The elements forming the Polish Army from 11 Nov 1918 wore uniforms and equipment of seven different origins, but this did not dicourage Piłsudski’s determination to create a force capable of defeating the Red Army. Famously, the most diverse formation was 1st Cav Div, whose six cavalry regiments included personnel from the Polish Legions and the Austro-Hungarian, German and Tsarist Russian Armies.
A ‘field-grey’ (greenish-grey) uniform with silver-plated M1830 buttons showing an eagle with outspread wings was introduced from 10 Apr 1917, and extended to 9 inf divs: 1st–3rd Legion (PSZ); 4th, 6th (AH Army), 5th (Lwów Rifles); and 7th–9th (AH army and POW). Main branch colours were: general officers, general staff, cavalry – dark red piped with white; infantry – crimson; artillery – black; engineers – red; air service – yellow.
Officers wore a soft-crowned maciejowka cap with a zigzag silver braid chinstrap, a central horizontal band-welt (general officers, field grey), an M1917 crowned eagle and shield badge, and a silver rosette. The officers’ 6-button tunic bore zigzag silver braid (generals, double; other officers, single) on the front and lower edges of branch-colour collar patches. It had external pleated pockets; pointed, buttoned cuffs; and branch-colour front, pocket-flap and cuff piping. Plain breeches (generals, two dark red stripes; general staff officers, one) were worn with riding boots, or field-grey puttees or leather leggings with black ankle boots.
NCOs of 7th Lancers Regt relax for the camera, 1919. They wear M1917 PSZ field-grey lancer tunics, with dark red collars and piping, and cavalry zigzag braid on the front and top collar edges. The NCO (second left) is a staff sergeant, while both lancers on the right are corporals. (Polish Institute & Sikorski Museum, London)
Photographed in January 1919 in Grodek Jagiellonski (Ukr, Horodok), Eastern Galicia, these two cavalrymen are from 1st Lancers Regt, formerly part of the Polish Corps in Russia. Both wear Russian khaki peaked caps with M1917 eagle badges, and khaki lancer overcoats with fur collars. The man on the right has Russian-style double belt braces and a pistol, suggesting an officer; he carries a Cossack M1904 shashka, his companion a Russian M1881/1909 cavalry sabre. (Polish Institute & Sikorski Museum, London)
Rankers wore a maciejowka with a cloth chinstrap, and M1917 eagle and shield with unit number; a plain tunic with branch-colour collar patches with single-zigzag braid; internal waist pockets, and plain turnback cuffs. Plain trousers were worn with puttees and ankle boots. Cavalry wore lancer tunics with dark red piping, and zigzag braid around the front and top of standing collars. Officers wore silver wire straight or plaited trefoil shoulder straps with gold rank stars and crowns, on branch-colour underlay; NCOs had silver rank bars and edging on rectangular (cavalry, scalloped) shoulder straps with branch-colour piping.
| Table 5: Polish Army selected branch insignia, 1 November 1919–18 March 1921 | ||||
| Branch | Facing cloth | Piping | Silver collar insignia | Silver shoulder insignia |
| (First) Marshal of Poland | Navy blue velvet | Dark red | Eagle, gold & silver crossed maces | |
| Generals (combat) | Navy blue velvet | Dark red | Eagle | |
| Generals (services)1 | Branch | Branch | Branch | |
| General Staff | Navy blue velvet | Dark red | Eagle | |
| Infantry | Navy blue | Yellow | Regt no. | |
| Mountain Rifles | Navy blue | Yellow | Swastika, pine-cone | Regt no. |
| 1st Light Horse Regt | Dark red | White | JP monogram | |
| Light Horse2 | Dark red | White | Regt no. | |
| Lancers2 | Dark red | Regt no. | ||
| Tartar Cavalry2 | Dark red | Light blue | Star, crescent | Star, crescent |
| Mounted Rifles2 | Dark red | Dark green | Regt no. | |
| Armour | Black3 | Yellow | Regt no. | |
| Air Service | Yellow | Regt no. | ||
| Field Artillery | Dark green3 | Black | Regt no. | |
| Heavy Artillery | Dark green3 | Black | C + Regt no. | |
| Horse Artillery2 | Dark green3 | Dark red | K + Regt no. | |
| Engineers | Black3 | Red | Bn no. | |
| Bridging Engineers | Black3 | Red | MS + Bn no. | |
| Signals | Black3 | Light blue | Bn no. | |
| Military Border Guard | Light green | White | Regt no. | |
| Military Police | Red | Yellow | ||
| Transport Service | Dark brown | Light blue | Bn no. | |
| Medical Service | Dark red3 | Navy blue | Asclepius rod, wreath | |
| Veterinary officers | Brown | Olive green | Sword, snakes | |
| Supply officers | Brown | Light blue | Leaves | |
| Military Officials | Rank insignia | |||
| Notes: | ||||
| (1) Medical officers and Supply. (2) From July 1920, coloured pennant and zigzag braid on plain collar. (3) Velvet for officers. | ||||
The 10th Inf Div wore the M1917 greenish-brown ‘Russian khaki’ field uniform with brown bone buttons introduced for the Polish Corps in Russia, December 1917. Branch-colour collar patches were: generals and infantry – red; lancers – regimental pennants; artillery – black piped with red; engineers – black.
Officers wore either a Russian peaked cap with branch-colour crown-and band piping, or a maciejowka with a brown leather chinstrap and peak edged silver and a branch-colour band, with an M1917 silver crowned eagle and shield badge. The 5-button French had a stand-and-fall collar with branch-colour parallelogram patches (cavalry, two-coloured pennants); plain or branch colour-piped shoulder straps; external pleated pockets; turnback or pointed cuffs with branch-colour piping and buttoned flaps; dark blue breeches with branch-colour piping between two stripes, or khaki field breeches with branch-colour piping; and black leather riding boots. Rankers wore a khaki 5-button gymnastiorka field shirt. Rank insignia on the left upper sleeves comprised point-down chevrons, in gold or silver braid for officers and red cloth for NCOs. Armour and air service wore dark blue uniforms.
From 8 Jan 1919 the Lithuanian & Belarusian Self-Defence Force was accepted into the Polish Army, wearing either PSZ uniforms and insignia or Russian uniforms with Polish insignia. These personnel later formed the 1st and 2nd Lithuanian-Belarusian Divisions.
Haller’s Army contributed 4 inf divs numbered 11–13 and 18. On 30 Sept 1917 they were authorized the M1915 French ‘horizon-blue’ field uniform (a greyish light blue). Branch of service was shown by the colours of buttons, collar patches, and collar-patch and cap piping: rifles – gold button colour, horizon-blue patches, dark green pipings and cap horn; mounted rifles – silver, dark red, white; artillery – gold, red, light blue; armour – gold, red, white.
Officers wore the service-dress rogatywka with black leather peak; button-colour chinstrap; branch-colour piping on the crown, vertical seams and band upper edge; and an M1917 silver badge of a crowned eagle with outstretched wings and a shield with ‘WP’ (Wojsko Polskie), positioned above a cloth oval with button-colour horizontal rank bars. Generals had zigzag silver braid on a branch-colour cap band. Officers’ field uniform had a rogatywka service cap. The officers’ 6-button tunic had a stand-and-fall collar with branch-colour patches double-piped at the upper edge in button colour; pointed shoulder straps bearing a silver wire eagle on a red oval; external pleated pockets, and turnback cuffs. Rankers wore a rogatywka, and a tunic with internal pockets and plain cuffs, under a habitual greatcoat. Officers’ rank insignia were button-colour horizontal bars on the cap and the tunic cuffs (generals had cap stars, and red cuffs with zigzag braids). NCOs and senior privates had diagonal cuff stripes in button-colour or dark blue wool respectively.
The four GP divisions (numbered 14–17) wore the M1919 field-grey service uniform introduced from 8 Jan 1919, or German Army items. Branches were indicated by silver collar badges: generals – silver eagle on red patch; rifles – regimental numeral, or eagle or lion badge; lancers – regimentally coloured pennants; artillery – regimental numeral and crossed cannons; sappers – crossed spade and axe; air service – wings on a dark blue patch piped yellow.
Two Polish officers with a captured Russian Austin-Putilov armoured car at Babruysk, Belarus, on 28 May 1920. They wear regulation M1919 khaki service uniform apparently with the black collar patches, piped yellow, of Polish armoured troops. The car’s Russian name ‘Stenka Razin’ (after a 17th-century Russian Cossack general who fought the Poles) has been changed to ‘Poznańczyk’ (‘Poznanian’, after GP Armoured Train No.11), which suggests that the officers are from a Greater Poland unit. (Author’s collection)
Officers wore a tall, loose-crowned rogatywka with an M1919 silver crowned eagle with outstretched wings, and black leather peak and chinstrap with silver braid slides. The M1919 6-button tunic had a high stand-and-fall collar with narrow vertical red-and-white cloth stripes; external pleated pockets; pointed cuffs with or without buttons; and dark red piping at collar, shoulder straps, cuffs, and pocket flaps. NCOs and privates usually wore the M1919 tunic with internal waist pockets with diagonal buttoned and scalloped flaps. All ranks might equally wear German M1910 or M1915 field tunics. Cavalry wore lancer tunics with regimental piping, cap bands and breeches stripes. Officers’ rank insignia comprised a buttoned cap trefoil in silver braid with rank slides, and braid cuff chevrons; NCOs and privates had grey trefoils and cuff chevrons.
