the Polish 2nd Legions Infantry Division, with which he fought in the Polish-Bolshevik War. Soon before the victorious battle of Warsaw, on 25 July 1920, he became the deputy military governor of Warsaw and deputy commander of Franciszek Latinik's 1st Army. After the war, in 1924 he was promoted to the rank of generał dywizji and became the first commanding officer of the newly formed Border Defence Corps. Although quite successful as its commander, he became conflicted with Józef Piłsudski and on 7 May 1929 he was dismissed. Although officially in active service, he was left without assignment and settled in a small villa in the village of Jamno near Brześć Litewski (modern Brest, Belarus). In 1934 he was officially retired. Katyn During the Polish Defensive War of 1939, his wife Maria née Markowska was killed by Soviet bombardment. Soon afterwards Minkiewicz was arrested by the NKVD and imprisoned in Kozielsk concentration camp. As one of the highest-ranking officers in Soviet captivity, he served as the representative of all the inmates. On 7 April 1940, together with the fourth transport of Polish officers, he was transported to the Katyn woods and murdered, probably on 9 April 1940, aged sixty. Among the Katyn victims were 14 Polish generals including Leon Billewicz, Bronisław Bohatyrewicz, Xawery Czernicki (admiral), Stanisław Haller, Aleksander Kowalewski, Alojzy Wir-Konas, Kazimierz Orlik-Łukoski, Konstanty Plisowski, Rudolf Prich (murdered in Lviv), Franciszek Sikorski, Leonard Skierski, Piotr Skuratowicz, and Mieczysław Smorawiński. References 1880 births 1940 deaths People from Suwałki People from Suwałki Governorate Polish generals Polish Socialist Party politicians Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party members Katyn massacre victims Polish legionnaires (World War I) Polish military personnel killed in World War II Polish Army officers Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish people who died in Soviet detention Polish people who died in prison custody Polish prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union Executed people from Podlaskie Voivodeship