6-585: The Polish Rifle Squads ( Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie, PDS ) was a Polish pro-independence paramilitary organization, founded in 1911 by the Youth Independence Organization Zarzewie in the Austro-Hungarian sector of partitioned Poland . Among its founders were Norwid Neugebauer , Marian Januszajtis-Żegota , Henryk Bagiński and Eugeniusz Homer . The organization was similar in spirit to, and closely cooperated with,
12-923: Is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not a military , it is usually equivalent to a light infantry or special forces in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as internal security / SWAT vehicles ), or even actual military equipment (such as long guns and armored personnel carriers ; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal ), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat ) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement , coast guard , or search and rescue . A paramilitary may fall under
18-686: The Riflemen's Association . It too was supported by the Austro-Hungarian government, which wanted to raise a Polish army for use in World War I . By 1914 the organization numbered 6,000 members. Most of them joined Józef Piłsudski 's Polish Legions in World War I . Before its legalization, the PDS operated as an underground organization called Polish Military Alliance ( Polski Zwiazek Wojskowy, PZW ). Its objective
24-441: The command of a military , train alongside them, or have permission to use their resources, despite not actually being part of them. Under the law of war , a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency (such as a law enforcement agency or a private volunteer militia ) into its combatant armed forces. Some countries' constitutions prohibit paramilitary organizations outside government use . Depending on
30-607: The outbreak of the First World War , its membership grew rapidly, to over 6,000 members, divided into 127 so-called rifle teams. The PDS closely cooperated with the Union of Active Struggle , and as a result, both organizations coordinated their activities, introducing same kind of uniforms. Members of the PDS used several kinds of weapons during military training courses. Most popular were Mannlicher–Schönauer and obsolete M1867 Werndl–Holub rifles. Paramilitary A paramilitary
36-619: Was to prepare the Polish nation for fight for independence, with emphasis on training of officer corps of the future army. In October 1910, the PZW took the name Armia Polska (Polish Army), organizing paramilitary courses in Austrian Galicia , as well as in Congress Poland and Vienna . In 1911-1912, after legalization and changing name to Polish Rifle Squads, the organization had 650 members. By
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