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Witold Langenfeld

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Witold Langenfeld
Witold Langenfeld in uniform
Witold Langenfeld in the uniform of a major of communications
Born(1896-04-09)9 April 1896
Lemberg, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary
Died30 December 1968(1968-12-30) (aged 72)
Yonkers, New York, U.S.
Burial place
Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, New York
Military career
Allegiance Austria-Hungary
Poland
Branch
Austro-Hungarian Army
Blue Army
Polish Army
Polish Armed Forces in the West
Service years
1917–1946
Rank
Lieutenant colonel
Unit2nd Communications Regiment
CommandsIntelligence Department of the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief
Station No. 6 (Łódź)
Deputy Chief, Station No. 3 (Bydgoszcz)
Conflicts
World War I
* Italian front
Polish–Soviet War
World War II
* Invasion of Poland
AwardsOfficer of the Order of the British Empire
Officer of the Legion of Merit
Cross of Valour
Gold Cross of Merit
Grave of Witold Langenfeld at Gate of Heaven Cemetery

Witold Karol Langenfeld (9 April 1896 – 30 December 1968) was a Polish military officer, a lieutenant colonel of communications in the Polish Army and Polish Armed Forces in the West, and an intelligence officer of the Second Department of Polish General Staff.

During the interwar period, he served as deputy chief of Station No. 3 in Bydgoszcz, where he helped coordinate the "Wózek" mail-surveillance operation and supervised intelligence operations in the Free City of Danzig. In August 1939, he was appointed chief of the newly established Station No. 6 in Łódź supporting the Łódź Army. During World War II, he served in London as chief of the Intelligence Department of the Polish Staff of the Commander-in-Chief, directing intelligence liaison with the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in the period surrounding the Normandy landings.[1]

Early life

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Witold Karol Langenfeld was born on 9 April 1896 in Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine), in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria within Austria-Hungary, to Ferdynand Langenfeld and Jadwiga (née Zgórkiewicz).[2] In 1914, he graduated from the 4th Classical Gymnasium in Lwów, obtaining his matura, and subsequently enrolled in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Lviv Polytechnic.[2] His studies were interrupted after two semesters when he was drafted into the military.[3]

Military service

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World War I and Polish–Soviet War

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In 1917, Langenfeld entered the Austro-Hungarian Army, serving in the 22nd Rifle Regiment. In May of that year, he was assigned to the Reserve Officer School in Jägerndorf (Krnov), which he completed successfully. In March 1918, holding the rank of platoon sergeant (Platoonführer), he was deployed to the Italian front. During fighting along the Tagliamento river, he was captured by the Italian Army and remained a prisoner of war until 26 December 1918.[3]

Following his release, Langenfeld joined the newly forming Polish Army in France under General Józef Haller in late December 1918, receiving command of a company in the 6th Infantry Regiment. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant (podporucznik) in February 1919 and subsequently promoted to lieutenant (porucznik) of communications with seniority from 1 June 1919.[4]

In late 1919, Langenfeld was deployed to the Polish–Soviet front with the 6th Infantry Division. During the Soviet counter-offensive led by Mikhail Tukhachevsky in 1920, the division fought against Semyon Budyonny's 1st Cavalry Army in eastern Galicia, seeing combat at Yemilchyne, Rivne, Dubno, and Brody, and participating in the subsequent Polish counter-offensive to the Sluch river. From June 1920, he commanded the 6th Telegraph Company of the 6th Infantry Division. For his wartime conduct, he was awarded the Cross of Valour.[3]

Interwar military intelligence

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After the conclusion of hostilities, Langenfeld served as commander of the 5th Telegraph Company of the 2nd Communications Regiment in Jarosław. Between 1924 and 1928, he was attached to the regiment's 6th training communications company.[4][5] He was promoted to captain (kapitan) of communications with seniority from 1 January 1930.[6] In 1932, he served as an instructor at the Communications Training Centre in Zegrze.[6]

In January 1935, Langenfeld completed an intelligence and reconnaissance training course organized by the Second Department of Polish General Staff (the military intelligence and counter-intelligence branch). In March 1935, he was posted to Station No. 3 of the General Staff in Bydgoszcz, which was responsible for intelligence coverage of north-western Germany and East Prussia.[3][7] In Bydgoszcz, he served as head of the Offensive Counter-Intelligence Section, head of the Organizational Section, and until July 1939 as deputy to the station's chief, Major Jan Żychoń.[7] He was promoted to major with seniority from 19 March 1937.[8]

As deputy chief of Station No. 3, Langenfeld was a principal organizer and coordinator of Operation "Wózek" ("Cart"), a long-term intelligence operation that systematically intercepted and examined German transit mail travelling by train across the Polish Corridor between mainland Germany and East Prussia.[9] Leveraging his technical communications expertise, Langenfeld supervised covert microphotography darkrooms established near the railway junctions in Chojnice and Tczew, the fabrication of duplicate lead seals identical to those of the Deutsche Reichspost, and encrypted communications with General Staff headquarters in Warsaw.[9][10]

Langenfeld also supervised agent networks in the Free City of Danzig, serving as handler for intelligence agent Paulina Tyszewska (code name "Maria Ewald"), who was employed in the Danzig station of the German Abwehr under Major Reinhold Bruchardt.[7] In January 1939, he accompanied Żychoń to Prague to observe and secure an operational meeting with the double agent Adam Tarnowski.[11]

On 25 August 1939, Langenfeld was appointed chief of the newly created Station No. 6 in Łódź, organized to provide deep intelligence support for the Łódź Army under General Juliusz Rómmel.[12] Station No. 6 assumed responsibility for intelligence posts in Częstochowa and Ostrów Wielkopolski, which were detached from Station No. 4 in Katowice.[12]

World War II

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Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Langenfeld evacuated through Romania to France and subsequently to the United Kingdom, where he continued his intelligence duties within the Polish Armed Forces in the West.[13] In 1940, he became deputy chief of the Intelligence Department of the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief in London, serving under Major Jan Żychoń.[1] Following Żychoń's transfer to frontline service with the Polish II Corps (Żychoń was later killed in action at the Battle of Monte Cassino), Langenfeld was appointed chief of the Intelligence Department on 1 January 1944.[1]

In this role during the preparation for the Normandy landings, Langenfeld directed intelligence liaison with the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS).[1] He was critical of a proposal backed by National Defence Minister General Marian Kukiel to integrate Polish intelligence into the American "Eagle" operation in the spring of 1944, which planned to parachute 15 intelligence teams into Germany, citing excessive operational risks for the deployed agents.[14] He was promoted to lieutenant colonel (podpułkownik) of communications.[13]

Later life

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On 26 September 1946, the Soviet-backed Provisional Government of National Unity under Prime Minister Edward Osóbka-Morawski stripped Langenfeld and 75 other senior Polish officers of their Polish citizenship.[13] His citizenship was posthumously restored by the Polish government in 1971.[13]

Langenfeld emigrated to the United States and settled in Yonkers, New York. He died in Yonkers on 30 December 1968, at the age of 72, and was buried at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York (Section 21, Plot 147, Grave No. 11).[13]

His operational papers, manuscripts, and correspondence from his intelligence career were deposited with the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America in New York City, where they are preserved as an archival collection (Fonds No. 064 – Major Witold Langenfeld Papers).[3]

Honours and awards

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Pepłoński, Andrzej (2003). "Współdziałanie Oddziału II Sztabu Naczelnego Wodza z Secret Intelligence Service w okresie II wojny światowej" [Cooperation of Section II of the Commander-in-Chief's Staff with the Secret Intelligence Service during World War II] (PDF). Słupskie Studia Historyczne (in Polish). 10: 152, 164–165.
  2. 1 2 Sprawozdanie Dyrekcyi c. k. Gimnazyum IV. we Lwowie za Rok Szkolny 1914 [Report of the Directorate of the I.R. Fourth Gymnasium in Lwów for the 1914 School Year] (in Polish). Lwów: Nakładem Funduszu Naukowego. 1914. pp. 80, 91.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Archival Fonds No. 064. Major Witold Langenfeld Papers". Józef Piłsudski Institute of America. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  4. 1 2 Rocznik Oficerski 1924 [1924 Officer Yearbook] (in Polish). Warsaw: Ministerstwo Spraw Wojskowych. 1924. pp. 878, 887.
  5. ↑ Rocznik Oficerski 1928 [1928 Officer Yearbook] (in Polish). Warsaw: Ministerstwo Spraw Wojskowych. 1928. pp. 614, 625.
  6. 1 2 3 Rocznik Oficerski 1932 [1932 Officer Yearbook] (in Polish). Warsaw: Ministerstwo Spraw Wojskowych. 1932. pp. 271, 823.
  7. 1 2 3 Skóra, Wojciech (2011). Działalność polskiego wywiadu wojskowego w Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku w latach 1920–1939 [Activities of Polish Military Intelligence in the Free City of Danzig in the Years 1920–1939] (in Polish). Słupsk: Wydawnictwo Uczelniane Akademii Pomorskiej w Słupsku. pp. 312–315. ISBN 978-83-7467-122-4.
  8. ↑ Rybka, Ryszard; Stepan, Kamil (2006). Rocznik oficerski 1939. Stan na dzień 23 marca 1939 [1939 Officer Yearbook: Status as of 23 March 1939] (in Polish). Kraków: Fundacja CDCN. p. 264. ISBN 978-83-7188-899-1.
  9. 1 2 Skóra, Wojciech (2017). Placówki wywiadu polskiego w Chojnicach. Z działalności Ekspozytury nr 3 Oddziału II Sztabu Głównego WP [Polish Intelligence Outposts in Chojnice: From the Activities of Station No. 3 of Section II of the General Staff] (in Polish). Chojnice: Muzeum Historyczno-Etniczne w Chojnicach. pp. 88–92. ISBN 978-83-60947-49-4.
  10. ↑ Śledziński, Kacper (27 October 2018). "Operacja „Wózek". Jedna z najbardziej spektakularnych akcji wywiadu II RP" [Operation "Wózek": One of the Most Spectacular Intelligence Operations of the Second Polish Republic] (in Polish). TwojaHistoria.pl. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  11. ↑ Widacki, Jan (23 January 1999). "Adama Twardowskiego przypadki" [Cases of Adam Twardowski]. Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  12. 1 2 Ulatowski, Łukasz (2013). Polski wywiad wojskowy w 1939 roku. Struktura, zadania, obsada personalna [Polish Military Intelligence in 1939: Structure, Tasks, Personnel] (in Polish). Warsaw: Tetragon. pp. 90, 108. ISBN 978-83-63374-17-4.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Z żałobnej karty" [From the Obituary Pages]. Biuletyn (in Polish). 15–16. Koło Lwowian w Londynie: 136. June 1969.
  14. ↑ Tyszkiewicz, Jakub; Tyszkiewicz, Agata (16 December 2019). "Zanim doszło do operacji „Eagle"" [Before Operation "Eagle" Happened] (in Polish). Histmag.org. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Rocznik Oficerski 1928 (in Polish). Warsaw: Ministerstwo Spraw Wojskowych. 1928. p. 624.
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