Showcase: National Guard of Warsaw

Now for something quite exotic - it's the National Guard of Warsaw!

Each of the larger cities in Poland set up National Guards - mostly citizen militias for defence in the case of an attack, but also for general police work. A portion of these National Guards were garrison units who were paid troops and were full-time soldiers.

Each one of these National Guards was equipped differently, ranging from batches of French equipment, often old Austrian gear and uniforms which had been left behind or uniforms of traditional Polish cut.

The National Guard of Warsaw wore French-style uniforms and shakos.