Juliusz Karol Wilhelm Józef Rómmel (; 3 June 1881 – 8 September 1967) was a Polish military commander, a general of the Polish Armed Forces. He graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Pskov and the Military School of St. Petersburg. During World War I he served as a Tsarist army officer and fought in the 1st Artillery Brigade of the Russian Army. In 1917 he joined the Polish Army. During the Polish–Soviet War, he gained great fame for achieving a decisive victory in the Battle of Komarów, the largest cavalry engagement of the 20th century. A commander of two Polish armies during the Polish Defensive War of 1939, Rómmel was one of the most controversial of the generals to serve during that conflict. After the invasion he was captured by German troops and interned in a POW camp in Murnau. After liberation by the Americans he returned to Poland to serve as Commander in Chief. After 1956 Rómmel worked in the Association of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy. Ancestry Although the Rummel family felt Polish and spoke Polish at home, they were in fact heirs to one of the oldest German families in Central Europe, tracing its roots to a certain Matthias Heinrich Freiherr von Rummel, a Livonian Brother of the Sword who in 1332 owned the Getzingen castle near Jülich in Westphalia and settled in Courland to support the Teutonic Knights in their struggle against the pagan Balts. Early career and World War I Juliusz Karol Wilhelm Józef Rómmel graduated from the Konstantin's Artillery School in St. Petersburg in 1903. He served in the Russian Army under Tsar Nicholas II. In September 1903 he was appointed second lieutenant and in September 1909 vice-captain. He participated in the Russo-Japanese War between 1904 and 1905, for which he received the Medal of the Red Cross. He also attended the College of Physical Education. During the Great War, he served as the commanding officer of the 1st Artillery Brigade. He was wounded twice: first time in October 1914 and in May 1915 near the town of Dęblin. In February 1915 he was promoted to the rank of captain and in July 1916 he became a colonel of the Tsar's army. After the February Revolution of 1917 he was elected as a delegate to the Congress of Polish Military in the South-Western Front and to the Congress of Polish Military in Petrograd.