In 1910 he graduated from the St. Anne's gymnasium in Kraków in Austro-Hungarian Galicia and started his studies at the architectural department of the Lwów University of Science and Technology.

During his studies, between 1912 and 1913 he also received military training in Kraków and Lwów, after which he joined the Drużyny Strzeleckie, where he also worked as a tutor of infantry tactics.

After the outbreak of the Great War he was mobilized to the Austro-Hungarian Army in the role of a platoon commanding officer, but on 6 August 1914 he was allowed to join the Polish Legions.

An experienced officer, he was attached to the ad hoc formation of Col. Czesław Rybiński fighting in Volhynia during the Polish-Ukrainian War.

After the creation of the Border Defence Corps (KOP), on 10 October 1924 he became the commanding officer of the 2nd Brigade of that force, based in Baranowicze.

Sent to the Higher War School in Warsaw, on 19 March 1927 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and became the commanding officer of the 10th Infantry Division.

However, due to German breakthrough in Lesser Poland the Operational Group was disbanded and its units withdrawn to Lwów, where they later took part in the battle for that city.

The Soviet offensive caught much of the eastern Poland virtually undefended, as most of the Polish forces from the area had already been transferred to the German front.

General Olszyna-Wilczyński's car, in which he traveled with his family and adjutant captain Mieczysław Strzemeski were stopped by a tank-artillery group under command of Maj. Chuvakin on 22 September near Sopoćkinie.

Consequently, on 26 September 2003 the Russian Military Prosecutor's Office was asked to investigate the matter on the basis of the IV Hague Convention on Laws and Customs of War on Land of 18 October 1907.