the area of Pińsk and Brodów. There, in the village of Deraźny, he was ambushed by the Red Army with a group of Polish Navy officers, after the Soviet Union joined Nazi Germany in the invasion of Poland. Transported to Równe (modern Rivne, Ukraine), the officers were arrested by the NKVD and sent to various prisons and camps in the USSR. Czernicki, after a brief stay in Talitsa, was transferred to the NKVD special camp of Kozelsk. He was murdered in the spring of 1940, aged fifty-seven, in what became known as the Katyn massacre. After the fall on the Soviet Union in 1989, Xawery Czernicki became one of the patrons of the Polish Navy. He is the name-sake of the Polish Navy Depot (1993), the ORP Kontradmirał Xawery Czernicki logistical ship (2001) and the X. Czernicki's Grand Prix prize, awarded every year during the Balt-Military-Expo in Gdańsk. Honours and awards Polonia Restituta (4th Class - Officer's Cross) Cross of Merit (1st Class - Gold Cross) Commemorative Medal for War 1918-1921 10 Years of Independence Commemorative Medal Légion d'honneur (France, 4th Class - Officier) Order of St. Anna (Russia) Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russia) Order of the Sword (Sweden, 3rd Class - Commander) References External links Portrait in oil on canvas Polish Navy detailed biography 1882 births 1940 deaths People from Ashmyany District People from Oshmyansky Uyezd People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Polish Navy admirals Imperial Russian Navy personnel Polish people of World War I Russian military personnel of World War I Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish military personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the Order of St. Anna Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland) Commanders of the Order of the Sword Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian) Katyn massacre victims