Born: May 10th 1895, Petersburg
Died: March 23rd, 1976, London
Buried : Northwood, United Kingdom
Education: Higher Military School (Wyższa Szkoła Wojenna)
Occupation: professional soldier
Military Rank: Major General
Military Medals: Polish:Order Virtuti Militari (IV and V class), Order Polonia Restituta (I and IV class), Cross of Valour (twice), Cross of Merit
Fates before joining Anders Army:
After graduating junior high school in 1913, he began studies at the Petersburg Institute of Roads and Transport. He was taken into the Russian army in 1916. In 1917, he graduated from the Officers’ School of Artillery in St. Petersburg and was sent to the German front.
After the February Revolution broke out in Russia in 1917, he joined the 1st Polish Corps commanded by General Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki. In November 1918, Kopański’s service in the Polish Army began. He took part in the battles for Lviv as an officer of the 1st horse artillery squadron. In April 1919, he participated in the expedition of General Edward Rydz-Śmigły to Vilnius, during which he was seriously wounded and lost an eye. From September 1919 to October 1920, he fought on the Bolshevik front in the 1st Cavalry Division of General Juliusz Rómmel. When fighting came to an end, between years 1921-1923 he continued his interrupted studies at the Warsaw Polytechnic, obtaining a road and bridge engineering degree. In March 1923, he returned to the 1st horse art at the position of battery commander.
In April 1924, he began a course for squadron commanders at the Artillery School in Toruń. After completing it, he became a lecturer in ballistics and deputy director of science at the Officer’s Artillery School in Toruń. In 1925, he completed a six-month internship in Fontainebleau at the French School of Artillery. Between the years 1927-1929, he continued his studies at the Higher Military School in Paris, and after returning to Poland, he worked in Department III (Operational) of the High Command in the anti-aircraft defense department. In May 1930, he became the commander of a squadron of the 6th Heavy Artillery Regiment in Lviv. In June 1932, he was again transferred to the Department III of the High Command, where he obtained a position of the head of an independent division. In early 1935, he was appointed a deputy commander of the Armored Weapons at the Ministry of Military Affairs.
From May 1937 to September 1938 he commanded the 1st Motor Artillery Regiment in Stryj. Soon afterwards he was sent to a six-month training course for certified officers at the Higher Military School. On March 13 1939, Kopański was appointed head of the Department III of the High Command. During this time, he was promoted to the rank of certified colonel.
During the September campaign in 1939, Kopański was the chief of the Department III of the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief. On September 18th, the day after the Soviet aggression against Poland began, he crossed the Romanian border. He was the organizer and commander of the Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, first in Syria and then in Palestine, since April 1940. That same year, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. At the head of the Brigade, from August to December 1941, he took part in the heroic defense of Tobruk, and later in pursuit fights for Gazala and Bardia. He stayed in the Middle East and North Africa until July 1943.
Military history in Polish 2 Corps: In September 1942, Kopański took command of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division (later part of Polish 2 Corps), the base of which was the Brigade he had commanded. After the death of General Władysław Sikorski in Gibraltar, he was appointed chief of the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. He was promoted to the rank of Major General in 1944. After war ended, Kopański became the Inspector General of the Polish Resettlement Corps (1947-1949). For belonging to the aforementioned Corps, he was deprived of Polish citizenship by the communist authorities in Poland in 1946.
Post-War: Gen. Kopański moved to live near London. He was an active member of the veterans’ community until the end of his life. Legendary commander of his Polish Rats of Tobruk. Between the years 1970-1972, he was a member of the Council of Three. He left behind two volumes of memoirs: “My service in the Polish Army 1917-1939” (London, 1965) and “War memories 1939-1946” (London, 1961). He died in London on March 23, 1976 and was buried in the Northwood Cemetery.
Author: Krzysztof Hoffmann, Warsaw, Poland
