Song of the Legions

by Michael Large

  The fight scene with the ‘Podolian Pope’ is inspired by the fight in Jan Chrystostom Pasek’s Memoir ‘The Polish Baroque’, which I highly recommend. It is from an earlier era, the days of King Sobieski, but the spirit (and the vodka consumption) were the same.

  1792

  The details of the Targowica Confederacy are all too sadly accurate. The exchange of correspondence between Pepi and Rzewuski happened, although I have abridged their letters.

  Jan Nepomucen Potocki, Felix’s nephew, and the legendary author of the classic novel ‘The Saragossa Scrolls,’ is known (amongst many other things) for the first flight over Warsaw in a hot air balloon in 1790, and fought at Zielence for the Republic.

  The Polish nobility claimed descent from the Sarmatians of ancient Persia, wild warrior horsemen who fought the Romans. This romantic belief is supported by some archaeological evidence.

  Blumer, Tanski and Sierawski were present at the battle of Zielence, according to Pachonski, although I have invented the details. The course of the battle was broadly as I described, and the Poles did capture the Russian flag, as later celebrated in a famous painting by Wojciech Kossak. There is no evidence Blumer captured it, here I have taken a liberty. I understand that the flag itself was taken from Morkov’s division, who the old boyar tries to rally.

  The great Tadeusz Kosciuszko’s biographical details and description are well-known. Blumer and his comrades were at Dubienka, although I have invented the precise details. The outline of the battle was as described and the Russians had to go through supposedly neutral Austrian territory to outflank the Poles, who then fell back to Warsaw. General Kochowski was in command of the Russian forces at Dubienka.

  As for the betrayal by the King, sadly the defection of Stanislaus-August to the Targowicans was real, and something he will never be forgiven for. Pepi vacillated in overthrowing his uncle and the chance was lost. Pepi did then seek death at Markuszem and was saved by one of his aides, another Prince called Sanguszko, rather than by Blumer and his comrades. However, according to Pachonski, they were indeed among the die-hards at the battle, so again it is plausible they were used for the dirty work as I suggest.

  1793

  All Pachonski says about 1793 was that Blumer’s men “broke through the Russian cordon” but were then later captured and spent the year “in the Russian army”.

  I have therefore had a free hand, and I have Blumer return to Podolia for a confrontation with Felix Potocki. The encounter with Felix is of course invented. Blumer describes Felix as a Russian General. Felix was given numerous meaningless titles such as ‘Field Marshal Imperial’ by the Tsarina to fob him off, and was buried in the uniform of a Russian general. Potocki almost certainly murdered his first wife, either by using his Cossack bodyguards, or, as was commonly said at the time, throwing her down a well. Tulczyn Palace (which still stands) is accurately described. A fireplace from Tulczyn was offered for auction at Sotheby's in 2008 with an incredible guide price of 100,000-150,000 US Dollars. The card table was in the same auction. This gives some idea of Felix’s vast wealth.

  The Targowicans were basically criminals and traitors and did carry out numerous rapes and murders. Dabrowski did however collaborate with the Targowicans in order to save soldiers and regiments from death and deportation, as I have described. This he did very successfully, as I have shown him do with Blumer’s men in this invented encounter.

  Dabrowski’s actions were held against him later by his Polish rivals, mainly Zayonczek. The Legions were sadly bedevilled by infighting, petty rivalries and duelling, as indeed were all armies of the time. I have tried to reflect this in the novel. Dabrowski himself was indeed half German and had served in the Saxon Army before 1791. That may well be where he learned to be such a fine and disciplined soldier. It has to be said that the armies of the Republic, although undeniably brave, were underfunded and not very well organised. They placed far too much emphasis on cavalry and not enough attention on drill.

  Szymon Korczak is an invented character who is an amalgam of two Targowica henchmen, Hetman Szymon Kossakowski and Hetman Szymon Branicki, of the Korczak clan. The manner but not the place and time of Korczak’s death are those of Szymon Kossakowski.

  The duel in the Masonic Lodge is of course invented, but the details of Masonic practices in 1793 are taken from ‘Masonic Quarterly’ magazine. Practically every man of note in the Napoleonic era was a freemason, although oddly scholars have never been able to agree if Napoleon himself was. The author (a non-Mason) would be very grateful for any help regarding the history of freemasonry for the next novel, where this will be a major theme.

  A similar bison hunt in Podolia to mine is related in Norman Davies ‘God’s Playground’.

  1794

  I have tried to be as faithful to the history of the Uprising as possible. The line ‘The Sharper The Thistles The Sweeter The Victory’ is taken from Norman Davies.

  According to Pachonski, Blumer and his comrades were in Krakow for the Act of Insurrection, but only Tanski and Sierawski were at Raclawice. However, Blumer was made a Lieutenant in command of a ‘People’s Brigade’ of volunteer infantry, exactly as I described. It was a small leap to place him with the scythemen in the front rank at Raclawice and I hope I may be forgiven for it.

  Sierawski did indeed defend his beloved Krakow using a powder mine and other fortifications – sadly I had to omit this for reasons of space. During the siege of Warsaw, Sierawski was also called upon to defend Wola, and seems to have performed heroically. I do not know that Blumer and Godebski were involved in the siege of Warsaw at all, let alone at Wola, so I have invented that part, again, for dramatic purposes. However, I have tried to make amends, as I have Blumer do to Zayonczek, by giving Sierawski the credit.

  Zayonczek did lift the very same siege of Wola, a suburb, by charging cavalry through the streets, as I described. A brave fighter, he was unfortunately a completely unscrupulous man (see Nafziger, for example) and plotted endlessly against Dabrowski, his rival. The details of Madame Zayonczek’s beauty regime are taken from no less and authority than the official webpage of the President of Poland: www.president.pl/en/presidential-residences. The lady herself was a Protestant, a Huguenot, as Tanski refers to her.

  Dabrowski was also initially successful in counter-attacking against the Prussians, as I describe. He was often criticised (particularly by Zayonczek) for being too well-disposed towards Germans and Prussians. My descriptions of Dabrowski have been as accurate as possible, and taken from Pachonski. I have had Blumer playing cards with Dabrowski in Warsaw, and this is not entirely implausible – Blumer regularly played whist with Dabrowski in Italy, a few years later – but this scene is invented.

  Madame’s house probably was used for the war effort, but this is conjecture. The Lanckoronski family have been fighting for Poland and her culture for generations, and The Lanckoronski Foundation is very active at the present day. This inspired the invented sub-plot to save a number of historic treasures, including Sobieski’s Flag, which Blumer and his comrades almost ruin. Although this is invented, there are tantalising hints about ‘Sobieski’s Flag’ contained in Godebski’s poem ‘Poem of the Legions’. The extract from Horace is Epode Number 15, which was known to Godebski as he quotes from it in the same poem.

  The Slaughter of Praga was one of the worst atrocities of the whole Napoleonic Era. It remains very contentious. Suvarov argued at the time that it was a reprisal for the killing of Russians during the Uprising. However, the argument is fairly feeble – even he was appalled by it. I have deliberately chosen descriptions by the British Ambassador Colonel William Gardner, and by Suvarov himself, to avoid any accusations of bias.

  “It is with regret I inform your Lordships that the day of the forcing of the lines of Praga was attended by the most horrid and unnecessary barbarities – houses burnt, women massacred, infants at the breast pierced with the pikes of Cossacks and universal plunder, and with the same fate prepared for Warsaw” – the wor
ds of the British Ambassador, see Norman Davies, ‘God’s Playground’, page 410. Suvarov himself said “The whole of Praga was strewn with dead bodies. Blood was flowing in streams.” (Isabel de Madoniaga, “Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great”). Needless to say the Tsarina was delighted with the massacre, sending the famous message – ‘Hurrah!’ – and promoting Suvarov.

  The comrades’ flight from Warsaw with the flag, the treasures, and the army wives, is invented, but similar scenes obviously occurred after Praga. The incident with the burned manor house is invented but reflects accurately what was going on at the time. The wholesale theft of nearly half a million precious books of the Warsaw Library – the House of Kings – has been well documented and did take place: see for example Norman Davies page 384-5.

  1795

  Kalwaria Zebrydowski was built between the years of 1605 and 1632 (see www.kalwaria.eu). There are forty chapels, including Herod’s Palace, set on the surrounding hills. After being wounded in the leg, in a skirmish at Krywacze, Blumer did indeed go on a pilgrimage to Kalwaria. There he met up again with Tanski and Sierawski at Easter 1795, before setting out for Krakow, and then Lwow, where they eventually met up with Godebski.

  Wieliczka contains world famous salt mines.

  Magda’s Song at Chapter Twenty-Three is based on one quoted by Norman Davies at Volume II, page 200.

  Sierawski’s incredible story and Tanski’s sad tale are both taken from Pachonski and are in outline true. The Generals who sent Sierawski on his suicide mission were Wojczynski and Grabowski, according to Professor Pachonski. Sierawski did have an elephant on his coat of arms. The descriptions of places and customs are accurate, although the pursuit of Blumer and his comrades by the Targowicans led by the fictional Szymon Korczak is of course invented.

  Birnbaum was Blumer’s sergeant later but probably did not know him at that point. The story of the Beardlings is however entirely true and well-documented. It makes an interesting addition to the story of Polish-Jewish relations. This was of great importance to the society of the Republic and something I felt was vital to deal with in the book. I have not really done this theme justice (due to constraints of space) but it would have been a great shame to omit it altogether.

  Princess Isabella Czartoryska, who does not appear in the book, created the Temple at Pulawy and preserved cultural relics in the museum there (see www.muzeum-czartoryskich.krakow.pl). Pulawy was under construction at the time I have the comrades visit it, as I describe.

  The renegade Frenchman who betrayed the plans of the Uprising was General Dumouriez, who had been a friend of Kosciuszko’s.

  1796

  Cyprian Godebski was a resistance leader in Lwow and the comrades were reunited there.

  Also in Lwow the same time was Jablonowski, ‘The Little Negro’, who is mentioned in Pan Tadeusz, the Polish national poem. I have no idea if the comrades met him, and the encounter is invented, but all of the details (including his not very politically correct nickname) regarding this extraordinary man are taken from Pachonski, ‘Poland’s Caribbean Tragedy’. There is a portrait of him (and of Blumer) in the Appendix to that book. Napoleon and Jablonowski were classmates at the exclusive French military academy at Brienne in 1783. Napoleon, whose prejudices are well documented, never liked him. During their school days Jablonowski is said to have retorted to Napoleon’s racial jibes in exactly the manner Blumer relates. By all accounts (even Napoleon’s) Jabolonowski was an exemplary soldier and physically fearless. He does not appear to have suffered any racial prejudice from Dabrowski, as he was repeatedly promoted by him, and ultimately commanded the Second Legion, although that takes place after this novel is set.

  ‘The Beloved Country’ was written by Ignacy Krasinski in 1774 and was the anthem of the Warsaw Corps of Cadets. The comrades sojourn in Lwow was interrupted by a warrant being issued for Godebski’s arrest, so they presumably made a nuisance of themselves. Although their time in Lwow is fictionalised, the accounts of the French campaigns that I have them reading (in frustration) in the Austrian newspapers are accurate, including Dabrowski’s involvement. The Austrian newspapers referred to Dabrowski’s men as ‘The Foreign Legion’ because they were not allowed to use the name ‘Poland’. The Partitioners had agreed that ‘...the name or designation of the Kingdom of Poland... shall remain suppressed as from the present and forever...’ This was contained in a Secret Protocol to the Treaty of 15/26 January 1797 between Prussia, Austria and Russia. See (for example) Norman Davies ‘God’s Playground’ at page 408.

  1797

  Dabrowski’s Proclamation had a hugely positive effect on a shattered nation, and drew émigrés and deserters from the Austrian army to Italy. I am very conscious that General Dabrowski does not get a huge amount of time in the novel, even though it was his Legion. We encounter him only three times – on the run in Podolia, at the raising of the Siege of Wola, and in Rome. Dabrowski spent much of this period outside Poland, in exile, putting together the Legion, travelling to Prussia and France, and fighting alongside Bonaparte in Italy.

  Details of Denisko’s shambolic camp are taken from Pachonski, and from Zamoyski’s ‘Holy Madness’, page 121. Although Denisko used the funds badly, much of the French silver had been stolen by the Sultan of Turkey, according to Pachonski. Blumer and his comrades (and many others) took their leave to go to Italy via Turkey, around the time of ‘Denisko’s Catastrophe’ which occurred around 25 June – 4 July 1797. Dabrowski conceived the original plan, and intended to send relief to Denisko, via Bukowina and the Leoben pass. When a truce was signed between Austria and France. Dabrowski rescinded the order, but in the fog of war, Denisko carried on with the original plan, with tragic results.

  At the Dniester, Sierawski was again the hero of the hour, leading the comrades against 36 Russian Cuirassiers, although I have fictionalised the scene, including the involvement of Szymon Korczak.

  The description of ‘The Void’ at Chapter 35 is taken from Tanski’s diary (see Pachonski). Blumer and his comrades’ dreadful journey to Constantinople was by crab boat, although they were shipwrecked twice, not once, as I have it. Hassan is a fictional character, but the Turkish Janissaries did conscript Cossacks and others as I describe. The Turks were short of officers and did their best to recruit Polish émigrés.Some did defect and converted to Islam.

  Rymkiewicz did commandeer the embassy buildings in Constantinople, and the old Roman chain was left lying beside the harbour right up until the early twentieth century!

  Before the journey to Italy, according to Pachonski, Tanski did contract an unpleasant illness, probably dysentery, from which he made a complete recovery. Sierawski was the bodyguard to the French Ambassador du Bayet, although he was not very successful at this and they were taken prisoner by pirates. Blumer’s journey was uneventful so I used the opportunity for a final showdown with Korczak. Here history catches up with the traitor. His fictional model, Szymon Kossakowski, was captured by the Lithuanians in Vilnius, trying to escape in a boat during the Uprising in 1794, and hanged under the slogan ‘He Who Swings Cannot Drown’.

  1798

  Dabrowski’s headquarters were in Milan, where the aging Wybicki was in charge of various administrative issues. Blumer was given, or restored, to the rank of Lieutenant there.

  The short reign of Tsar Paul ‘The Mad’ was as I describe. Stanislaus-August died a prisoner in St Petersburg and his nephew Prince Poniatowski, in despair, spent his time in a dissolute fashion.

  Bonaparte declared war on the Pope for his own nefarious reasons. Dabrowski captured Rome for him but in a peaceful fashion as I describe – see Pachonski. The Pope showed Dabrowski the captured standard of the Ottoman Sultan, taken by Sobieski at Vienna in 1683 as a trophy, and presented to the Pope of the day as a present by Sobieski.

  The comrades did end up in Rome, and according to Pachonski, their fortunes were as I described. Tanski was assigned to guard Cardinal Testaferrato by Dabrowski – I have not painted a very flattering portra
it of the Cardinal, but such behaviour was fairly typical! As far as I know Godebski did not arrive in Rome until later in May, so I hope I may be forgiven for stretching this small point.

  The staircase I describe, where Dabrowski met the Pope, is the Aracoeli staircase, which can still be seen in Rome today. Blumer married an Italian Countess and Godebski a French aristocrat, so their dalliances are plausible.

  There was a brawl in a church between Polish Legionnaries and radical French soldiers, as I describe, although I am not aware that Blumer or his comrades were involved.

  Blumer has an Egypt-sized hole in his CV, and a large inscription of the Egyptian Sun God Ra on his tomb. Napoleon did originally intend to invade England, but changed his plans. Many of the invasion force were ignorant of their destination until well after departure. The Legions did not officially take part in Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition, as it was rightly frowned on by Dabrowski. However, a contingent of Poles under Zayonczek, from the Second Legion (Blumer’s Legion) did take part...