| dc.description.abstract | The article discusses the organisational changes and the functioning of the gendarmerie formation in the Polish Army from 1812 to 1939. Gendarmerie appeared in the Polish Army pursuant to the command of Napoleon I. First, it was created in Lithuania, and several months later, also in the Dukedom of Warsaw. After the fall of Napoleon, gendarmerie was established by the decree of Alexander I in October 1816. The corps was operating until the outbreak of the November uprising. In December 1830, the National Government ordained concentration of the detachments of gendarmerie, and in February 1831 it created the Mounted Gendarmerie Division. In the insurgent army it functioned briefly as the Field Guard. After the fall of the uprising, the Russian authorities created the 3rd District of Gendarmerie Corps, renamed as the Warsaw District, and in 1896, completely deprived of its independence and subordinated to the assistant of the Governor for police affairs. During the January uprising, Army Gendarmerie, organized on the basis of the Security Guard, was operating mainly in Warsaw. Its 5th Department was carrying out cruel punishments for treason and for fighting against the insurgents, as well as carrying out the verdicts of the National Government and the Revolutionary Tribunal. During World War I, there was no gendarmerie at the Polish detachments fighting on the Russian side. In the Legions, Field Gendarmerie was formed. After the allegiance pledge crisis, gendarmerie was united and renamed the Polish Army Field Gendarmerie. In the summer of 1917, it was divided into two sections - one at the Polish Auxiliary Corps, and one at the Polish Armed Forces. After regaining the independence, the units of gendarmerie were united. From April 1919, it was subordinated to the 2nd minister of military affairs. Regulations were issued and the Gendarmerie Inspectorate was created (from 1920, Military Gendarmerie Command), in 1921, included in the 1st Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs. In 1926, divisions of gendarmerie were established at the commands of the Corps Districts. All that time, the organisation and the regulations of the service were being perfected, and in 1930, the existence of the formation was sanctioned by the decree of the President of the Republic of Poland. Gendarmerie also took an active part in the defence war of 1939. | en_EN |
