Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

Partisan Warfare in 19th-Century Poland, by Emanuel Halicz. 1975. Odense University Press, Odense

The Kosciuszko Insurrection (1794), the November Insurrection (1830), and the January Insurrection (1863): The Pioneering Nature of Polish Guerrilla Warfare

This work focuses on the Polish Insurrections of 1894, 1831, and 1863. It emphasizes tactics rather than battles. For instance, one learns that scythe-bearing combatants were still a match against armed men because early firearms were not particularly accurate. Rapid advances in military technology, especially by the middle of the 19th century, finally changed this situation. (p. 44).

EFFICACY OF POLISH GUERRILLA WARFARE: IMITATED BY MANY OTHER NATIONS

A Polish guerrilla insurrection, directed against tsarist Russia, was analyzed as follows: “A Swiss observer, an officer of the Genera staff, Colonel Franz L. von Erlach, evaluated highly the struggle of the Poles. ‘The present Polish war [he wrote in 1863] has much significance for any thinking Swiss soldier who observes it carefully, not only from the point of view of the state but above all as a universal people’s war, as a partisan war. As a universal people’s war it is a model of internal enthusiasm, sacrifice, single-mindedness, unheard-of perseverance and absolute courage which it would be difficult to surpass…The nature of the Polish partisan war can serve us as a splendid example which can be applied and very successfully carried out in many parts of Switzerland.'” (p. 52).

Many other non-Polish theoreticians of guerrilla warfare had been influenced by the Polish guerrilla experiences. For instance, Halicz writes: “By 1830, Carlo Bianco Conte di Saint Jorioz had already accepted many propositions of Kosciuszko’s work…” (p. 45). This, in turn, served as an inspiration for the work by Italian revolutionary Guiseppe Mazzini.

During the early stages of WWII, the Germans studied Polish guerrilla warfare in order to attempt to counter it. The French Maquis studied Kamienski’s WOJNA LUDOWA (THE PEOPLE’S WAR) and related materials.