Leopold Lis-Kula (nom de guerre Lis) was a Colonel of Infantry of the Polish Army, and recipient of the Virtuti Militari. Lis Kula was born on November 11, 1896 in the village of Kosina near Łańcut (Austrian Galicia), and died on March 7, 1919 in the village of Torczyn near Lutsk, Volhynia, during the Polish–Ukrainian War. Biography His father Tomasz Kula was a railway worker, while mother Elzbieta née Czajowska was a housewife. Leopold was their fourth child, and to provide better education for the children the family moved to Rzeszów in ca. 1910. Altogether, Tomasz and Elzbieta had eight children. Young Leopold, raised in a patriotic spirit by his mother, attended Austrian State Gymnasium II, which now is a high school named after him. He was an average student, who liked to cut classes: in spring 1911, on a day when Leopold decided not to go to school, he founded a secret youth organization, and soon afterwards, he joined boy scouts. In November 1911, Andrzej Małkowski, the father of Polish boy scouting in Galicia, came to Rzeszów. During a meeting with local teenagers, Leopold Kula took on a nickname "Lis" ("Fox"). By spring 1912, Kula was one of main members of patriotic youth organizations in Rzeszów. Together with other teens, he practiced military training in forests around Głogów Małopolski and Tyczyn. Some time in 1912, he left boy scouting and joined Riflemen's Association. In summer 1912, the association organized secret training camp near Jasło. Józef Piłsudski, who attended the event, personally talked with Lis-Kula, congratulating the young activist on his skills and enthusiasm. Recommended by Pilsudski, Kula was sent to Zakopane, where he completed summer officer school of the Riflemen's Association. In 1913, Leopold, who as 16 at that time was named deputy commandant of Rzeszów branch of the association. On August 5, 1914, together with a group of riflemen, Kula came to Kraków where he was named commandant of the 4th Company of a group of Mieczyslaw Trojanowski. In the fall of that year, Kula took part in the First Cadre Company's fighting against Russians in the area of Kielce. On October 9, 1914, he was promoted to the rank of Podporucznik (second lieutenant), by Józef Piłsudski and Kazimierz Sosnkowski. 18-year-old Leopold then fought in the battles of Krzywoploty and Łowczówek (November – December 1914). He was generally regarded as an excellent and courageous leader. In spring of