Polish Auxiliary Corps
The Polish Auxiliary Corps (Polish: Polski Korpus Posiłkowy - PKP ) consisted of two major military units consisting of Polish soldiers and fighting on the side of the Central Powers in the second half of the First World War . First, on September 19, 1916, the Polish Legions were renamed the Polish Aid Corps . After the oath crisis and the subsequent division of the former legions into different associations, the name was used for an association whose base was formed by a part of the legionnaires from Galicia and which was incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian army . This association existed until February 19, 1918.
history
After the troops of the Central Powers had occupied the former Weichselland in the late summer of 1915 , considerations arose as to how the Polish legions , which had fought alongside the Austro-Hungarian army against the troops of Imperial Russia since the beginning of the war, should be used in the future. In the top army command of the German and Austrian allies, the idea arose of converting the legions into a new, future larger force that could be used as part of the allied armies to support their own war aims - also in the West.
The name of this new Polish army was well thought out. The term "corps" should indicate the size and cohesion of the large unit. The formulations “Polish” and “Help” were intended to express the sovereignty of the Polish people and their voluntary support of the German army in war. The Austro-Hungarian army command was ready to cede the core of the new auxiliary corps - the battle-tested Polish legions , which had previously been deployed under Austro-Hungarian leadership mainly on the Russian front.
The idea of transforming the legions into an auxiliary corps subordinate to the German Army ( Supreme Army Command ) met with resistance from many Poles. Józef Piłsudski in particular spoke out in favor of creating an independent Polish army. The Warsaw governor general , Hans von Beseler , insisted on the creation of the auxiliary corps; so he spoke out to the Polish Count Adam Ronikier against the establishment of a Polish army.
Polish Auxiliary Corps before the oath crisis
Even before the reign of Poland was proclaimed on November 5, 1916, the legions were transformed into the Polish Auxiliary Corps . On September 19, 1916, the Polish Auxiliary Corps was officially set up under Colonel and Count Stanisław Szeptycki . It was still under the orders of the Austro-Hungarian High Command. As early as November 1916, the corps had reached its preliminary target strength of around 20,000 men and 1,000 officers. A conversion of the previous three brigades of the legions into two divisions was planned.
With a decree of April 10, 1917, the auxiliary corps of the provisional government of the reigning kingdom, the State Council, was subordinated. On July 9, 1917, the corps was to be sworn in to the Central Powers. A large part of the troops refused to take this oath.
Polish Auxiliary Corps after the oath crisis
As a result of the oath crisis, the idea of combining Polish troops in a single large unit under German command was abandoned. The former legionary soldiers were split up. Parts were taken over into the newly created Polish Wehrmacht , others interned and later forced into Austro-Hungarian units.
The II. Legion Brigade , which was commanded by Józef Haller and had mostly sworn the oath, was transferred to the auxiliary corps, which is now again subordinate to the Austro-Hungarian Army Command, since the members of this brigade were mostly Galicians and thus officially Austrian citizens. This Polish Aid Corps was set up in Przemyśl , subordinated to General Zygmunt Zieliński , and increased to around 7,500 men. It was made of:
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II. Brigade of the Legions under Colonel Józef Haller, trained
- 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Legions under Lieutenant Colonel Michał Rola-Żymierski
- 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Legions under Major Józef Zając (later General)
- 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the Legions ( Uhlans ) under Captain Józef Dunin-Borkowski
- 1.Light Artillery Regiment of the Legions under Major Włodzimierz Zagórski (later General)
- Recruiting Headquarters (Komenda uzupełnień) under Colonel Władysław Sikorski
The corps was subsequently deployed on the Russian front. On October 25, 1917 it was in the Czernowitz area and had 431 officers and 7,135 men. On the night of February 15, 1918, Haller broke through the Austro-Russian front line here with part of the corps (mainly the II Brigade he led ) in protest against the negotiations on the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk , and united with Polish units on the Ukrainian front Territory (the II Polish Corps created in Russia on December 21, 1917 ) and fought against Austrian and German troops. Parts of the defeated Polish units at Niemirów / Kaniw on May 11, 1918 were later absorbed by the Blue Army established by Haller in France . The Polish Auxiliary Corps was disbanded after the mutiny of the Haller soldiers. The soldiers of the corps who were not involved in crossing the border were transferred from the 7th Austrian Army to the Isonzo Army in April 1918 via an outpatient drafting commission .
As with the Polish Wehrmacht , officers and men of the Polish Auxiliary Corps were to form the basis for building up the Polish Army after independence .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Theodor von Zeynek, Peter Broucek, An officer in the General Staff Corps recalls , from: Publications of the Commission for Modern History of Austria , Volume 101, Vienna: Böhlau, Vienna 2009, p. 184, footnote 235
- ^ Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich and Irina Renz, Encyclopedia First World War , Volume 8396 at UTB, ISBN 978-3-825-28396-4 , UTB 2009, p. 778
- ↑ Werner Conze, Polish Nation and German Politics in the First World War , Volume 4: East Central Europe in Past and Present , Böhlau, Cologne, 1958, p. 199
- ↑ Dieter Farwick, Gerhard Hubatschek, in: Criticón , issues 69–92, K. Knauf, 1982, p. 126
- ↑ President of the Main Welfare Council (Rada Glowna Opiekuricza RGO), founder of the National Party
- ↑ Ursula Prutsch and Klaus Zeyringer (eds.), Leopold von Andrian (1875-1951): Correspondence, notes, essays, reports , from the series: Publications of the Commission for Modern History of Austria , Commission for Modern History of Austria, Böhlau, Vienna a . a. 2003, p. 377, footnote 549
- ^ Heinrich August Winkler, History of the West: The time of the world wars 1914-1945 , ISBN 978-3-406-62186-4 , CH Beck, 2011, The Urkatastrophe of the 20th Century: The First World War
- ^ Gerhard Ritter, Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk: the problem of "militarism" in Germany , R. Oldenbourg, Munich 1959, s. 270
- ↑ Włodzimierz Borodziej, History of Poland in the 20th Century, European History in the 20th Century , ISBN 978-3-406-60647-2 , CH Beck, 2010, p. 87
- ↑ Julia Eichenberg, Fighting for Peace and Welfare: Polish Veterans of the First World War and their International Contacts, 1918-1939 , Volume 27 of Studies on International History , ISBN 978-3-486-70457-0 , Oldenbourg Verlag, 2011, p. 29
- ↑ Wacława Milewska, Maria Zientara, Sztuka Legionów Polskich i jej twórcy: 1914 - 1918 , from: Biblioteka Centrum Documentacji Czynu Niepodległościowego , Volume 4, ISBN 978-8-371883-507 , Fundacja Centrum Dokumentacjiowciodłego 156, Kraków 1999, Kraków Centrum Dokumentacjiowciodłu 156, Krakow 156 (in Polish)
- ↑ Karlheinz Mack, Galicia around the turn of the century: Political, social and cultural connections with Austria , from: Series of publications by the Austrian Institute for East and Southeast Europe , Volume 16, Austrian Institute for East and Southeast Europe, Vienna, Publishing House for History and Politics, ISBN 978 -3-702802-905 , Vienna 1990, p. 14
- ↑ Richard Georg Plaschka, Avant-garde of resistance: model cases of military rebellion in the 19th and 20th centuries , from the series: Studies on Politics and Administration , Volume 60, Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Graz 2000, p. 337