Col. Henryk Torunczyk, born in Włocławek, (1909–1966) was a Polish soldier. He later volunteered to fight with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. He was sometime commander of the Naftali Botwin Company; Chief of Staff Order of Battle site of XIII International Brigade and leader of an International Unit"A ghost brigade ... [it] soon fell apart" Eby, Comrades and Commissars, p 415. formed in January 1939 from a rump of Brigade veterans who remained in Spain after demoblisation.Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, p 855 They crossed the border in Spain on about 9 January 1939Beevor, The Spanish Civil War, p855. He later became a partisan.AJEX: Jews in the Spanish Civil War From 1943 he was instrumental in forming the Samodzielny Batalion Szturmowy.Ryszard Terlecki, Miecz i tarcza komunizmu. Historia aparatu bezpieczeństwa w Polsce 1944-1990, Kraków 2007, s. 10. In 1945 he was briefly commanding officer of the Polish Internal Security Corps.
He is also called: Henrik Torunczyk and Henrik Tourunczyk.
Awards and decorations Order of the Banner of Labour]], 1st Class Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (13 July 1955) Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd Class Gold Cross of Virtuti Militari Partisan Cross Medal "For Your Freedom and Ours" Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class (USSR)
See also Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, 4th Rev. Ed. 2001. Antony Beevor, The Battle for Spain, 2007. Cecil Eby, Comrades and Commissars, 2007.
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