Henryk Lewartowski, Bolesław Pochmarski, Józef Andrzej Teslar, *Following the Battle Trails of the Legions* [1915]

Title: Following the Battle Trails of the Legions. A Brief Overview of the Organization and History of the 2nd Brigade of the Polish Legions in the Carpathians, Galicia, and Bukovina.

Authors: Henryk Lewartowski, Bolesław Pochmarski, Józef Andrzej Teslar (1889–1961) [officers of the Polish Legions; Teslar—a legionnaire of the 2nd Brigade, press officer of the Legions Command, poet, and philologist].

Publisher: Lviv, Published by the Fund for the Widows and Orphans of Legionnaires.

Year of publication: 1915.

Format: 26 cm.

Volume: 272, [2] pp., [22] pp. of tables.

Binding: Half-leather binding, with the original cover preserved.

An account of the battles of the 2nd Brigade of the Polish Legions—known as the Carpathian or Iron Brigade—written almost immediately by its officers in 1915. In the fall of 1914, the legionnaires crossed the Eastern Carpathians. At breakneck speed, they built a mountain road through the Pantyr Pass, known as the Legion Road, stretching over seven kilometers and featuring 28 bridges. They then fought fierce winter battles in the Carpathians, Galicia, and Bukovina. On the night of January 23–24, 1915, near Rafajłowa, the legionnaires, under the command of Captain Henryk Minkiewicz, repelled a Russian attack and, with a counterattack, forced the enemy to retreat. The book was created not only to document the campaign but also for charitable purposes. It was published by the Fund for the Widows and Orphans of Legionnaires, and the proceeds from its sale supported the families of fallen soldiers. The volume is supplemented by plates featuring photographs and illustrative material. It is one of the earliest studies of the history of the Legion’s exploits, published while the war was still ongoing.

Józef Andrzej Teslar was born in 1889 in Krzeszowice. He was a Doctor of Philosophy and a Polish philologist. He served in the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Brigade as a press officer, and later in the 4th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Brigade, where he commanded a platoon. In 1918, the Austrians arrested and interned him. In the newly independent Poland, he worked at the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Education, and from 1922 to 1939 he taught the Polish language at the École Supérieure de Guerre in Paris. After the war, he taught at universities in Edinburgh, London, and Glasgow. He published volumes of war poetry, *War Rhythms 1914–1916* (1916) and *Stronger Than Death, 1914–1919* (1920). From 1950 onward, he lived in France, where he died in 1961.

Provenance: the title page bears the handwritten ownership inscription “Wacława Kiślińska.”

This is an early chronicle of the Iron Brigade’s battles, written by its participants and published to benefit the families of the fallen, with its original cover intact. An item of interest to researchers of the Legion’s activities, collectors of wartime prints from 1914–1918, and collectors of items related to Lviv.

This piece is in poor condition and requires bookbinding repair: the block is cracked in several places, some pages are loose, and there is a missing section on the last page, though the text remains intact. The half-leather binding is heavily worn on the spine, with visible signs of insect damage. The original paper publisher’s cover is preserved on the front of the binding.

Catalog ID: 3273-26-A-Z