Major Jan Styliński – z Tarnowa przez Lwów do Wrocławia – życiorys irredentysty
Major Jan Styliński – from Tarnów via Lviv to Wrocław – biography of an irredentist

Summary/Abstract: Jan Styliński, a Galician born in 1897 in a village near Tarnów, was associated with Polish irredentism from his school days. In 1912, he joined the Riflemen’s Association, where he completed a non-commissioned officer training course. In August 1914, he reported for mobilisation in Kraków and was appointed the head of the 1st platoon of 14th company in the 2nd Battalion, then conscripted into the 5th Legions Infantry Regiment, later known as “Zuchowaci” (the „Daring”). With this regiment he travelled as a soldier and then an officer, from the battle of Łowczówek to the oath crisis of 1917. Afterwards, as a second lieutenant, he was conscripted into the Austrian 20th infantry regiment and sent to the Italian front. He was seriously wounded and returned to Tarnów in 1918. There, as the district commander of the Polish Military Organisation, he actively prepared an independence insurrection which broke out on 28 October 1918, making Tarnów one of the first free cities of the Polish Republic. Lieutenant Styliński then returned to the 5th infantry regiment, with which he fought at Daugavpils, Kiev, and in the Wieprz River counteroffensive. After the war, he was for a short time a military settler, and in 1924 he began studying at the Warsaw School of Trade. After graduation, he returned to the army as a professional officer. In 1939, as a major, he volunteered for the Border Protection Corps (KOP) and was appointed commander of the „Iwieniec” KOP garrison. After mobilising his garrison on 31 August 1939, he led it as a battalion of the 35th reserve infantry division (III/207 infantry res.) to Lviv, which he defended until its capitulation. During World War II he operated in the underground Union of Armed Struggle/Home Army in Tarnów, and later in Podhale. After the war, he settled in Wrocław, in hiding under the alias of Jan Szeligowski. He came out of hiding and began living under his real name in 1956, dying as a pensioner in 1962.

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