During the First World War, there were Polish Legions that served in the German Imperial Army, Russian Army, and Austria-Hungarian Army. I know that Stanisław Sosabowski served in the Austrian-Hungarian Army from 1913-1918, then to serve the Second Polish Republic, and he led the Poles in Market Garden but I’m not sure if he was in the Polish Legions. Did any of the men of the Polish Legion continue in German Army, Russian Army, or other armies after the war, and what happened to them when World War Two started? Or were there just no Polish Legion veterans in the German or Russian Armies?
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There were even French Polush Legions, known as Haller’s Blue Army. They were trained at Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, Canada using Polish-American immigrants. A convenient train ride to Buffalo, NY and then a jaunt across the border, to avoid pesky American neutrality.
This force is considered the parent of the Polish Army and formed the basis of the Army of the 2nd Polish Republic.
Generally there were no Poles in German service prewar but there were some in Soviet service, more a product of migration during Imperial Russian rule and border location than anything else. After the Soviet-Polish war Poles were never allowed to form more than a small minority in any unit. This was standard Soviet policy for any minority they didn’t like.
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