz , however , in September 1940 he became one of the instructors of the Szare Szeregi . After 1941 he continued his instructions in Lwów until July 1942 when he was arrested by the Gestapo . During the interrogations he was tortured although he did not confess to anything nor did he give up any of his co - conspirators . Due to efforts made by his friends on his behalf he was freed after several months . He returned to conspiratorial activity and was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant . In the summer of 1944 Micuta came back to Warsaw where he became an officer for special tasks of Armia Krajowa ' s Scouting battalion " Zośka " . During the Warsaw Uprising the battalion captured two German Panther tank s and Micuta was made the commander of a newly formed armored platoon ( one of its kind on the insurgents side in the uprising ) which fought in the Wola section of Warsaw . Wacław Micuta was the actual commander of one of the captured tanks which was nicknamed " Magda " and used it in an action which liberated the Gęsiówka concentration camp . This action freed around 350 Polish , as well as Greek , Hungarian and French Jews . One of the freed inmates , Henryk Lederman organized a battalion composed of the liberated Jews which he presented to Micuta . This unit fought under Micuta for the remainder of the uprising and according to Micuta : " They fought like mad . . . I think only three of them survived " On 11 August the Polish insurgents had to abandon the captured tanks which by that time had been heavily damaged and evacuated Wola for Warsaw ' s Old Town through the sewers . In further fighting during the Uprising , Micuta was wounded in his left lung but after a short stay at the insurgent ' s hospital he returned to the battle , later taking part in the fighting in the Czerniaków and Śródmieście districts . During the Uprising he was promoted to the rank of captain . Postwar . After the war Micuta decided to keep his activities with the Armia Krajowa secret from the Communist authorities who were prosecuting AK ' s former members . He worked in Zakopane and Łódź as a driving instructor . From 1946 he worked in the Ministry of Central Planning . In 1948 he managed to obtain permission to travel with his family to Switzerland where he decided to stay . He began working for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and afterwards in other UN commissions . His tasks included compiling economic data and writing economic reports about Poland and other countries of the Eastern Bloc . In 1960 he volunteered to take part in a UN peace mission to the war - torn Belgian Congo . He also participated in other missions in Rwanda and Burundi . Between 1965 and 1968 he was the vice president of UN ' s Development Program for Europe . He served as UN ' s representative in the Republic of Chad . In 1971 he served as Deputy Director of Operations for UN ' s Division on Narcotic Drugs . After retiring in 1976 , Micuta continued his activism on behalf of developing countries . He was also a pioneer in and a tireless supporter of renewable energy and the founder of Renewable Energies Development Institute in Geneva . While working for institute he developed a low cost fuel efficient stove which could be easily constructed and used in poor countries . This stove design was published by HEDON Household Energy Network in their journal Boiling Point . He was the author of numerous professional publications and a laureates of a number of awards . He was active in the Organization of Poles in Switzerland and in organizations concerned with Polish - Jewish relations . In February 2000 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Polish Armed Forces on inactive duty . He died on 21 September 2008 in Geneva . Awards . For his part in the Polish September Campaign , Micuta received the Cross of Valour and the Order of Virtuti Militari . He was awarded a second Virtuti Militari for his part in the Warsaw Uprising . On 10 April 2007 he was awarded the Commander ' s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta .