Ignacy Skorupka
A day later his body was transported to a garrison church in Warsaw, and shortly, he was given a state funeral at the prestigious Powązki Cemetery, attended by many government and military authorities; general Józef Haller presented him with a posthumous Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari. His death became a political ploy, used by the opponents of Polish military commander and leader Józef Piłsudski, architect of the Polish strategy that led to the victory at Warsaw. His opponents labelled the battle "miracle of Vistula", and attributed the Polish victory to a number of causes, up to and including divine intervention, and Skorupka's martyr-like death became part of their attempt to minimize Piłsudski's fame. Several monuments, streets and other landmarks were dedicated to him in the Second Polish Republic; he became a central figure in several books, poems and dramas; and Pope Pius XI commissioned a wall painting of him by Jan Henryk de Rosen at the battle at the Castel Gandolfo. Another popular painting of him was created by Jerzy Kossak.
Battle of Warsaw (1831)
Forces under General Martinov assaulted the central wing of Fort 56. Here the obstacles were intact, and 200 Polish soldiers repelled three consecutive assaults by a famed Moscow Guards Regiment. The Russians lost two regimental commanders before their forces managed to reach the moat. When a force of 2,900 Russians reached the top of the rampart, they were surprised by a staunch defence of a second rampart behind it. Russian infantry retreated and hid under the first rampart. Biernacki, fighting in the northern wing, managed to expel the Russian infantry, but was killed in action during the counter-attack, and the Poles withdrew back into the trees on the far side of the fort. To stabilise the situation, General Sowiński ordered a company of the 8th Line Infantry Regiment to leave the central wing and join the fight in the north. The new commanding officer of the north wing, Maj. Lipski, organised yet another counter-attack. Shouting "Mates, remember Grochów, remember Iganie!" he led his men in a charge and pushed the Russians back once again, but the impetus was lost and the Russians retained control of the rampart to the north-west. A short stalemate ensued, in which the Polish infantrymen and their single twelve-pounder carronade prevented much larger enemy forces from entering the fort.