36th Infantry Regiment (Poland)

36th Infantry Regiment
Country	Poland

The 36th Infantry Regiment of the Academic Legion (Polish 36 pułk piechoty Legii Akademickiej, 36pp) was a Polish military unit. Initially made up of students from the universities of Warsaw, it fought with distinction in the Polish-Bolshevik War, the Polish Defensive War and in the Warsaw Uprising.

The regiment was an all-volunteer force made up of students from Warsaw-based universities on November 11, 1918, that is the day Poland regained her independence. Initially the unit was simply named Infantry Regiment of the Academic Legion and took part in disarming the Austro-Hungarian and German soldiers remaining on Polish territory. Accepted formally into the Polish Army on December 3, it was renamed the 36th Infantry Regiment and on April 5, 1919, it was allowed to retain its former name as an honorary title.

The regiment were sworn on December 13 and on January 4, 1919 it left Warsaw for Lwów, which was then under siege by the forces of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Attached to the relief force under Gen. Jan Romer, it was initially made up of two battalions and a small NCO school. The regiment suffered heavy losses and both battalions were eventually merged. However, the unit managed to break through to the besieged city through Żółkiew, Kulików and Homulec. After that on September 7 the unit was reinforced with additional battalions formed in Warsaw and Modlin.

During the Polish-Bolshevik War the unit was dispatched to the front on May 14, 1920, and took part in heavy fighting during the Polish retreat westwards. On June 3 it took part in the victorious battle of Duniłowicze. After the war this date became the Regiment's feast day. On August 13 and the following days, the regiment again took part in the Battle of Ossów (heavy fighting for the town of Osowiec and the village of Leśniakowizna during the battle of Warsaw). In a series of withdrawals and counter-attacks, and despite heavy losses, the regiment withstood the Bolshevik assault on Warsaw thus permitting Józef Piłsudski's main assault group to outflank and destroy the enemy. Among the fallen was the regiment's chaplain, Rev. Ignacy Skorupka and the commander of 2nd Battalion, Stanisław Matarewicz. During the fighting heavy losses were replaced with a battalion of an improvised 236th Infantry Regiment formed mostly of students and Scouts of the Warsaw borough of Praga. After the battle the regiment continued to pursue the retreating Russian forces in the Ukraine and on September 24, 1920, took part in the liberation of an important railway hub in the town of Szepietówka.

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