During the Polish-Bolshevik war, and especially before the Battle in Warsaw, there was a massive mobilization of Polish society in the face of the enemy. It was realized that Polish independence, which had just been regained, could be lost again, this time due to the march of the communist revolution.
The State Defence Council and The Government of National Defence
Facing the threat to the capital city in June 1920, the idea was born to establish a national defence government that would unify all political circles. This idea was not immediately accepted by politicians, but at the same time, it was recognised that close cooperation between all political options and other state bodies was essential.
On July 1, 1920, the Sejm passed a law establishing the Council for the Defence of the State. It was headed by Marshal Józef Piłsudski as head of state, with the Prime Minister (first Władysław Grabski, then Wincenty Witos) as Deputy Chairman. The Council also included the Speaker of the Sejm, Wojciech Trąmpczyński, as well as representatives of the Sejm (members of the main political parties), the government and the army.
One of the most important decisions of the Council for State Defense was the creation of the Volunteer Army.
The Government of National Defence was established on July 24, 1920 – its objectives were to defend the state, end the war and conclude a peace treaty, while political disputes were dismissed. It was headed by the leader of the agrarian movement, Wincenty Witos. The government consisted of representatives of the Polish People’s Party “Piast” (the party of Wincenty Witos), the Polish People’s Party “Liberation”, the Polish Socialist Party, the Popular National Union (Roman Dmowski’s National Democracy), the National Right Party, the National Workers’ Party, the Bourgeoisie Association, the Polish Christian Democracy Party, and independent members. For obvious reasons, members of the Communist Party of Poland did not join the government.
The Government of National Defence resigned on 13 September 1921, six months after the signing of the Treaty of Riga ending the Polish-Soviet War.
Volunteer Army
On July 3, 1920, the Council of the State Defense issued a proclamation calling on the society to defend the Homeland:
The Fatherland is in need! All men of good will capable of carrying arms are called to the ranks of army. The whole nation must resist like a solid, immovable wall. It is on our breasts that the flood of Bolshevism will be broken. May Unity, Concord, and Ceaseless Toll gather us all for the common cause. All for victory! To arms!
The Volunteer Army was led by General Joseph Haller. The public response was enormous. About 100,000 people volunteered for the new formation within a month. One of the most important units of the Volunteer Army was the Volunteer Division. Mostly an infantry unit, it also included cavalry formations, artillery, guard battalions and scout troops.
The Women's Volunteer Legion
The Polish-Soviet war, like any other armed conflict, affected women as much as men. During the fighting in the east, and then during the defense of Warsaw, the for the first time Polish women served not only as nurses and civilian auxiliarily workers, but carrying arms as well.
Voluntary Legion of Women was founded in 1919 in Vilnius and inspired by the women’s Civic Guard units fighting against the Ukrainians in Lwów. During the Polish-Bolshevik war, about 2,500 women fought to defend their homeland. They fought in almost all branches of the army.
The most famous members of the Women’s Voluntary Legion were:
- Aleksandra Zagórska – a soldier of the Polish Legions during World War I (the organizer of women’s intelligence service in this formation), and then the initiator of the Women’s Voluntary Legion in Lwów. She initiated the creation of the women’s unit after she lost her fourteen-year-old son Jerzy in the Polish-Ukrainian battles for Lwów. She ended her service as a lieutenant colonel. During World War II she was active in the underground Convention of Independence Organisations.
- Maria Wittek – the first Polish woman in the rank of general. During World War I she was active in the scouting, in 1917 she joined the Polish Military Organisation, where she graduated from the non-commissioned officer school. She was also the first Polish woman at the Faculty of Mathematics at Kiev University. In 1920 she took part in the defence of Lwów. During World War II, she was a member of a women’s unit within the Home Army – the Women’s Military Service. A Warsaw insurgent in 1944. On May 2, 1991 the President of the Republic of Poland Lech Walesa appointed her to the rank of Brigadier General.
- Janina Łada-Walicka – a writer and social activist, during the Polish-Soviet War she served in a cavalry unit known as the Volunteer Cavalry Squadron (or under the name “Hussars of Death”, arousing greater fear among Bolsheviks).
Scouts against the enemy
During the Polish-Bolshevik war, the Polish Scouting Association put up 6,000 scouts for front duty, 15,000 for auxiliary duty, and several hundred for guard and garrison duty.
The Polish scouts wanted to fight against the Red Army at all costs, especially at the cost of disobedience to their parents. Many of them were too young to join the army. The scouts’ enthusiasm was so strong that when in “Kurier Plocki” On July 20, 1920, one could read the appeal of the Polish Scouting Association to join the Polish army, which included a request to parents and the authorities of educational institutions:
„In order to prevent the more ardent youth from disobeying and disrespecting the parental will, all Parents are asked to provide underage boys and girls with written permission to join the voluntary service. Schoolchildren should have permission from their school authority, if it’s possible to obtain during the summer holidays”
Many times the boys, who were too young to make a decision to join the army on their own forged letters of permission from their parents .
The most famous defender of Płock was Tadeusz Jeziorowski, who at the age of 11 escaped from home to take part in the defense of the town and provide the fighting soldiers with ammunition. A year later Józef Piłsudski awarded him the Cross of Valour. As an adult, he entered the Air Force Cadet School in Dęblin and became a pilot. He died on September 4, 1939 in air combat against the Germans.
Not only boys but also girls fought against the Bolsheviks. In Płock, located near Warsaw, where the scouts’ participation in the defense of the city was particularly important, female scouts where providing medical services.
Policemen against Bolsheviks
Another group of the Polish society that volouneered to fight against the Bolsheviks was the Police. Voluntary units included Łódź Squadron of the Mounted Police and 213th Police Infantry Regiment, which became part of the Volunteer Cavalry Squadron, better known as the Hussars of Death Squadron.
The Hussars of Death were a cavalry unit formed in July 1920 in Białystok. On August 7, 1920, by decision of the Chief Police Commander, the formation of the Mounted Police Squadron began in Łódź. On August 10, near Warsaw, policemen from Łódź were incorporated into the Volunteer Riding Squadron.
The unit was commanded by Lieutenant Jozef Sila-Nowicki, a soldier who despised death and mercilessly crushed the enemies. The unit took care of its dark image – hussars took a dead skull with crossed long bones as their symbol. This was supposed to create a conviction among the Bolsheviks about the exceptional cruelty of the unit, thanks to which it aroused fear among the Red Army. The very name “Hussars of Death”, which was probably the inspiration for the Prussian unit bearing such a name in the 19th century and the Russian one from the times of World War I, was given by its commander arbitrarily in order to make the Volunteer Cavalry Squadron an elite unit and arousing even greater fear among the Red Army. In fact, this formation was a typical, penal and well-organized military unit. The effectiveness of its actions is evidenced by the fact that the Hussars of Death have never failed in fighting the Bolsheviks.
Stance of polish Armenians
National minorities also joined in the fight against the Red Army troops.
Many Polish Armenians fought against the Red Army. The most famous of them became 19-year-old Konstanty Zarugiewicz from Lwow, who died in the battle of Zadwór on 17 August 1920. Five years later, his mother was asked to draw one of the anonymous coffins of the fallen who rested in the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów, which was transported to Warsaw to be placed in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where it is still located today.
Another famous Armenian man who fought in the Polish-Bolshevik war was Walerian Tumanowicz, who served in the 3rd Legion Infantry Regiment. During World War II he served in the Home Army, and after its end he continued the fight for Polish independence against communists with the Freedom and Independence organization. He was sentenced to death by Stalinist court and executed. His declaration, which he made before the court, became famous: “I am an Armenian by blood, by soul and belief, a Pole… Hatred for the Soviet Union is in my bones”.
Józef Wartanowicz also served in the Polish Army, fighting in the rear of Budyonny’s Cavalry, and Kajetan Stefanowicz, who took part in the battles for Vilnius, Koziatyn, Chyrow, Sambor, in the charge to Kostoreń and in the conquest of Przemyśl, and was killed on 20 September 1920 in Volhynia.
After the Polish-Bolshevik war, Jadwiga Zarugiewiczowa, an Armenian woman living in Lwów, whose son Konstanty died on August 17, 1920 at the Battle of Zadwór, was honored and chosen as the Symbolic Mother of the Unknown Soldier. In 1925 she drew a coffin, which was transported from Lwów to Warsaw and placed in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The attitude of polish Tartars
Tartar traditions in the Polish army date back to the Middle Ages. For centuries the Tartars fought for a strong and free Poland, so after regaining independence it was obvious that a Tartar unit had to be created in the Polish Army as well.
In January 1919 a Tartar Cavalry Regiment was established. This formation consisted not only of Tartars, but also Polish Muslims of other nationalities, e.g. the Azeroes. For religious reasons, the half-moon became the symbol of the unit.
The formation took part in the Kiev expedition, and then secured the retreat of Polish troops to Warsaw, incurring great losses. The regiment was reconstructed in Plock, to which the Tartars had a significant contribution, especially Lieutenant Iskander Achmatowicz.
For the next few weeks the unit still took part in fights, and then it was disbanded and incorporated into the 13th Uhlan Regiment of Vilnius.
The Tatars also served in the Hussars of Death Squadron.