Two-finger greeting

The so-called two-finger salute (Polish: Salutowanie dwoma palcami ) is a military salute that is the prescribed form of saluting within the Polish armed forces and other uniformed institutions in the country.

Execution of the greeting

In the two-finger greeting, which is only carried out with a head covering, only the tips of the index and middle fingers of the right hand are held against the visor. Both fingers have to be together. The other fingers are meanwhile pressed by the thumb to the inside of the palm, which points in the direction of the person being greeted. The two-finger greeting "to the empty head", i.e. without a head covering, is frowned upon.

Historical background

Little is known about the actual origins of the two-finger greeting. Presumably, however, it was first practiced in a slightly modified form by General Tadeusz Kościuszko during his oath to liberate Poland from the invading powers, which he made in 1794 on the main market in Krakow . It has been proven that it was used in the numerous Polish uprisings . In 1831, during a battle near Warsaw, the Russian Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov is said to have said that the Polish soldiers were saluting with two fingers because they could hold stones in the other and then throw them at him.

Irritations and further use

The two-finger salute has become established in a slightly modified form as a show of honor among the wolves within the international scout movement . During the Second World War , however , it caused irritation , especially in the presence of British officers , who classified this form of saluting as a disrespectful gesture . In cases in which language barriers prevented clarification, this misunderstanding occasionally resulted in arrest sentences for the Polish soldiers. For this reason, the Polish armed forces in Western Europe temporarily introduced the full-palm salute.