Postcard - Batallion P.O.W. in mass (1917)

On the territory of the Russian partition, in August 1914, an underground organisation with military structures was established, later called the Polish Military Organisation. Its trained members later joined the ranks of the Polish Legions. Most members of the Polish Peasant Army treated service in the organisation as a transitional stage leading to regular military service.

In the spring of 1917, Józef Piłsudski decided to mobilise the POW. On 29 April there were open field exercises of the Warsaw District Battalion. It took place in the fields near Wawer, in the area of Zielona near Rembertów. A battalion of Polish Peacekeepers in Austrian uniforms, arranged in formation, presented itself to Brigadier Pilsudski and Major Keppel - a delegate of the German army occupying Warsaw. The exercises, which were a manifestation of the high level of military training, were led by the District Commander, and at the same time the commander of the Officer Cadet School, Captain Stefan Pomarański. A few months later, in July 1917, as the result of the so-called oath crisis, most Peowiaks (POW people), including Pomarański, were arrested. In this way, a certain stage of POW activity came to an end.