There were three orders awarded to the Poles in addition to the ones which were awarded by France. First, of course, there was the famous order of VIRTUTI MILITARI which was instituted by King Stanislaus II in 1792. The order had five classes. The badge of this order was a dark blue, almost black cross which looked much like an Iron Cross except that the center was round. In the center of the circle was an enamel white polish eagle on a gold background. Around the eagle was a circle in the same blue black of the cross and on it in gold letters from center left to center right was the word HONORIOJCZYNA. The remaining, portion of the circle was gold with a green enamel wreath of laurel. The border of the cross was also gold. In gold letters in each arm of the cross was (LEFT) "VIR", (TOP) "MILI" (RIGHT) "TUTI" and (BOTTOM) "TARI". The ribbon was medium blue with a narrow black stripe on each side. There was also a star which was of silver and had the cross on top. The Grand Cross wore the badge on a sash and the star; Commander wore the badge on a necklet; Knight wore the badge on a chest ribbon; Gold Cross (all in gold) worn ca a chest ribbon; Silver Cross (in silver) worn on a chest ribbon. Next there was thee order of the White Eagle which was founded in 1325 by Vladislav I. This was an eight pointed, gold rimmed, white bordered, red enameled cross which had a diamond on each of the eight tips. Between each arm of the cross were rays of diamond inserts. On top of the cross was a white enamel Polish eagle. The badge was suspended from a diamond encrusted ornament. Lastly there was the order of Saint Stanislaus founded by August Poniatowski in 1765. This was a gold rimmed dark red cross of eight points having a ball on each point. Between each arm of the cross was a white enamel Polish Eagle. The center was white enamel and had in red the double 'S' monogram of Saint Stanislas which was surrounded by a gold and green laurel wreath. The ribbon was red with a narrow white stripe on each side. The star was silver with eight points. Any book on orders and decorations which lists the ancient ones will have these, most likely with illustrations. However, the Saint Stanislaus order will very likely be listed under Russia although it was originally Polish. Infantry-Cavalry Ratio Some wargaming rules specify that the correct proportion of infantry to cavalry should be one to four or roughly twenty-five, (25%) per cent of one's army, while other rules would prefer a one to five or twenty per cent (20%) ratio in favor of the infantry. In addition these rules usually allow the Russians to have as much as thirty per cent (30%) of their force mounted, but a great deal of these are cossack irregulars. These rules seem to make the assumption that French-Allied Nations using, for the most part, the basic French post-1808 infantry organization, would have the basic French Infantry to Cavalry ratio. While many Allies did, it would be both unfair and historically inaccurate to assign that reasoning to the Duchy of Warsaw where the main geographic feature is wide open plains. The Polisfi Army, at its peak, consisted of twenty-two regiments of infantry and TWENTY-SEVEN regiments of cavalry, not counting those in service as part of' the regular French Army. This represents a ratio of alittle over 1`7% cavalry (actually 57.1%). While the Polish cavalry regiments were somewhat smaller than their French counterparts, Polish Horse, comprised mainly of lancers should be allowed a much higher ratio of cavalry in their tactical organization. Polish Language Lesson # 1 Ambulance = Woz Sanitary Regiment = Pulk Headquarters = Kwatera Glowa First = 1szy Second = 2gi Third = 3ci Fourth = 4ty Fifth = 5ty Sixth = 6ty Seventh = 7my Eighth = 8my Ninth = 9ty Tenth = 10ty Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 1 No. 27 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1978 by Jean Lochet This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com