Puławy Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka River, Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was Cen ...

Legion (, ) was a Polish military formation of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

as part of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

. It was created in late 1914 from volunteers gathered together due to several initiatives, most notably of which was that of the pro-Russian Polish National Committee, supported by Polish National Democrats. The initiative was supposed to counteract the Polish Legions of

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

forming under the Austro–Hungarian Army. The formation finished organizing in January 1915; at that time it numbered about 1,000 soldiers, and constituted a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

of the Russian Army. The formation was used in combat against the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. Eventually, the Legion was disbanded in October 1915 and reorganized into the Polish Rifle Brigade. Pulawy2

History

Background

In 1795 Poland was partitioned between the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

, the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

and Russian Empires. In 1914, with the onset of

, those powers found themselves on separate sides, and all tried to recruit Poles into their ranks, promising increased autonomy after the war in return.Norman Davies, ''God's Playground: 1795 to the present'', Columbia University Press, 2005, ,
Google Print, pp. 281–282
/ref> Pulawy

Formation

In the Russian Empire, efforts of Witold Ostoja-Gorczyński, supported by the command of the Southwestern Front, resulted in a growing group of Polish volunteers gathering from October and November 1914 first at

Chełm Chełm (; ; ) is a city in eastern Poland in the Lublin Voivodeship with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some from the border with Ukraine. The ...

and Brest, and later at

. Jacek Woyno
MATERIAŁY ARCHIWALNE DO DZIEJÓW POLSKICH FORMACJI WOJSKOWYCH W ROSJI (19141920)
, B I U L E T Y N Nr 25 WOJSKOWEJ SŁUŻBY ARCHIWALNEJ 2002 This initiative, supported by the Polish National Democrats, was also aimed at countering the (eventually more successful) initiative of

, who was forming his own Polish Legions under the supervision of the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

.Spencer Tucker, Laura Matysek Wood, Justin D. Murphy, ''The European powers in the First World War: an encyclopedia'', Taylor & Francis, 1999,
Google Print, p. 561
/ref> The organization of the formation was delayed due to logistical problems. In January 1915 Polish National Committee threw its support behind the initiative, and colonel Antoni Reutt was nominated for the organization's commander. As the numbers of volunteers were growing, a second legion was created in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

(the Lublin Legion). A cavalry formation was also being created. The formation was officially known as the Polish Legion(s), and was subordinate to the 59th Defence Brigade of General Piotr Szymanowski.

Organisation

By January 1915 the Legion has finished organizing, at that time numbering about 1,000 volunteers; an equivalent of an Imperial Russian Army infantry battalion (in February it would be divided into four companies). It was however still plagued by logistical problems (for example, it did not receive the promised artillery, and the machine guns it received were captured Austrian ones – without ammunition). There were also problems with the transfer of volunteers from other Russian Imperial formation (requests were commonly denied), and the project to recruit volunteers from Polish prisoners of war from the

was refused. On 5 February 1915, the Legions were reorganized as '

Narodnoe Opolcheniye The People's Militia (, ) was the irregular troops formed from the population in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. They fought behind front lines and alongside the regular army during several wars throughout its history. The People ...

' units: * the Puławy Legion into the 739th Novo Aleksandrovo Militia Battalion, * the Lublin Legion into the 740th Lublin Militia Battalion. The Puławy Legion was deployed to the frontlines on 20 March 1915; at that time it was taken out from under general Szymanowski and was assigned to the Moscow Grenadier Corps under general Mrozowski. The Lublin Legion was never deployed to the frontlines, instead it was used to replenish the losses of the Puławy Legion. The formation was to be used in combat against the

, but morale was affected by the rumors it would be used against

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

and its Polish Legions. Legiony 1914-1916

Battles

The formation fought in several battles: * 19 May – at Pakosław (where colonel Reutt was injured, and the command passed to colonel Jan Rządkowski) * 16 June – at Michałów (or Michałowo) * 17 July – at

Władysławowo Władysławowo (Kashubian language, Kashubian/Pomeranian language, Pomeranian: ''Wiôlgô Wies'' �vʲɞlɡɞ ˈvʲɛs ) is a city on the south coast of the Baltic Sea in Kashubia in the Pomerelia region, northern Poland, with 9,363 inhabitant ...

* 21 July – at Kolonia Chechelska * 22 July – at Puławska Góra * 14 August – at Karczowka * 20 August – at Nurzec * 23 August – at Opaka * 5 September – at Izabelin * 9 September – at Zelwa During that period, the Legion sustained heavy casualties – 415 dead and 1,016 wounded (92% of its initial numbers). Eventually, the Legion was disbanded in October 1915; some troops joined the newly forming Polish Rifle Brigade (). The reorganization was a result of efforts by Colonel Rządkowaski and others aiming at increasing the size of the Polish forces in the Russian Army.

Commanders

* Lieutenant Colonel Antoni Reutt – from 17 January 1915 * Colonel Jan Rządkowski – from 19 May 1915

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulawy Legion Military units and formations established in 1914 Military units and formations disestablished in 1915 20th-century military history of Poland Military units and formations of the Russian Empire National Democracy Poland in World War I 1914 establishments in Poland Military units and formations of Russia in World War I