[2] Leonard Wilhelm Skierski was born in Stopnica near Kielce in Russian-ruled Congress Poland, into an old Polish aristocratic Calvinist family of Puchała coat of arms.

After Austria-Hungary surrounded most of the Polish Corps and disarmed it, Skierski evaded imprisonment again and fled to the countryside, where he took part in partisan operations against the Red Army.

After the cessation of hostilities on that front, on 10 August Skierski became commander of the 1st Rifle Division of General Józef Haller's Blue Army.

Early in his Polish Army service, Skierski became known as a skilled and flexible commander of infantry units; he was also highly popular among his troops.

From 21 May, Skierski was assigned the command over a separate Operational Group (Corps), within General Stanisław Szeptycki's Northeastern Front.

The 4th Army, even though its units had been in frontline service for months, became the spearhead of the Polish counter-offensive from the area of the lower Wieprz River.

In a matter of weeks, Skierski's troops managed to push the enemy back and reach the line of the Sluch River.

After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, despite having been retired, Skierski was taken prisoner of War together with thousands of other Polish military and police personnel.

[4][5] In spring 1940 he was shot by NKVD functionaries in Kharkov and buried in one of the unnamed mass graves in Piatykhatky (nowadays part of Kharkiv).

Apart from Skierski, eight others were also murdered in Kharkov, namely: Leon Billewicz, Stanisław Haller, Aleksander Kowalewski, Kazimierz Łukoski, Konstanty Plisowski, Franciszek Sikorski, Alojzy Wir-Konas, Piotr Skuratowicz.