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Edward Rydz-Śmigły, before 1922 Edward Rydz, from 1922 onward About this sound Edward Śmigły-Rydz (11 March 1886 – 2 December 1941); nom de guerre Śmigły, Tarłowski, Adam Zawisza) was a Marshal of Poland, politician, Commander-in-Chief of Poland's armed forces, and a painter and poet. After many earlier successes as an army commander during the Polish-Soviet War, following Piłsudski's death, Rydz succeeded as General Inspector of the Armed Forces in 1935. He served in that capacity during the Invasion of Poland, which marked the beginning of World War II.
During the Polish-Soviet War (1919–1921), Rydz commanded Polish armies in several offensives. Among the victorious engagements, he captured Wilno and Dünaburg. After that, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Latvian armed forces, and liberated Latgale from Red Army. Subsequently, he completely annihilated the Red Army's 12th Division and took Kiev. He then commanded the Central Front of Polish forces during the Battle of Warsaw, known as the Miracle on the Vistula. In this decisive battle, Polish commander Józef Piłsudski. Rydz-Śmigły's Central Front held against the Soviet attack, and later blocked the escape routes for the defeated 4th and 15th Armies and the 3rd Cavalry Corps of Soviet General Gayk Bzhishkyan, which decided to retreat to East Prussia, where they were interned by the Germans.