Józef Haller
Józef Haller von Hallenburg was a Polish lieutenant general and legionary in the Polish Legions during the First World War. He was a harcmistrz, the president of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, and a political and social activist. He was also the cousin of Stanisław Haller.
Haller was born in Jurczyce. He studied at Vienna's Technical Military Academy and subsequently 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, Haller 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. 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 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. 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. 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.
In 1920–1927 Haller was a deputy to the Sejm. After the election of Gabriel Narutowicz as President of the Republic in December 1922, Haller fell into disfavor. 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, Haller was living abroad. From 1940 to 1943 he served as Minister of Education in Władysław Sikorski's government. After 1945 he settled in London as an exile and did not take active part in any émigré Polish political activities.
Early life
Haller was born 13 August 1873 in a small village called Jurczyce near Kraków, in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Józef was the third child of a szlachta Henryk Haller and Olga Treter. One of his distant ancestors was Jan Haller, a bookseller and the owner of the first printing house in Poland in the 16th century. Józef Haller's father took part in the January Uprising against the partitioning powers and his maternal grandfather was a captain in the Polish Army during the November Uprising. He was also awarded the Virtuti Militari Knight's Cross.Józef spent his early childhood in the countryside where up to the age of nine he grew up with his brothers and sisters. Like other family members, he belonged to the Catholic organizations such as Sodality of Our Lady, which popularized the veneration of the Virgin Mary, and the Third Secular Franciscan Order. Strong patriotism and religiousness were deeply rooted in Haller's family life and strongly influenced young Józef. Those family values – patriotism and religion – which shaped his personality, determined his future decisions.
In 1882 the Haller family moved to the city of Lwów, then under Austrian occupation, where Józef attended a local gymnasium. He subsequently continued his education in the military junior high school in Kaschau, Hungary and then in a high school in Hranice na Moravě in Moravia, which was also attended to by some Austrian archdukes and European royalty. Afterwards, he studied at the Faculty of Artillery at Vienna's Theresian Military Academy.
Austro-Hungarian Army
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 Austro-Hungarian Army. Between 1895 and 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
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. 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 Haller 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
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, and the Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie. 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 loyalty to the Austrian emperor, the legion was disbanded.Polish Legions
Soldiers, who were in favor for continuing the war against the Russian Empire, 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 30 September 1914, Haller and the military unit under his surveillance left Kraków, and set off to the front line in Eastern Carpathians. Despite bad climatic and topographic conditions, the brigade supported the defence of the Carpathians and hindered Russian access to Hungary.In the beginning of October 1914, the brigade got to Hungarian side of Carpathians. On October 12 the 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment troops under the command of Haller surmounted the Rafajlowa village in Galicia. On 22 and 23 October the main troops reached the village through the route near the Pantyr Mountain in Gorgany, built by sappers and assaulted on Stanisławów. On 24 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 24 January 1915, Russians attacked the 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment. Polish soldiers did not expect the offensive. However, due to their commander's actions, they defeated the enemy and took many Prisoners of War. 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 14 March 1915 he was promoted colonel.
On a temporary permit in Częstochowa, 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 assignment to command the 2nd Legions’ Infantry Brigade, which he accepted.
Polish Rifle Division
On 15 February 1918, Haller questioned the agreements of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which reduced the chances for the creation of an independent Poland,. Together with the II Brigade of the Polish Legions and the rest of Polish soldiers, Haller broke through the frontline near Rarańcza. and joined the Polish troops in Russia. He was ranked commander of a newly formed Polish 5th Siberian Rifle Division.From 28 March 1918, he took charge of the military units of the Polish 2nd Corps in Ukraine. On 7 April 1918 Haller was appointed General. The legions under Haller's command were inspired by the National Democracy movement. Recruitment of Jewish volunteers to their ranks ceased in 1918, and the legions were later involved in pogroms.