Polish Legions in World War I

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This article is about Polish Legions on the Eastern Front in World War I. For Polish Legions on the Western Front in World War I, see Blue Army (Poland). For other units named the Polish Legions, see Polish Legions (disambiguation).
Polish Legions
Legiony Polskie
alliances
Europe in 1914, the Central Powers in brown
Governor's Palace in Kielce
, 1914 Piłsudski
Col. Józef Piłsudski and his officers, 1915 Piłsudski
Pilsudski in Otwock, 1915
II Brigade of the Polish Legions
in Volhynia c. 1915-16

The Polish Legions (

Galicia soon after World War I erupted between the opposing alliances of the Triple Entente on one side (comprising the British Empire, the French Republic and the Russian Empire) and the Central Powers on the other side, comprising the German Empire and Austria-Hungary.[2] The Legions became "a founding myth for the creation of modern Poland" in spite of their considerably short existence;[1] they were replaced by the Polish Auxiliary Corps (Polish: Polski Korpus Posiłkowy) formation on 20 September 1916, merged with Polish II Corps in Russia on 19 February 1918 for the Battle of Rarańcza against Austria-Hungary, and disbanded following the military defeat at the Battle of Kaniów in May 1918,[3] against Imperial Germany. General Haller escaped to France to form the Polish army in the West against the anti-Polish German-Bolshevik treaty.[4]

The Legions took part in many battles against the forces of the

Polnische Wehrmacht
.

History

According to Prit Buttar, "When war broke out, Piłsudski was quick to recognize that an important preliminary step in Poland's path to independence was the defeat of tsarist Russia..." Piłsudski was no supporter of the Central Powers, and once Russia had been driven out of Polish territory, he believed that he and his fellow Poles would have to persuade the Germans and Austro-Hungarians to leave too, but he held secret meetings with representatives of France and Great Britain to make clear to the western members of the Entente that Polish troops would never fight against them, only against Russia."[6]

The formation of the Legions was declared by Józef Piłsudski in his order of August 22, 1914. The Austrian government, having jurisdiction over the area, officially agreed to the formation on August 27, 1914.

The unit became an independent formation of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire
.

Initially, the Polish Legions were composed of two legions: the Eastern and the Western Legion, both formed on August 27. After a Russian victory in the

III Brigade of the Polish Legions under Zygmunt Zieliński (later Bolesław Roja
), formed on May 8, 1915. All brigades had the following:

  • Artillery Battalions with served with I, II, and III Brigade
  • Cavalry Regiments: 1st served in I Brigade; 2nd served in II Brigade; 3rd served in III Brigade
  • Infantry Regiments: 1st, 5th, 7th served in I Brigade; 2nd, 3rd served in II Brigade; 4th served in both II and III Brigades; 5th, 6th served in III Brigade.

The commanders of the Legions were consecutively: Gen.

Polish Army
.

Operations of Polish Legions and the Puławy Legion

Battles

Below is a list of prominent Polish battles against the Imperial Russian Army in 1914–16, leading to victories in most cases, with notable exceptions especially during the

Brusilov Offensive
of 1916.

Notable officers who served in the Polish Legions

Following the foundation of the Second Polish Republic, many served in the Polish Army, and held political as well as elected offices.

Polish Legions' prominent members

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Polish Legions in World War I.

External links

Notes and references

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-965881-7
    .
  2. OCLC 52541937
    .
  3. ^ WIEM Encyklopedia (2015), Polski Korpus Posiłkowy at PortalWiedzy.onet.pl (in Polish)
  4. ISBN 0-8153-3351-X
    – via Google Print.
  5. ISBN 978-83-7001-914-3
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-4728-2489-9
    .
  7. ^ Piotr Galik, Chwalebna zdrada: Rarańcza 1918. Fakty.Interia.pl at Internet Archive. (in Polish) See also: Mieczysław Wrzosek, Polski czyn zbrojny podczas pierwszej wojny światowej 1914-1918, Państwowe Wydawnictwo "Wiedza Powszechna", Warszawa 1990.
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