Order of the Military Cross -

a New Polish Award

Lukasz Gaszewski

Since the passing of the Law on Polish Orders and Decorations of October 16, 1992, the most fundamental legislative act regarding Polish decorations, the award system of Poland has remained practically intact. With the exception of the Cross of the Deported to Siberia of 2003 and a few minor medals, issued by various government agencies, no further decorations have been added in the following fourteen years. Abandoned was the project of the Cross of Solidarity, discussed in the Parliament in 2005; and finally a new major decoration has found its way. On October 18, 2006 the Parliament univocally passed an amendment to the Law of 1992, thus establishing the Order of the Military Cross. The statutes to the new award were published in a presidential regulation of October 21, 2006.

The Order of the Military Cross is intended to adjust the award system of Poland to the needs of modern warfare, with particular regard to fighting world terrorism. The direct impulse to create it was the wish to honor the bravery of Polish soldiers in Iraq. Until now Poland had three purely military awards: the Cross of Valor (1920), Cross of Merit with Swords (1942) and the oldest and most coveted Order Virtuti Militari (1792). The statutes of these decorations, however, do not allow them to be conferred in circumstances other than war.

It seemed that the easiest and most natural way would be to amend the statutes of the existing military decorations in such a way, that they could cover also non-wartime warlike operations in which the Polish Armed Forces participated. Let me remind that both the United States and the United Kingdom did not hesitate to extend their top military honors, the Medal of Honor and the Victoria Cross, as well as the remaining combat awards, for operations like these. Also the statutes of the recently renewed top military orders of some other countries, such as the Russian Order of St. George or Romanian Order of Michael the Brave, allow their bestowal for acts of gallantry while on foreign missions. Such was also the initial idea about the Order Virtuti Militari.

Quite surprisingly, the idea faced strong opposition from both combatant organizations and the order’s chapter itself. To the author of this article such an attitude seems a little bit strange. The last deeds for which the Virtuti

Militari was conferred date back to the World War II - consequently the youngest recipients are now over eighty years of age and for natural reasons the order will become obsolete soon. Amending the statutes would help keep the order alive.

It seems that the unwillingness to extend the conferal of the Virtuti Militari reflects the general reluctance to the Polish military presence in Afghanistan and particularly in Iraq. In the opinion of the combatant organizations and the majority of previous recipients of the order, the missions to these countries have little to do with defense of Poland, so conferring the Virtuti Militari in this case would be most inappropriate. This point of view was apparently shared by the legislators and the initial idea of extending the order was abandoned in favor of a new award, which could be a peacetime counterpart of the Virtuti Militari, intended exclusively to honor soldiers on foreign missions. The name chosen for the new award "Order of the Military Cross" refers to that of the Virtuti Militari, as it was called in the era of the Duchy of

Warsaw (1807-15).

On April 26, 2006 the President of the Republic, Lech Kaczynski appointed a committee to design the new order. The persons representing the following institutions were appointed (Figure 1):

Prof. Andrzej Heidrich- artist, designer of Polish bank

notes, Ms. Hanna Archicinska-Gajewska- Chancellery of the

President of the Republic, Mr. Rafal Kepka- Chancellery of the President of the

Republic, Ms. Barbara Kruszynska- Chancellery of the President

of the Republic, Col. Tomasz Bulira- Ministry of National Defense, Maj. Juliusz Tyro- Ministry of National Defense, Ms. Izabela Prokopczuk-Runowska- Army Museum,

Warsaw, Mr. Tadeusz Jeziorowski- Military Museum, Poznan.

Ms. Kruszynska was later replaced by Mr. Rafal Kepka from the Presidential Chancellery.

The committee resolved that the new order should differ from the Virtuti Militari in both physical appearance and structure, which would emphasize its individual character. Eventually, the order has three classes: Grand Cross, Commander and Knight. According to the statutes, the particular classes are awarded as follows:

Grand Cross - to the commander of a unit for outstanding leadership or initiative, combined with efficient command of a military operation.

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Commander - to a unit commander or another

commissioned officer for meritorious leadership or

a deed, resulting in a successfully performed military

operation, or to any officer, NCO or private who

has been previously awarded the Knight Cross for

an act of combat valor at a risk of life; in exceptional

cases, this class can be conferred to a staff officer

for collaboration with the commander, if the

collaboration resulted in the success of an operation.

Knight - to any officer, NCO or private for an act of

combat valor at a risk of life; this class can also be

conferred on a civilian or a military unit.

In the award system of Poland, the Order of Military Cross, irrespective of class, takes precedence after the 5th Class of the Order Polonia Restituta, and before the 1 st Class of the Order of Merit. This placement results from the desire to put all classes of the same order together. More surprising may be the placing the Order of Military Cross, a combat award, after the civilian Order Polonia Restituta, probably due to chronological seniority

of the latter. Just as with the Order of the Virtuti Militari, the insignia of all awarded classes should be worn (in the remaining Polish orders and decorations, only the highest class is worn - albeit this regulation is not always respected).

The order’s chapter consists of a chancellor and five

members, appointed by the President of the Republic from the recipients of the order for a five-year term. The

chapter chooses a lieutenant-chancellor and a secretary from its members. The chancellor and members of the first chapter will be appointed by the President from the first twelve awardees.

The law establishing the order was originally to come into force on January 1, 2007. The work on the order was hastened though, so that the first awards could be made on Independence Day, on November 11, 2006. During the only investiture so far (this article was written in January 2007) the class of Knight Cross was bestowed upon the following military members.

Warrant Officer-4 Mariusz Korner, 22nd Air Force Base,

Corporal 1st Class Mariusz Tomasz Sawicki, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 16th Pomeranian Mechanized Division,

Staff Sergeant Lukasz Pawel Sikora, 1st Special Commando Regiment,

Sergeant Zbigniew Ulaszewski, 25th Air Cavalry Brigade,

Staff Sergeant Tomasz Murkowski, 13th Antiaircraft Regiment, 16th Pomeranian Mechanized Division.

The last conferment was a posthumous one. Staff Sergeant Murkowski (Figure 2) died in Iraq the day before, as a result of a mine explosion. A second posthumous award of the Knight Cross of the Order of the Military Cross was later made to Private First Class

Figure 1: Presentation of the Order of the Military Cross (left to right): Ms. Hanna Archicinska-Gajewska,

Maj. Juliusz Tyro, Ms. Izabela Prokopczuk-Runowska, Prof Andrzej Heidrich, Mr. Tadeusz Jeziorowski.

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Piotr Nita, 25th Air Cavalry Brigade. Private First Class

Nita was killed in action in Iraq on February 7, 2007.

Figure 2: Staff Sergeant Tomasz Murkowski.

Apart from the above, the same class was conferred on three unnamed soldiers of the "GROM" Special Operations unit. The only Commander Cross went to Major General Bronislaw Kwiatkowski, commanding the International Division Central-South in Iraq (Figure 3).

The badge of the Order of the Military Cross is a Greek cross with dark blue enamel. A silver Polish crowned eagle is superimposed on the center of the cross, which is surmounted by the crown of the first king of Poland, Boleslaus the Valiant (Boleslaw Chrobry). The reverse, which is without enamel, bears a two-line Latin motto: MILITO PRO / PATRIA (I fight for the homeland), and the year of institution MMV! in Roman numerals. A coronation sword of King Boleslaus runs along the vertical arms of the cross. On the lower arm there is an award number. All metal parts (except the eagle) are gilt in the class of the Grand Cross, and silver in the remaining classes.

The dimensions of the Grand Cross (Figure 4) and Commander’s (Figure 5) badges are 45 x 45 mm (70 x 45 mm with the crown), and 38 x 38 mm (60 x 38 mm with crown) for the Knight Cross (Figures 6 and 7).

Figure 3: Major General Bronislaw Kwiatkowski.

The class of the Grand Cross is accompanied by a silver star, 87 mm in diameter, composed of eight sets of rays, 5 rays in each. A gilt cross of the order with the crown is superimposed onto the center. The star is worn on the left side.

The badges of the two upper classes are worn as neck decorations, suspended from a navy blue ribbon, 45 mm wide, with two crimson side stripes of 10 mm, inset 4 mm. The badge of the lowest class is worn on the left breast on a 40 mm wide ribbon, with 9 mm stripes, 3 mm inset.

Ribbon bars, 40 mm wide, can be worn on undress uniform instead of full badges. The ribbon bar of the Commander’s class has a small rosette in the center; a similar rosette with a gold lace underneath denotes the class of the Grand Cross. Rosettes without the ribbon bars can be worn on the civilian clothes, the class of Knight being denoted by a narrow ribbon in the same colors.

A few words need to be said about the crown surmounting the badge. Since crowns are also found in the two upper classes of the Order Virtuti Militari, as well as in other Polish symbols (especially in the Polish coat of arms), a question often put forward is why a symbol of monarchy appears in a republican country like Poland. This has

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