Sokół (Polish Falcons)

"Sokół" was founded in Lviv in 1867 on the model of Miroslav Tyrš's Czech Sokol. Under the banner of gymnastics it fostered national spirit and discipline, from 1884 in the Prussian partition and from 1905 also in the Kingdom of Poland. Before the war it had more than 800 branches and tens of thousands of members. After the Grunwald rally of 1910 it formed the Sokół Field Squads with military training; in Galicia it stood closer to the National Democrats and competed with Piłsudski's Riflemen.

In August 1914 the Falcons of Galicia went mainly into the II Brigade of the Legions, where Józef Haller served, and in France they joined the Foreign Legion. The American "Sokół" had long been preparing future soldiers and in 1917 opened an officer school; about 25,000 volunteers passed through the camp at Niagara-on-the-Lake, of whom nearly 23,000 (about 20,700 by other figures) sailed for the Polish Army in France. In December 1918 Falcons fought in the Greater Poland Uprising.