Description

In brief: Polish Legions were active from 1914 to 1917 on the side of Central Powers, under the command of the Austro-Hungarian army, but politically responsible to the NKN, the Supreme National Committee. The legions drew their members mainly from the Riflemen' s Associations and other Polish organizations dedicated to Polish independence. The legions had three brigades and supporting units. Polish Military Organization POW- a secret organization, was set up by Pilsudski in October 1914, in Warsaw, in a merger of Riflemen' s Association and Polish Riflemen' s Units. NKN was formed by Galician politicians under the sway of Austro- Hungarian authorities. It was the highest authority in military, fiscal and political matters for Polish armed forces. NKN had two autonomous divisions: one in the east, in Lwow, and the other in Krakow. The military side of NKN was the most important. After the formation of Regency Council in 1919, NKN dissolved itself. The Riflemen' s Association (ZS) was a Polish paramilitary organization founded in 1910 as Zwiazek Strzelecki in Lwow and Towarzystwo Strzelec in Krakow; secret organizations of riflemen sprang up also in the Kingdom of Poland and the Prussian partition. The principal aim of the ZS was to train officers and soldiers for the struggle against Russia.

Contents: appeals; leaflets; pertinent press clippings; field correspondence and materials related to the First Brigade, the Riflemen' s Association, Polish Military Organization; Supreme National Committee; personal documents and correspondence of Gen. Stefan Dab-Biernacki, Second Lieutenant Stefan Dudzieniec-Krak, and Captain Tadeusz Terlecki. This collection is partially microfilmed.