| dbo:strength
|
- 348,286 troops on front, about 700,000 reservists
- 5 million reservists,
- 800,000–950,000
- Early 1919: ~50,000
- Early 1919: ~80,000
- Russian volunteers: 20,000
- Summer 1920:
- Ukraine: 20,000
- Ukrainian Galician Army(about 1,000 soldiers),
- approx. 1,000,000
- Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia
|
| dbp:caption
|
- Top right: Polish Schwarzlose M.07/12 machine gun nest during the Battle of Radzymin, August 1920 (en)
- Middle: Polish defences with a M1895/14 machine gun position near Miłosna, during the Battle of Warsaw, August 1920 (en)
- Bottom left: Russian prisoners following the Battle of Warsaw (en)
- Below left: Polish troops enter Kiev, May 1920 (en)
- Bottom right: Polish defences in Belarus during the Battle of the Niemen River, September 1920 (en)
- Top left: Polish FT-17 tanks of the 1st Tank Regiment during the Battle of Dyneburg, January 1920 (en)
|
| dbp:quote
|
- Soldiers!
You have spent two long years, the first years of the existence of a free Poland, in hard work and bloody drudgery. You have ended the war with magnificent victories, and the enemy, broken by you, has finally agreed to sign the first and main principles of the longed-for peace.
Soldiers! Not in vain and not in vain has your toil been in vain. Modern Poland owes its existence to the magnificent victories of the Western powers over the partitioning states. But from the very first moment of the life of a free Poland, many covetous hands were stretched out towards her, many efforts were directed towards keeping her in a state of powerlessness, so that, if she did exist, she would be a plaything in the hands of others, a passive field for the intrigues of the whole world.
The Polish nation took up arms, made a tremendous effort, creating a numerous and strong army.
On my shoulders, as Commander-in-Chief, and in your hands, as defenders of the Fatherland, the nation has placed the heavy task of securing Poland's existence, gaining for it respect and importance in the world, and giving it full independent control of its destiny.
Our task is coming to an end. It has not been easy. Poland, devastated by a war waged on Polish soil not of her will, was poor. At times, soldiers, tears sprang to my eyes, when I saw among the ranks of the troops led by me, your barefooted, battered feet, which had already crossed immeasurable distances, when I saw the dirty rags covering your body, when I had to tear off your meagre soldier's rations and often demand that you go into bloody battle hungry and cold. The work was hard, and it was reliable, as thousands of soldiers' graves and crosses scattered across the lands of the former Republic of Poland, from the distant Dnieper to the native Vistula, will testify.
For your work and perseverance, for your sacrifice and blood, for your courage and daring, I thank you, soldiers, on behalf of the whole nation and our Homeland. [...] A soldier who has done so much for Poland will not go unrewarded. The grateful Homeland will not forget him. [I have already proposed to the government that part of the conquered land should become the property of those who made it Polish, having ground it with Polish blood and immeasurable toil. [...]]Soldiers! You have made Poland strong, confident and free. You can be proud and satisfied with the fulfilment of your duty. A country that in two years can produce such a soldier as you are can look to the future with confidence. [...]
Józef Piłsudski
First Marshal of Poland
and Commander-in-Chief". (en)
|