The badge of the Polish Active Combat League, together with an ID card and document after the late Dr. Waclaw Hlaska.
It was approved by the Minister of Military Affairs on November 10, 1925. The badge was awarded by a special Badge Commission, also approved by the above minister on February 20, 1925. The awarding of the badges took place at a ceremonial meeting of the commission on November 3, 1925. It was awarded for secret military work for Poland's independence by organizing the Polish Army in the East. It could be awarded to: former members of the organization, families of the fallen and deceased participants in the eastern formations of 1914-1918, meritorious participants in the battles of these formations, and military and civilians who made meritorious contributions to their formation and assistance to their soldiers.
Two-piece badge, silver-plated tombak, enamel. Designed by Włodzimierz Tetmajer.
Currently, its maker has not been determined.
A document from December 1925, included in the offer set, states that the person honored with this badge should report to the engraver Stanislaw Lipczynski in Warsaw to order it. So, the said engraver made such badges, but was it exclusively the variety with a safety pin or also with a mounting post (there is also such a numbered variety)? The topic requires further research, but nevertheless the information contained in the mentioned letter is very valuable for Polish faleristics.
A version with a safety pin attachment.
Dimensions 48 x 48 mm
Badge with a beautiful patina, state of preservation close to perfect - on the right shoulder discoloration of the red enamel and its delicate cracks.
Attached is ID No. 788 dated 1925 from this badge, issued to the late Dr. Waclaw Hlaska - a physician. It is signed by the Chairman of the Badges Committee, Major General Aleksander Osinski, and initialed by Lt. Gen. Henryk Baginski, organizer of the Polish Active Combat League in Russia in 1917.
Another item in the set is a letter from the Civic Committee for the celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the Polish War League of Active Struggle, dated December 1925, informing that the badge was awarded to the late Dr. Waclaw Hlaska.
The Polish War League of Active Struggle was founded in 1915 in Warsaw as an anti-Bolshevik organization. It was established for activity in Russia at the General Meeting of Military Poles in Petrograd in April 1917. Its organizer in the area was Henryk Baginski, together with representatives of the Galician organization Armia Polska and the Polish Rifle Squads. The main task of the organization was to prepare the public to fight against the Germans on the side of Russia and oppose the destructive actions of the Polish Bolsheviks in the Polish Rifle Division. Its goal was also to form its own Polish Army in Russia, so the organization's members conducted, among other things, recruitment activities for the I Polish Corps in Russia. After its formation, the organization was dissolved at a convention of delegates in Minsk-Litovsk in December 1917.
Literature: M. Wełna, Wojsko Polskie w Rosji i we Francji w latach 1914-1919. Odznaki, orzełki i oznaki, Warsaw 2000; Z. Sawicki, A. Wielecki, Odznaki Wojska Polskiego 1918-1945. Wojsko Polskie 1918-1939, Polskie Siły Zbrojne na Zachodzie, Warsaw 2007.
