Polish Legions (Napoleonic era)
This force fought a victorious war against Austria in 1809 and would go on to fight alongside the French army in numerous campaigns, culminating in the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, which marked the end of the Napoleonic empire, including the Legions, and allied states like the Duchy of Warsaw.
Magocsi et al. notes that "the heyday of their activity" falls in the years 1797–1801,[2] while Lerski defines the Legions as units that operated between 1797 and 1803.
[12] At that time Dąbrowski lobbied for a plan to push through to the Polish territories in Galicia, but that was eventually rejected by Napoleon who instead decided to use those troops on the Italian front.
[12] The Treaty of Leoben signed that month, which promised peace between Austrians and French, was a blow to Polish morale, but Dąbrowski correctly assumed that it would not last.
Pivka and Roffe note that in May 1797 the Legion was reorganized into two formations, the first being commanded by Karol Kniaziewicz and the second by Józef Wielhorski, each numbering about 3,750 infantry, not counting artillery support.
[15] In May 1798 the Poles helped the French to secure the Papal States, putting down some peasant revolts, and garrisoned Rome, which they entered on 3 May.
[16][17] By the end of 1798 the Legions under Kniaziewicz were fighting against the anti-French forces from the Kingdom of Naples, defeating them at the Battle of Civita Castellana on 4 December.
[12] Soon afterward, supplies from the captured Gaeta fortress allowed the creation of a Legion cavalry unit under Andrzej Karwowski.
[1] However, the new series of struggles proved to be much more difficult, as the anti-French coalition advanced upon Italy, now bereft of elite French units which were with Napoleon in Egypt.
[19] The Second Legion also suffered heavily; particularly in the first battles on the Adige (26 March – 5 April 1799) where it is estimated that it lost about half to two thirds of its complement of 4,000 men.
[19][20][21] This marked the end of the Second Legion, as only a small number of Poles were able to evade capture (the French were allowed to withdraw most of their forces under the condition that they would remain neutral).
[19][20][21] With the end of the Cisalpine Republic, the Legions were reorganized in France, as Napoleon ascended to power as the First Consul and decreed that foreign troops could now serve in the French Army.
[3][19] The Danube Legion, bolstered by Karwowski's cavalry unit, fought as part of the Army of the Rhine at Berg, Bernheim and Offenburg, garrisoning the fortress of Philippsbourg after the armistice of Parsdorf (15 July).
[19] According to Davies, the Danube Legion would suffer significant casualties in the short period after the battle and the end of the campaign on 25 December that year.
[22] In 1802, France sent most of the disgruntled legionnaires (two demi-brigades, 5,280 strong) to Haiti to put down the Haitian Revolution (on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, known then as Saint-Domingue, the French West Indies).
[20][24] Napoleon wanted to regain the colony of Saint-Domingue, but preferred to save his main French army for more important matters, closer to home.
[3] Combat casualties and tropical diseases, including the yellow fever, reduced the 5,280-strong Polish contingent to a few hundred survivors in the space of less than two years.
[26][27] It fought at Castel Franco, turning the Austrian attack on 24 November 1805, but on 3 July 1806 it suffered a severe defeat at Sant'Eufemia a Maiella.
[27] During the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon decided to encourage Polish defections from the Prussian army, and on 20 September 1806 decreed the creation of a "Northern Legion" under General Zajączek.
[30] In February 1807, the remaining infantry and cavalry regiments who had continued in French service in Italy were reorganized in Silesia, in the cities of Breslau, Neustadt, Neisse, Friedland and Brieg,[31] into a Polish-Italian Legion (PolaccoItalienne), with two new infantry regiments added from the newly liberated Polish lands.
[6] In the Battle of Fuengirola, a small Franco-Polish force managed to repulse an Anglo-Spanish army which greatly outnumbered them, capturing their commander Lord Blayney in the process.
They distinguished themselves many times there, including at the Battle of Albuera in 1811, where they fought to a draw against a combined force of British, Spanish and Portuguese troops.
Their effectiveness in that battle inspired the British Army to create their own lancer units equipped with Polish-style uniforms and weapons.
The Vistula Legion, withdrawn from Spain in early 1812 and reorganized into a division (with a planned strength of 10,500 that was never fully attained) was part of Napoleon's invasion forces.
[28] While many Poles returned to the Polish territories, a unit of about 325 men under Colonel Golaszewski fought in Napoleon's final 1815 campaign, the "Hundred Days", participating in the Battle of Waterloo.
[35] Despite their destruction, the Legions became legendary in Poland, helping to spread the civic and democratic ideals of the French Revolution throughout the country.
