Józef Haller de Hallenburg (August 13, 1873, in
Jurczyce - June 4, 1960, in London) was a
Lieutenant General of the
Polish Army, legionary in
Polish Legions,
harcmistrz (the highest
Scouting instructor rank in
Poland), the President of
The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (
ZHP), political and social
activist,
Stanislaw Haller de Hallenburg's cousin.
Haller studied at Vienna's Technical Military Academy and subsequently (1895-1906) served with the Austrian Army, resigning after reaching the rank of captain. He supported the paramilitary pro-independence Polish organization Sokól. In 1916, during the First World War, he became commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, in particular the units which fought against Russia on the Eastern Front.
In 1918, in the aftermath of the "Charge at Rarancza", as commander of the 2nd Polish Auxiliary Corps with the Austrian Army, he broke through the Austro-Russian front line to Ukraine, where he united his troops with Polish detachments which had left the Tsarist army. He protested the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and continued to fight the Russians with his II Brigade of the Polish Legions (later, the 4th and 5th Rifle Divisions of the Polish II Corps). Under the pressure of the Germans, who after the Peace of Brest-Litovsk regarded the presence of Polish troops in Ukraine as illegal, and a fierce battle between Poles and Germans at Kaniów (May 10, 1918, 2500 casualties) his corps was interned, while the Brigadier himself managed to escape to Moscow. Subsequently, by the way of Murmansk, he arrived in France in July 1918, where on behalf of the Polish National Committee he created what was known as the Blue Army (from the color of its French uniforms, also known as Haller's Army). For the next few months his army, allied to the Entente, would fight against Germany. In 1919, at the new army's head, he arrived in Poland and was dispatched to the Ukrainian front. In 1920 Haller seized Pomerania and entered Danzig (Gdansk) in the name of Poland, and during the Polish-Soviet War he commanded an army of volunteers. He was also Inspector General of the Army and a member of the War Council.
In 1920-1927 he was a deputy to the Sejm. After the election of Gabriel Narutowicz as President of the Republic in December 1922, Haller fell into disfavor.[1] After the 1926 May Coup, he was ordered into retirement. He co-organized an opposition party, the "Front Morges." At the time of the Invasion of Poland (1939), Haller was living abroad. In 1940-1943 he served as Minister of Education in Wladyslaw Sikorski's government. After 1945 he settled down in London and did not participate in any émigré Polish political activities.
