Topics of coins
Major Henryk Dobrzański Hubal
Henryk Dobrzański was born in Jasło on 22 June 1897
to a landowning family, whose members had fought in
national uprisings. In 1914, he joined the Polish Legions
and served in the 2nd Uhlan Regiment. In 1918, when
the II Brigade broke through to the Russian side near
Rarańcza, he was interned and imprisoned in a camp,
which he fled. In November 1918, Dobrzański joined
the 2nd Uhlan Regiment, which was being reformed
in Krakow. He was awarded the Silver Cross of the
Virtuti Militari Order and four times the Cross of
Valour (Krzyż Walecznych).
After World War I, Dobrzański served in the Cavalry
Training Centre in Grudziądz and in several cavalry
regiments. In 1924, he was a member of the Polish
equestrian team which won the Nations Cup in Nice.
He also won several other prestigious equestrian
competitions. On 31 July 1939, Dobrzański was retired
only to be reinstated in September. He was appointed
as the deputy commander of the 110th Reserve
Uhlan Regiment. After the Soviet aggression, on
28 September, the remnants of the regiment divided.
Some soldiers remained with Dobrzański, who wanted
to get to Warsaw, which was still fighting.
On hearing the news that the capital had fallen, Major
Dobrzański decided to continue fighting in Poland,
in uniforms, until the allied offensive expected in the
spring of 1940. He organized an underground network
and chose his ancestral nickname “Hubal” as his alias.
He named his unit the “Detached Unit of the Polish
Army”. The unit won several skirmishes and effectively
avoided the enemy’s ambushes. Fearing the Germans’
retribution on the civilian population, the command
of the Union of Armed Struggle ordered that the
250-strong unit be disbanded. “Hubal” left the choice to
his subordinates and 72 of them stayed with him. The
Germans gathered a force of several thousand soldiers
and policemen to fight “Hubal”. Venting their rage after several defeats, the occupiers torched 620 homesteads
and murdered 712 civilians.
On 30 April 1940, the enemy surprised “Hubal’s” unit when
it was bivouacking. The major was killed in action. His
burial place is unknown. In 1966, he was posthumously
promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Gold
Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order, and in 2010 the Grand
Cross of the Order of Restored Poland (Polonia Restituta).
His actions became the epitome of soldier’s valour and
fight to the end in defence of the country.
Prof. Janusz Odziemkowski
The obverse of the coin shows the Eagle established
as the national emblem of the Republic of Poland and
Major Dobrzański on horseback with a drawn sabre.
At the bottom, there is a model 34 sabre used by the
Polish cavalry in 1939 and a model 37 field cap worn
in September 1939. Below, there are the words uttered
by the major on hearing of the downfall of Warsaw.
The reverse presents the portrait of “Hubal” as he
looked during the guerrilla time: with facial hair,
wearing an unbuttoned uniform and a sheepskin
coat over his shoulders. On the uniform, he is
wearing the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order
awarded to him in recognition of his struggle for the
independence and the borders of Poland in the years
1918–1921.