Polish Military Organisation

Polish Military Organisation
Polska Organizacja Wojskowa (POW)
Supreme command of the PMO in 1914
Active	1914–1921
Country	Congress Poland
Allegiance	Polish Independence Movement
Type	Paramilitary
Role	Armed struggle against the Imperial Russian Army
Size	c. 30,000 (1918)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Tadeusz Żuliński Michał Żymierski Tadeusz Kasprzycki
Insignia
Emblem of the Polish Military Organisation	Logo of Związek Peowiaków.JPG

The Polish Military Organisation, PMO (Polish: Polska Organizacja Wojskowa, POW) was a secret military organization that was formed during World War I (1914–1918). Józef Piłsudski founded the group in August 1914. It adopted the name POW in November 1914 and aimed to gather intelligence and to sabotage the enemies of the Polish people. Piłsudski used it to act independently from his cautious Austro-Hungarian supporters, and it became an important, if somewhat lesser known, counterpart to the Polish Legions. Its targets included the Russian Empire in the early phase of the war and the German Empire later. Its membership rose from a few hundred in 1914 to over 30,000 in 1918.