History of the Polish Army

With time, the early tribal warriors gave rise to knights and eventually, by the 15th century, the whole social class of the szlachta or Polish gentry.

Members of the szlachta had the personal obligation to defend the country (pospolite ruszenie), and thereby became the kingdom's privileged social class.

The Congress Kingdom of Poland, ruled by Russian Tsars with a certain degree of autonomy, had an Army in the years 1815-1830 which was disbanded after the unsuccessful insurrection.

During World War I, the Polish Legions were set up in Galicia, the southern part of Poland under Austrian occupation.

General Józef Haller, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, switched sides in late 1917, and via Murmansk took part of his troops to France, where he created the Blue Army.

During the German occupation of Poland, a number of resistance movements were created, of which the Home Army was the most significant.

The command post for the invasion was actually located on Polish soil, at Marshal Ivan Yakubovsky's Legnica headquarters.