Przysposobienie wojskowe harcerzy w Krakowskiej Chorągwi Męskiej w latach 1920–1926

Abstract

The article describes the role of Krakowska Chorągiew Męska Związku Harcerstwa Polskiego (the regional male team of ZHP scouts in Cracow) in military training of youth between 1920 and 1926. Polish scouting came into existence in the first and second decades of the 20th century, inspired by the English organization that appealed to earlier independence- -promoting organization from before World War I. When the war broke out, many of its members joined the Legions. They fought in combats that shaped the borders of the reborn Poland, in uprisings in Silesia and Major Poland, and in the Polish-Soviet war. It was these traditions that ZHP was drawing upon during the interwar period, and it still does nowadays. All this time it has been one of the institutions that provided civil defence training based on patriotic values. It has developed a specific efficient system of education, as borne out by the scout’s performance in combat against all kinds of enemies in every formation during the World War II, both inside and outside our country, with the remarkable example of Szare Szeregi (Gray Ranks). The article describes teaching methods and the curriculum of Krakowska Chorągiew Męska as an example of military training in the whole ZHP.