Several weeks after Germany attacked Poland in September 1939, Tarnawski, then a chemistry student, made his way to France and subsequently to England.
There, he was trained for an elite special-operations paratrooper unit known as the Cichociemni, or Silent Unseen.
He was dropped into German-occupied Poland in April 1944 and as an officer of Poland's underground Home Army, nom de guerre Upłaz, he was in command of highly difficult resistance missions against the occupying forces.
Some 2,500 volunteered for service in the Silent and Unseen, with around 700 finally completing the course.
In total, 316 were parachuted into Poland to join underground resistance. Of this number, 112 were killed, nine during flights or jumps, and 84 in combat or murdered by Germany's Gestapo secret police. Ten took poison after being arrested and nine were executed after the war in the wake of mock trials in Stalinist courts.
After the war, Tarnawski settled in Gliwice, where he lived until his death on Friday.
On January 8, he had celebrated his 101st birthday.
Tarnawski graduated in chemistry from Poland's Silesian University of Technology, and worked as a chemical engineer until his retirement.
In 2014, he made his last parachute jump to mark the 70th anniversary of his first landing with a group of Polish Army parachutists.
Almost until the end of his life, he worked to promote patriotic values, especially among young people.
Tarnawski’s honours included the Cross of Valour and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Reborn Poland. His wartime efforts were described in a book entitled The Last One, published in 2016.
(mk/gs)