Józef Haller

When the Great War broke out it was a sign to mobilize Polish patriotic paramilitary organizations. On 27 August 1914, Józef Piłsudski issued an order in which he declared formation of the Polish Legions. On the strength of the order the Eastern Legion was formed in Lviv under the command of the General Adam Pietraszkiewicz. Haller was one of the founders of this formation which is a combination of Falcon's Drużyny Polowe (Fields Brigades), Bartosz Brigades and the Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie (Polish Rifle Squads). At that time Austrian failures in Galicia led to occupation of Lviv and the whole territory of the eastern Galicia by the Russian army. The Legion had to withdraw into the surroundings of Mszana Dolna. Although the unit had been completely formed it did not participate in the battle. Due to a collapse of morale among soldiers and resistance against swearing loyalty to the Austrian emperor, the legion was disbanded.

Józef Haller in an undated photo

Soldiers, who were in favor for continuing the war against the Russian Empire, were subjected to Joseph Haller's directions. He became the commander of the 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment after its former reorganisation. He was then ranked lieutenant-colonel. On 30 September 1914, Haller and the military unit under his surveillance left Kraków, and set off to the front line in Eastern Carpathians. Despite bad climatic and topographic conditions, the brigade supported the defence of the Carpathians and hindered Russian access to Hungary.

In the beginning of October 1914, the brigade got to Hungarian side of Carpathians. On October the 12th the 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment troops under the command of Haller surmounted the Rafajlowa village in Galicia. On 22nd and 23 October the main troops reached the village through the route near the Pantyr Mountain in Gorgany (later on it was named the Legions’ Mountain Pass), built by sappers and assaulted on Stanisławów. On 24 October the troops defeated Nadvirna. Five days later the Molotkow battle took place. The failure pushed Haller's soldiers back to Rafajlowa. In November the brigade was divided into two separate units. Haller's brigade remained in Rafajlowa, whereas the others continued the battle in Huculszczyzna and Bukovina.

On the night of 24 January 1915, Russians attacked the 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment. Polish soldiers did not expect the offensive. However, due to their commander's actions, they defeated the enemy and took many Prisoners of War (POWs). A permanent struggle resulted in the loss of approximately 50% of soldiers. After the successful defence and stabilization on the front line, lieutenant colonel Haller passed the leadership of the 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment to major Henryk Minkiewicz, simultaneously remaining in the 2nd Legions’ Infantry Brigade as commander's orderly officer. On 14 March 1915 he was promoted colonel.

On a temporary permit in Częstochowa, in May 1915 Haller was injured in a car accident. He spent 10 months recovering in a hospital. In spring of 1916 Haller became a member of the Colonels’ Council, which incorporated the heads of Legions’ military units, and functioned in opposition to Legions’ Headquarters, which advocated Austrian policy. In July 1918 Haller was given an assignment to command the 2nd Legions’ Infantry Brigade, which he accepted.

On 15 February 1918, Haller questioned the agreements of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which reduced the chances for the creation of an independent Poland,. Together with the II Brigade of the Polish Legions and the rest of Polish soldiers, Haller broke through the frontline near Rarańcza. and joined the Polish troops in Russia. He was ranked commander of a newly formed Polish 5th Siberian Rifle Division.

From 28 March 1918, he took charge of the military units of the Polish 2nd Corps in Ukraine. On 7 April 1918 Haller was appointed General. The legions under Haller's command were inspired by the National Democracy movement. Recruitment of Jewish volunteers to their ranks ceased in 1918, and the legions were later involved in pogroms.[2]

Germany considered the presence of Polish military units in Ukraine an infringement of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. At midnight on the 10th and 11 May 1918 German troops assaulted Polish units near Kaniv (Polish: Kaniów). There were no warnings preceding the attack. The battle continued for one day. After the ammunition storage expired, the Polish 2nd Corps surrendered. Many people were seriously injured. The Polish army lost less than 1000. the Germans close to 1500. Haller avoided imprisonment by faking his own death. Using the name "Mazowiecki" he fled to Moscow, where he became the head of Polish Army Commission.

General Haller's uniform as Commander of the Blue Army (Military Museum, Warsaw)

General Józef Haller, touching Blue Army battle flag.

In July 1918, after a long journey through Karelia and Murmansk, General Haller arrived in France. On 4 October 1918 he was designated to be in charge of the forming Polish Army. Those units were organised by volunteers. They consisted of Polish men who firstly served in the French army, former POWs of Austrian-Hungarian and German armies (nearly 35,000) and Polish emigrants from the United States and Canada (about 23,000 people) and Brazil (300 people). Political surveillance over the army was initially a domain of Polish National Committee. But according to an agreement of 28 September 1918, the Blue Army was recognised by the Triple Entente member countries and the independent Polish army.

In 1918 Polish troops commanded by Joseph Haller struggled with German soldiers on the western front line in the Vosges mountain region and Champagne.

The end of war did not interrupt the enlargement of the Polish army in France, also known as the Blue Army due to their uniforms. The number of soldiers was eventually over 100,000. Due to weapons supplied from France, the Polish Army finally became a significant military force. Beginning in April 1919, men and equipment were conveyed to Poland. Modern arms of the Blue Army, especially airplanes and Renault FT tanks enhanced the Polish Armed Forces yet to be founded. General Haller arrived in Warsaw on 21 April 1919, where he was welcomed as a national hero. He was granted honorary citizenship of Warsaw. The Blue Army was involved in anti-Jewish violence and its soldiers participated in pogroms.[3][4]

Because the Blue Army was the only well-armed combat unit in the recreated Polish Army, the command decided not to split it into smaller pieces. The whole army was deployed at the Polish-Ukrainian frontline. In the course of victorious battles against the Ukrainian army, Haller's forces reached the Zbruch River, passing Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. However, in June the General himself was dispatched to the Polish-German borderline in order to take command of the army on the South-Western front.

As Venice so symbolized its marriage with the Adriatic so we Poles symbolize our marriage with our dear Baltic Sea.

In October 1919, Haller was entrusted with the command of the Pomeranian Front, created in order to claim the territory of Pomerania, in peaceful and planned way, as the territory was granted to Poland according to the Treaty of Versailles. As planned, the taking over of Pomerania began on 18 January 1920, starting with Toruń, which was taken over by squadrons of the 16th Pomeranian Infantry Division. More territories were taken from the retreating German Army, until 11 February 1920, when the last of the soldiers left Gdańsk (Danzig).

Despite a few incidents, including armed resistance and sabotage, the Pomeranian takeover proceeded rather easily. On 10 February 1920, General Haller together with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Stanisław Wojciechowski, and the new administration of the Pomeranian Province came to Puck, where he performed a "symbolic wedding ceremony" of Poland and the Baltic Sea.

In 1920 Haller was appointed Inspector General of the Volunteer Army, the formation to which he made a great contribution. During the Battle of Warsaw, he led the forces defending the capital's foregrounds. He was also a member of the Council for Defence of the Nation (July–August 1920) and later led the North-Eastern Front. At this stage of his career, he saw the end of the war.