Polska Siła Zbrojna, (germ.

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 Polnische Wehrmacht) was a military formation created by Imperial Germany during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, as the armed forces of their puppet Kingdom of Poland. Polska Siła Zbrojna was established a part of the German Army

German Army (German Empire)

The German Army was the name given the combined land forces of the German Empire, also known as the National Army , Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr...

, under German command. The commander-in-chief of the Polska Siła Zbrojna became general-governor Hans Hartwig von Beseler

Hans Hartwig von Beseler

Hans Hartwig von Beseler was a German Colonel General.- Biography :Beseler was born in Greifswald, Pomerania. His father, Georg Beseler, was a law professor at the University of Greifswald. He entered the Prussian Army in 1868, fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, and had a successful...

, while the de facto commander was General der Infanterie Felix von Barth, head of the training branch.

The Polska Siła Zbrojna was created on 10 April 1917, as a result of the Act of November 5th

Act of November 5th

The Act of 5th November of 1916 was a declaration of Emperors Wilhelm II of Germany and Franz Joseph of Austria. This act promised the creation of the Kingdom of Poland, envisioned by its authors as a puppet state allied to and controlled by the Central Powers...

 of 1916 and the creation of Kingdom of Poland. The backbone of the formation were the soldiers of the Polish Legions

Polish Legions in World War I

Polish Legions was the name of Polish armed forces created in August 1914 in Galicia. Thanks to the efforts of KSSN and the Polish members of the Austrian parliament, the unit became an independent formation of the Austro-Hungarian Army...

, fighting together with the Austro-Hungarian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 Army against Russia.

As a result of the Oath Crisis

Oath crisis

The Oath crisis was a World War I political conflict between the Imperial German Army command and the Józef Piłsudski-led Polish Legions.Initially supporting the Central Powers against Imperial Russia, Piłsudski wanted to defeat one of the partitioning powers with the hands of the two remaining...

 of July 1917, most of the soldiers of the Polish Legions denied to pledge loyalty to the German Kaiser

Kaiser

Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...

. Approximately 15 000 of them were interned in internment camps in Beniaminów

Beniaminów

Beniaminów is a village in Poland. It has approximately 190 inhabitants and is located in the Masovian Voivodship, east of Warsaw, between Legionowo and Nieporęt.Within the village are remnants of a 19th-century fort....

 and Szczypiorno

Szczypiorno

Szczypiorno is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Kalisz, Poland. Formerly until 1976 a separate village at the outskirts of the city, it is best known as a seat of a World War I and Polish-Bolshevist War prisoner of war camp and the name-sake for szczypiorniak, the Polish language name for...

, while almost 3 000 were drafted to the Austro-Hungarian Army

Austro-Hungarian Army

The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...

.

As a result, the planned force of 50 000 had only 2 775 soldiers, mostly untrained recruits from Central Poland. After the command of the unit was passed to the Polish Regency Council

Regency Council

right|thumb|Regency Council: Ostrowski, Kakowski, LubomirskiThe Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland was a semi-independent and temporary highest authority during World War I, formed by Germany and Austria-Hungary in the occupied Polish territories in September 1917. It was supposed to stay...

 on 19 October 1918 the number soon reached 9 000. After Poland declared her independence on 11 November 1918, the Polnische Wehrmacht became part of the newly formed Polish Army.