Robert Lamezan de Salins

Who is Robert Lamezan de Salins?

Robert Lamezan de Salins was a Polish and Austro-Hungarian military officer.

An heir to a mighty Austro-Hungarian family of distant French roots, Robert Franz Lamezan-Salins was born August 14, 1869 in Mödling near Vienna to Eduard Graf Lamezan-Salins, a notable statesman and lawyer, president of district court for Vienna and founder of Austrian Olympic Committee. His grandfather was another Austrian general, Anton Graf von Lamezan-Salins.

In 1890 Robert Lamezan-Salins joined the Austro-Hungarian Army and initially served as an NCO in the 6th Dragoon Regiment. Stationed in predominantly Polish Galicia, in 1903 he married Irena Countess Wolańska of Przyjaciel, heiress of a Polish aristocratic family. He graduated from the General Staff Academy and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in 1911. Promoted to full Colonel at the outbreak of the Great War, he served as a commanding officer of a cavalry regiment and then cavalry brigade.

Following the end of World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, in December 1918 he joined the Polish Army and was accepted in the rank of Brigadier General. Although officially in active service, initially he served as a diplomat, heading Polish military missions to Bucharest and Berlin, and as a liaison to Inter-Allied Military Mission to Eastern Lesser Poland during the Polish-Ukrainian War. Following his return from Berlin in December 1919 he briefly served as the commanding officer of 12th Infantry Division, but was dismissed already in January 1920 and headed the Polish military mission charged with taking-over of the region of Pomerania from German administration. In this capacity he took part in Poland's Wedding to the Sea ceremony.