Adrian Carton de Wiart - Polish Gentleman

Polish Gentleman

His last Polish aide de camp was Prince Karol Radziwiłł, who inherited a large 500,000 acre (2,000 km²) estate in eastern Poland when the Communists killed his uncle. They became friends and De Wiart was given the use of a large estate called Prostyń, in the Pripet Marshes, a large wetland area larger than Ireland and well known for waterfowl. Since borders have changed, it is now at the border between Belarus and Ukraine. De Wiart's home was a converted hunting lodge on an island, only a few miles from the Soviet border.

In this location De Wiart spent the rest of the interwar years. In his memoirs he said "I think I shot every day of those 15 years I spent in the marshes and the pleasure never palled". He returned to England for three months each year during the winter, returning in time for the breaking up of the ice on the frozen lakes and rivers.

After 15 years, De Wiart's Polish peaceful life was interrupted by the oncoming war in July 1939 when he was recalled and appointed to his old job, as head of the British Military Mission to Poland. Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany on 1 September and on 17 September the Soviets allied with Germany attacked Poland from the east. Soon Soviet forces overran Prostyń and de Wiart lost all his guns, rods, clothes, and furniture. They were packed up by the Soviets and stored in the Minsk Museum, but destroyed by the Germans in later fighting. He never saw the area again, but as he said "...they could not take my memories".