Czesław Młot-Fijałkowski

Who was Czesław Młot-Fijałkowski?

Czesław Młot-Fijałkowski was a Polish military officer and a brigadier general of the Polish Army.

Czesław Fijałkowski was born April 14, 1892 in Okalewo, then part of the Russian Empire. In 1912 he graduated from a trade school in Skierniewice and left Congress Poland for Liege, where he joined the Leodium University. There he joined the Polish Rifle Squads organization and became the head of its local branch in Belgium. Following the outbreak of World War I he returned to Poland and joined the Polish Legions already in August 1914. He served on the front, commanding a platoon, a company and eventually a battalion of the 5th Legions' Infantry Regiment. Around that time he earned the nickname of Młot, which afterwards became part of his surname. Following the Oath Crisis of 1917 he was interned in Beniaminów, but was released in May 1918 and was allowed to join the Polnische Wehrmacht, at the same time secretly cooperating with the Polish Military Organization.

Already in November 1918 he joined the reborn Polish Army in the rank of Kapitan and took part in the defence of Cieszyn Silesia against the Czechoslovak invasion and later in the Polish-Ukrainian War. Verified in the rank of Major, in 1920 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After almost a year of staff duties during the Polish-Bolshevik War, in late 1920 he became the commanding officer of the Pułtusk-based 13th Infantry Regiment and then in 1923 promoted to the rank of Colonel. A skilled peace-time commander, he held command posts in the Polish 26th Infantry Division and then Polish 7th Infantry Division. In 1930 he was again promoted, this time to the rank of brigadier general, and assigned to the Łomża-based Polish 18th Infantry Division, which he commanded until the end of the interbellum.