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Józef Haller de Hallenburg (born 13 August 1873, Jurczyce, died 4 June 1960, London) was a Lieutenant General of the Polish Army, legionary in Polish Legions, harcmistrz (the highest Scouting instructor rank in Poland), the President of The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP), political and social activist, Stanisław Haller de Hallenburg’s cousin.

Early life[edit]

He was born 13 August 1873 in Jurczyce near Cracow (Skawina Municipal). Józef was the third child of a landed gentry Nobel Henryk Haller de Hallenburg and Olga Treter. Jan Haller, who was a bookseller and the owner of the first printing house in Poland in 16th century, was his ancestor. He spent his early childhood in the countryside where up to the age of 9 he grew up with his brothers and sisters. As other family members he also belonged to a catholic organization which popularised the cult of the Virgin Mary and to The Third Secular Franciscan Order. Strong patriotism and religiousness were deeply rooted in Józef Haller’s family life and strongly influenced young Józef. The values, which shaped his personality, determined his future decisions.

Józef Haller’s father took part in the January Uprising and his maternal grandfather was a captain of the Polish Army during the November Uprising. He was also awarded the Virtuti Militari Knight’s Cross.

In 1882 the Haller family moved to Lviv where Józef attended a German gymnasium. When he left the gymnasium he continued his education in the military Lower Realschule in Košice, Hungary (present-day Slovakia) and then in the Higher Realschule in Hranice na Moravě, which was also attended to by some Austrian archdukes. Afterwards, he studied at the Faculty of Artillery at the Vienna's Technical Military Academy.

Austro-Hungarian Army[edit]

When Józef Haller graduated from the university he was designated the rank of Second Lieutenant and then started his 15-year long service with the Austrian Army. Between 1985-1910 he served with the 11th Artillery Regiment in Lviv. In 1903 Józef married Aleksandra Sala and in 1906 his son Eryk was born. In 1910 Józef resigned from the Austro-Hungarian Army stating that since he had reached the rank of captain and he is not able to learn anything new in the Austrian Artillery, he leaves the army in order to serve the country in some other way until his Homeland needs him.

Social work[edit]

After dropping out of the army, Haller dedicated himself to social work. He was an active member of a farmers cooperative movement where he achieved remarkable successes. In 1912 he took up a post as the inspector in Farmer’s Association (Towarzystwo Kółek Rolniczych). His duties included organizing agricultural, farm and dairy courses. He was also a member of the Scouting Movement and Polish Gymnastic Society "Falcon" which was founded in 1911. Some of his priorities there were to militarize "Falcon" and polonize the scouting movement and then transform it into "harcerstwo" which is a Polish equivalent of scouting.

Since mid 1912 he had worked as a military trainer: he set up Falcon teams, organized secret soldier, non-commissioned officer and officer courses for the Polish youth. In 1913 along with other colleagues he worked out model badges and terminology for "harcerstwo", many of which are still used today. He made a major contribution to creating the Scouts Cross where he suggested combining some elements of the Maltese Cross and the Polish Virtuti Militari Order.

World War I[edit]

The Eastern Legion

When the Great War broke out it was a sign to mobilize Polish patriotic paramilitary organizations. On 27 August 1914 Józef Piłsudski issued an order in which he declared formation of the Polish Legions. On the strength of the order the Eastern Legion was formed in Lviv under the command of the General Adam Pietraszkiewicz. Haller was one of the founders of this formation which is a combination of Falcon’s Drużyny Polowe, Drużyny Bartoszowe and the Polish Rifle Squads. At that time Austrian failures in Galicia led to occupation of Lviv and the whole territory of the eastern Galicia by the Russian army. The Legion had to withdraw into the surroundings of Mszana Dolna. Although the unit had been completely formed it did not participate in the battle. Due to a collapse of morale among soldiers and resistance against swearing to the faithfulness to the emperor, the legion was disbanded.

Polish Legions

Soldiers, who were in favor to continue the war with Russia, were subjected to Joseph Haller’s directions. He became the commander of the 3rd Legions’ Infantry Regiment after its former reorganisation. He was then ranked lieutenant-colonel. On September the 30th, 1914, Haller and the military unit under his surveillance left Cracow, and set off to the front line in Eastern Carpathians. Despite bad climatic and topographic conditions, the brigade supported the defence of Carpathians and hindered Russian access to Hungary. In the beginning of October 1914, the brigade got to Hungarian side of Carpathians. On October the 12th the 3rd Legions’ Infantry Regiment troops under the command of Haller surmounted the Rafajlowa village in Galicia. On 22nd and 23rd of October the main troops reached the village through the route near the Pantyr Mountain in Gorgany (later on it was named the Legions’ Mountain Pass), built by sappers and assaulted on Stanislawow. On 24th of October the troops defeated Nadvirna. Five days later the Molotkow battle took place. The failure pushed Haller’s soldiers back to Rafajlowa. In November the brigade was divided into two separate units. Haller’s brigade remained in Rafajlowa, whereas the others continued the battle in Huculszczyzna and Bukovina. On the night of the 24th of January 1915, Russians attacked the 3rd Legions’ Infantry Regiment. Polish soldiers did not expect the offensive. However, due to their commander’s sense of reason and his undeniable courage, they harmfully defeated the enemy and took many Prisoners of War (POWs). A permanent struggle resulted in the loss of approximately 50% of soldiers. After the successful defence and stabilization on the front line, lieutenant colonel Haller passed the leadership of the 3rd Legions’ Infantry Regiment to major Henryk Minkiewicz, simultaneously remaining in the 2nd Legions’ Infantry Brigade as commander’s orderly officer. On 14th of March 1915 he was promoted colonel. On a temporary permit in Czestochowa, in May 1915 Haller was injured in a car accident. He spent 10 months recovering in a hospital. In spring of 1916 Haller became a member of the Colonels’ Council, which incorporated the heads of Legions’ military units, and functioned in opposition to Legions’ Headquarters, which advocated Austrian policy. In July 1918 Haller was given an assignation to command the 2nd Legions’ Infantry Brigade, which he accepted.

Polish Rifle Division

On 15th of February 1918, Haller questioned the agreements of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Together with the 2nd Legions’ Infantry Brigade and the rest of Polish soldiers, Haller broke the Austrian-Russian front line and joined the Polish troops in Russia. He was ranked commander of a newly formed Polish 5th Siberian Rifle Division. Since the 28th of March 1918 he took charge of the military units of the Polish 2nd Corps in Ukraine. On 7th of April 1918 Haller was appointed General.

Kaniv

Germany considered the presence of Polish military units in Ukraine as an infringement of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. At midnight on the 10th and 11th of May 1918 German troops assaulted Polish units near Kaniv. There were no warnings preceding the attack. The battle continued for one day. After the ammunition storage expired, the Polish 2nd Corps was contrived to surrender. German losses took up about 1500 of martyrs. Many people were seriously injured. The Polish army lost less than 1000 victims. The detachment of the Corps enabled Joseph Haller to avoid imprisonment. Using the name “Mazowiecki” he fled to Moscow, where he was the head of Polish Army Commission.

France

In July 1918, after a long journey through Karelia and Murmansk, General Haller arrived in France. On 4th of October 1918 he was designated to be in charge of the farming Polish Army. Those units were organised by volunteers. They consisted of Polish men who firstly worked for French army, former POWs of Austrian-Hungarian and German armies (nearly 35000) and Polish emigrants from the United States (about 22000 people) and Brazil (300 people). Political surveillance over the army was initially a domain of Polish National Committee. But according to an agreement of the 28th of September 1918, the Blue Army was recognised by the Triple Entente member countries an independent Polish army. In 1918 Polish troops commanded by Joseph Haller struggled with German soldiers on the western front line in Wogezy and Champagne.

Blue Army

The cease of war did not interrupt in the enlargement of the army. The number of soldiers was eventually over 100000. Due to weapon supplies from France, the Polish Army finally became a significant military force. Until June of 1919 the equipment was conveyed to Poland. Modern arms of Blue Army, especially airplanes and tanks Renault FT-17 enhanced the Polish Armed Forces yet to be founded. General Haller arrived to Warsaw on 21st of April 1919, where he was welcomed as a national hero. Local municipality granted him a city honorary citizenship.

Polish-Ukrainian War

Because the Blue Army was the only well armed combat unit in the recreated Polish Army, the command decided not to split it into smaller pieces. All the army was deployed at the Polish-Ukrainian frontline. In the course of victorious battles against the Ukrainian army, Haller’s forces reached the Zbruch River, passing Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. However, in June the General himself was dispatched to the Polish-German borderline in order to take command of the army in the South-Western front.

Pomerania

In October 1919, Haller was entrusted with the command of the Pomeranian Front, created in order to claim the territory of Pomerania, in the peaceful and planned way, as the territory was granted to Poland according to the Treaty of Versailles. As planned, the taking over of Pomerania began on the 18th of January 1920, starting with Toruń, which was taken over by the squadrons of the 16th Pomeranian Infantry Division. The following territories were being taken from the retreating German Army, until the 11th of February 1920, when the last of the soldiers left Gdańsk.

Despite a few incidents, including armed resistance and sabotage, the Pomeranian takeover was proceeding rather easily. On the 10th of February 1920, General Haller together with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Stanisław Wojciechowski, and the new administration of the Pomeranian Province came to Puck, where he performed a symbolic "wedding ceremony" of Poland and the Baltic Sea.

Polish-Soviet War

In 1920 Haller was appointed the Inspector General of the Volunteer Army, the formation to which he made a big contribution. During the Battle of Warsaw, he led the forces defending the capital's foregrounds. He was also a member of the Council for Defence of the Nation (July-August 1920) and later led the North-Eastern Front. At this stage of his career, he saw the end of the war.

The interwar period[edit]

After the war, Józef Haller had inter alia a function of the Inspector General of Artillery (in the years 1920-26), and the president of the Supreme Military Evaluation Commission. He was also a member of the War Council, lead the Hallerczyks’ Union, and since the 3rd July 1920 until 4th of February 1923, he was the President of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. During the years 1922-27 he was a member of the Sejm, running from the list of Christian Union of National Unity. Because of his nationalist views, he was considered, among others, one of those who were responsible for the anti-Semitic riots in Częstochowa in 1919. In which the soldiers of the Blue Army took part. He was also said to be responsible for inspiring an atmosphere of hostility towards the president Gabriel Narutowicz, claiming that he had been elected with "non-Polish" votes. General Haller condemned Piłsudski's May Coup d'Etat which resulted in him being retired on the 31st of January 1926. In the 1920s along with his wife Alexandra and his son Eryk he settled in Pomerania in the Gorzuchowo mansion, near Chełmno. In 1933, he travelled to the USA with a mission of support for veterans and disabled members of the Blue Army. During the years 1936-39, he was one of the organizers and leaders of Front Morges which was in opposition to the government of the sanacja regime. On the 10th of October 1937, on the Labour Party's Constitutional Congress he was elected the head of the party's Principal Board.

Word War II[edit]

France

After the war broke out, he managed to make his way through Romania, to France, where he offered himself to serve General Władysław Sikorski's government, which was about to be formed. He also led the Intergovernmental Committee for Registration. On the first days of November 1939 he entered the government as a Minister without Portfolio. At the turn of the years 1939-1940, he travelled again to the USA, but this time to encourage Polonia there to join the Polish Army, which was being formed in France.

Great Britain

After the fall of the government in France, he reached Great Britain, through Spain and Portugal. In Great Britain during the years 1940-1943, he was a Minister of Education in Polish Government-in-Exile.

Postwar[edit]

After the war Józef Haller decided to remain on emigration and settle in London for good where steeped in the legend of "Blue General" he died 4 June 1960 at the age of 87. He was buried on the Gunnersburry cemetery. Thanks to the initiative of Polish scouts from "Whites" team, his ashes returned to Poland on 23 April 1993 and are now kept in a crypt in St. Agnieszka’s garrison church in Cracow.

Summary[edit]

Józef Haller de Hallenburg (August 13, 1873 - June 4, 1960) was a Polish general and politician.

Haller studied at Vienna's Technical Military Academy and subsequently (1895-1906) served with the Austrian Army, resigning after reaching the rank of captain. He supported the paramilitary pro-independence Polish organization Sokół.

In 1916, during the First World War, he became commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, in particular the units which fought against Russia on the Eastern Front.

In 1918, in the aftermath of the "Charge at Rarańcza," as commander of the 2nd Polish Auxiliary Corps with the Austrian Army, he broke through the Austro-Russian front line to Ukraine, where he united his troops with Polish detachments which had left the Tsarist army. He protested the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and continued to fight the Russians with his II Brigade of the Polish Legions (later, the 4th and 5th Rifle Divisions). Under the pressure of the Germans, who after the Peace of Brest-Litovsk regarded the presence of Polish troops in Ukraine as illegal, and a fierce battle between Poles and Germans at Kaniów (May 10, 1918, 2500 casualties) his corps was interned, while the Brigadier himself managed to escape to Moscow. Subsequently, by the way of Murmansk, he arrived in France in July 1918, where on behalf of the Polish National Committee he created what was known as the Blue Army (from the color of its French uniforms, also known as Haller's Army). For the next few months his army, allied to the Entente, would fight against Germany. In 1919, at the new army's head, he arrived in Poland and was dispatched to the Ukrainian front.

In 1920 Haller seized Pomerania and entered Danzig (Gdańsk) in the name of Poland, and during the Polish-Soviet War he commanded an army of volunteers. He was also Inspector General of the Army and a member of the War Council.

After the election of Gabriel Narutowicz as President of the Republic in December 1922, Haller fell into disfavor.^[1] After the 1926 May Coup, he was ordered into retirement. He co-organized an opposition party, the "Front Morges."

At the time of the Invasion of Poland (1939), Haller was living abroad. In 1940-1943 he served as Minister of Education in Władysław Sikorski's government. After 1945 he settled down in London and did not participate in any émigré Polish political activities.

Promotions[edit]

Captain of Artillery - 1909
Captain of Infantry - 18 October 1914
Major of Infantry - 25 October 1914
Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry - 20 November 1914
Colonel of Infantry - 14 March 1915

References[edit]

^ Ligocki, Edward Elgoth (1923). O Jozefie Hallerze. Nakladem Obywatelskiego Obrony Panstwa, Warszawa.

Bibliography[edit]

W. Lipiński, Walka zbrojna o niepodległość Polski w latach 1905 - 1918, Warszawa, 1990
J. Haller, Pamiętniki. Z wyborem dokumentów i zdjęć, Londyn 1964
H. Przybyłowski, Chrześcijańska Demokracja i Narodowa Partia Robotnicza w latach 1926-1937, Warszawa 1980
O. Terlecki, Generał Sikorski, t. 1, Kraków 1986
Władze RP na obczyźnie podczas II wojny światowej, pod red. Z. Błażyńskiego, Londyn 1994
T. Kryska-Karski, S. Żurakowski, Generałowie Polski Niepodległej, Warszawa 1991
S. Czerep, II Brygada Legionów Polskich, Warszawa 1991
I. Modelski, Dlaczego podczas II wojny światowej nie powstała Armia Polska w Ameryce?, (w:) "Komunikaty Towarzystwa im. Romana Dmowskiego", t. II, cz. 1, Londyn 1979/1980