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• The pro-independence movement of the Greater Poland (...)
• Battles in the Ukraine (...)
• Soldiers from the former Prussian Partition (...)
• On 3 October, the forces of the 2nd Army (...)

On 3 October, the forces of the 2nd Army and the 15th ID from the 4th Army were combined near Stowbtsy, which finally brought the Neman operation to an end. Both sides were seriously exhausted by the war and intended to make peace. 

One of the last clashes as part of the war took place on 11 October, near Stowbtsy. The 14th and the 15th ID fought savage battles for Koidanova, which changed hands several times. The opponents suffered heavy losses. The units that demonstrated exceptional bravery in the battle were the 55th, the 61st and, above all, the 58th Infantry Regiment 

The Silesian uprisings and entering the territory of Upper Silesia

Another area which the soldiers from Greater Poland fought for was Upper Silesia. These lands were detached from Poland back in the Middle Ages and had been undergoing serious Germanisation for several hundred years. The Silesians therefore did not stand a chance of liberating themselves on their own. 

In the first months of 1919, aeroplanes from Greater Poland flew over Silesia, dropping leaflets for the Poles who lived there. These were initially planes from the so-called “Combat Group” from Ławica airport, then, later they were the planes of the 2nd, and then 3rd Greater Poland Air Force Squadrons. 

At first glance, the July of 1919 seemed to pass peacefully in Upper Silesia, although the tension between the Poles and the Germans was growing. After the massacre of some Poles by Grenschutz soldiers, in the night of 16 to 17 August, an anti-German uprising broke out.

Greater Poland residents set up aid committees and sent food, money and armaments to Silesia. The spontaneous and largely unsupported uprising was, however, doomed to failure, and on 24 August the Silesian insurgents ceased fighting.

During the night of 18 to 19 August, when a deadly battle was being fought with the Red Army on the outskirts of Warsaw, the 2nd uprising in Upper Silesia broke out. The fighting stopped after a week. The insurgents did not manage to separate Silesia from the Weimar Republic, but they forced the Germans to make some concessions. Although the soldiers from Greater Poland had focused their greatest effort on rescuing Warsaw, they did not leave the Silesians without any support. One of the commanders of the 2nd Silesian uprising was Captain Mieczysław Paluch, highly renowned for his participation in the Greater Poland Uprising. In 1920, he was brought to Silesia by Wojciech Korfanty.

After signing an armistice with the Bolsheviks in October 1920, the Poles could finally pay more attention to Upper Silesia. In November, the 15th Fighter Squadron was moved close to the border with Upper Silesia. The aviators made several demonstration flights along the Polish-Silesian border.

Over time, the participation of Greater Poland residents in providing help to Silesia expanded. In January and February 1921, funds were raised to finance the Polish plebiscite action. In March, an Albatros B.II plane from the 15th Fighter Squadron, with the inscription “Save Silesia” on its lower wing, flew along the Polish-Silesian border. On the area covered by the plebiscite, Polish crews dropped leaflets and other propaganda materials. To prevent any possible political repercussions, the planes sent to Upper Silesia did not have the Polish checkerboard marking. Instead, there was one square on each wing, light blue and white in colour (the colours of the Silesian Piasts), both with dark blue rims. The propaganda action was getting more and more intense. Lectures and educational events were organised. Clothes and food were sent from Greater Poland to Silesia. Polish Army officers from Greater Poland also visited the area.

On 20 March, a plebiscite in Upper Silesia was held. In the entire area covered by the plebiscite, the majority voted for Upper Silesia to remain part of Germany. In many poviats, however, most of the voters were for annexing the area to Poland. A decision concerning the future of Upper Silesia was to be made by the Inter-Allied Commission in Opole. The representative of France, General Henri Le Rond, was in favour of dividing Upper Silesia in a way more favourable to Poland, but the representatives of Great Britain and Italy wanted to leave almost all of Upper Silesia to Germany. According to information obtained by the Poles, the pro-German option started to prevail, thus in the last decade of April, Wojciech Korfanty, who was the Polish commissionaire for the plebiscite, decided to start another uprising. Fighting broke out in the night of 2 to 3 May.

The 3rd Silesian uprising was participated in by approximately 2000 Greater Poland residents. Poznań also provided the insurgents in the south with weapons, ammunition, uniforms, food, money and medication. The inhabitants of Greater Poland who went to Upper Silesia included some outstanding individuals, such as Lieutenant Colonel Maciej Mielżyński, a landowner from Greater Poland, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the uprising. In June, Mielżyński was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Kazimierz Zenkteler – one of the most highly decorated officers from the Western Group of the Greater Poland Uprising. Captain Alojzy Nowak (former commander of the Września battalion during the Greater Poland Uprising) took command of the group “North”, while Lieutenant Colonel Bronisław Sikorski (participant of battles in Poznań) became commander of the group “South”. Mieczysław Szreybrowski, veteran of battles with the Germans in southern Greater Poland, was appointed Head of Communication. One of the units within the group “North” was the 9th Lubliniec-Opole Infantry Regiment (formerly the “Linke subgroup”). The adjutant of the 3rd battalion of this regiment, and, later, the commander of the 2nd company was Sergeant Tomasz Frankowski – veteran of the battles in the Greater Poland Uprising fought in the region of Grodzisk Wielkopolski and Lwówek. Another Silesian insurgent unit was commanded by Captain Paweł Cyms, famous for his raid on Inowrocław in January 1919. 

On 11 June 1921, after over a month of bloody fighting and under the pressure of the Inter-Allied Commission, an agreement was reached, and in October 1921 the Council of Ambassadors of the Entente states decided on a division of Upper Silesia that was favourable to Poland.

In June 1922, units of the Polish Armed Forces entered Upper Silesia. As a form of recognition of the Greater Poland residents’ contribution to the annexation of Upper Silesia to Poland, the 23rd ID – a division created on the basis of the 7th Greater Poland Reserve Brigade, was given the task to recover Katowice and the adjacent territories. The division was commanded by a renowned participant of the Greater Poland Uprising and the Silesian uprisings, Lieutenant Colonel Kazimierz Zenkteler.

Conclusions

In 1919-1921, residents of Greater Poland were present in all the places where battles for the borders of independent Poland were fought. The graves of soldiers from Greater Poland appeared in the cemeteries of Galician towns and villages, as well as in the forests in the region of Vilnius and Suwałki. Greater Polish blood flowed down the Berezina, the Dnieper, the Wieprz, the Vistula, the Narew and the Wkra. It saturated the sands of Masovia, the black soils of the region of Lublin, and the coal seams of Upper Silesia. Soldiers from Greater Poland were considered to be some of the best military men. Their enemies were afraid and respectful of the well-armed units from Greater Poland and Pomerania. Apart from a few rare cases, they were praised by commanders and entrusted the most responsible tasks. It would be hard to imagine the success of the Warsaw or Neman operations, or the political success of the 3rd Silesian uprising, without these soldiers from the former Prussian Partition.