Volunteer Army (Poland)

The new Prime Minister, well aware of the disastrous situation, created Council of National Defense (July 1, 1920), which was authorized to take decisions regarding the war.

The most important task was to mobilize the nation and its resources in defence of the Bolshevik invasion.

On the first day of its creation, the new body, following the notion of Prime Minister, created the Volunteer Army.

On July 3, the Council issued an appeal to the nation, in which all citizens of the Commonwealth were urged to join the military.

The first volunteer division was officially formed on July 22 in Modlin, with Adam Koc as its commandant.

A black and white picture of a large group of men marching towards the camera, most of them dressed in civilian clothes and armbands, presumably in colours of the Polish national flag. The men carry long war scythes. To their right a large crowd of civilians.
In the summer of 1920 there were barely any weapons for the regular Polish Army units. Thus many regular regiments received reinforcements armed with nothing more than war scythes