1st Polish Rifle Regiment in France During the Great War

The article presents a fragment of the history of the 1st Polish Rifle Regiment, the first independent unit that was a part of the Polish Army in France (also known as the Blue Army or the Army of General Józef Haller). The unit was organized in January 1918 and the only Polish formation of Blue Army of that period that participated in the final stages of the Great War on the Western Front. The paper’s chronological scope covers the period from the formation of the regiment in January 1918 to the end of the war in November 1918. The 1st Polish Rifle Regiment together with the Polish Army in France provided enormous support for the Polish Army during the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Soviet wars. The article is divided into parts corresponding to the various stages of regiment’s service in France during the Great War – formation and training, stay at the front in Champagne, joining the 1st Polish Rifle Division, and filling a section of the front in the Vosges. The paper is based on primary sources available in the Central Military Archives in Warsaw, the Archives of Modern Records, memories and diaries, and French regulations and their Polish translations. Critical analysis method was used to analyze the sources.