Garibaldi Legion
Encyclopedia
The Garibaldi Legion was a small unit of Italian volunteers who fought for Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 independence in the January Uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...

 of 1863. The unit was named after the Italian revolutionary and nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

, organized in Italy by his son Menotti Garibaldi and led by the general Francesco Nullo
Francesco Nullo
Francesco Nullo was an Italian patriot, military officer and a merchant, a close friend and confidant of Giuseppe Garibaldi. He supported independence movements in Italy and Poland...

.

Nullo was a supporter of the Polish cause, and called for volunteers in his hometown of Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...

. Having gathered a number of volunteers, he arrived in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 from Italy in April 1863. The Italians have crossed the borders of Congress Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

 on May the 3rd near Krzeszowice
Krzeszowice
Krzeszowice is a town in southern Poland, situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. As of 2004, the population of Krzeszowice was 9,993.In 2008, it was selected with 19 villages of Europe -Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain- for the Spanish documentary film "Villages of Europe" Pueblos de Europa,...

, joining with a group of Polish insurgents led by colonel Józef Miniewski. That day the unit's first battle in Poland occurred at Podłęże where it defeated a Russian force. Subsequently, on May the 5th, it took part in the Battle of Krzykawka
Battle of Krzykawka
Battle of Krzykawka was a military engagement that took place during the January Uprising on May 5, 1863, between Russian forces and Polish insurgents and foreign volunteers allied with them. It took place close to the village of Krzykawka near Olkusz...

, where it suffered heavy casualties; Nullo was killed together with the Polish commander Miniewski; Nullo's adjutant
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...

 Elia Marchetti was mortally wounded and died several days later. After the battle, some Garibaldians were taken prisoner and deported to Siberia; others managed to escape the battlefield and returned to Italy.

Most sources estimate the strength of this unit to be about twenty.

While the military contribution of the Garibaldi's Legion was hardly significant, as a symbol of foreign support for the Poles it was vividly remembered. A number of streets, as well as schools, in many cities in Poland are named in honor of Nullo or his unit.
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