Born in 1881 in the Prussian city of Stettin (modern-day Szczecin, Poland), Adolf Bipkis Von Stettin-Kòlbrz was raised in a family of minor nobility with deep military traditions. His father, Karl Bipkis Von Stettin-Kòlbrz, had served in the Franco-Prussian War, and from an early age, Adolf was groomed for a life in the military. Educated in the Prussian War Academy, he became an officer in the Imperial German Army by the turn of the century, displaying both strategic brilliance and a deep sense of duty.
The Great War and Rise to Command

At the outbreak of World War I, Adolf, now a Colonel, was assigned to the Eastern Front, where he gained a reputation for both calculated aggression and tactical ingenuity. By 1916, he was promoted to General and played a critical role in the Battle of the Masurian Lakes, leading a division against Russian forces. Despite the grueling nature of the war, Adolf was not one for blind nationalism. While fiercely devoted to his men, he began to grow disillusioned with the rigid Prussian military command and its failure to adapt.

As the war dragged on and the German Empire began to crumble, Adolf found himself increasingly at odds with the Ludendorff-Hindenburg duo, who pushed for a "total war" strategy at any cost. By 1918, with the German war effort in collapse, he was among the commanders who supported an armistice, recognizing that further resistance would only lead to destruction.
A Change of Allegiances: The Polish Struggle

With the Treaty of Versailles carving up Central Europe and the dissolution of Imperial Germany, Adolf found himself in an existential crisis. The newly established Second Polish Republic emerged from the wreckage of World War I, and Adolf, who had spent much of his career fighting alongside Poles in the German army, began to sympathize with their cause.

In 1919, when Poland found itself at war with Bolshevik Russia, Adolf made a dramatic decision—he defected to the Polish side. Renouncing his Prussian titles, he kept his German Title "Kòlbrz". He became an advisor to Józef Piłsudski, contributing to Polish strategy during the Battle of Warsaw (1920), where Polish forces dealt a decisive blow to the Soviet advance.

During this period, he met Zofia Laskowicz, a Polish nurse working with the Red Cross. The two fell in love, and in 1920, they had a son, Bartholomew Bipkis. However, knowing that a future in Poland would be difficult due to lingering resentment toward former German officers, he arranged for his son to emigrate to Britain, hoping he would have a life free of the conflicts that had consumed him.
Later Years and Death

By the late 1920s, Adolf lived in relative obscurity in Lviv, working as a military historian and writing memoirs about the war. However, years of battle and hardship had taken their toll. His body, already weakened by the harsh winters of the Eastern Front, succumbed to tuberculosis. As Europe teetered on the brink of another war, Adolf Bipkis Von Stettin-Kòlbrz passed away in 1938, an exile from his homeland and a man whose life had been shaped by the shifting borders and ideologies of the 20th century.

Though largely forgotten by history, his legacy lived on through his son, Bartholomew, who found a new life in Britain—far from the war-torn lands his father had fought for.