Kazimierz Sosnkowski

Kazimierz Sosnkowski (Warsaw, 1885–1969, Arundel, Quebec) was a Polish independence fighter, politician and Polish Army general.

Life
Sosnkowski served successively as founder and first commander of Związek Walki Czynnej (the Active Combat Association), chief of staff of the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legions, Polish minister of military affairs, vice-president of Poland, commander of the Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Association for Armed Struggle) resistance organization, and Inspector General of the Armed Forces (Polish Commander-in-Chief, 1943–44).

Sosnkowski, over his career, used a number of noms de guerre, including "Baca" (Polish mountaineer term for "shepherd"), "Godziemba" (the name of his herditary coat-of-arms), "Józef" (Polish for "Joseph"), "Ryszard" ("Richard"), "Szef" ("Chief").

Sosnkowski was married to Jadwiga Sosnkowska. They had five sons.

Prohibition of bacteriological weapons
In 1925, the Polish Permanent Representative to the League of Nations, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, initiated the adoption of the first international instrument addressing Biological weapons of Mass Destruction – the Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of Poisonous Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.

Honours and awards

 * Order of the White Eagle (posthumously, November 11, 1995 by Lech Walesa)
 * Commander's Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari (previously awarded the Gold Cross and Silver Cross)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
 * Cross of Independence with Swords
 * Cross of Valour - four times
 * Gold Cross of Merit
 * Cross of Liberty, Class II (Estonia)
 * Legion of Honour (France)
 * Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom)
 * Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class I (Estonia, 1933)
 * Academic Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature for oratory.