Border Guard (Poland) - 1928-1939

1928-1939

Straż Graniczna was founded in 1928. During the times of the Second Polish Republic, it was responsible for northern, western and southern border of Poland (with Germany, Free City of Gdańsk, sea border, Czechoslovakia and Romania). Eastern border, often raided by military bands supported by Soviet Union was under the jurisdiction of a separate, military formation (Border Defence Corps, Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza - KOP).

Responsibilities of Straż Graniczna included:

• prevention of illegal crossing of the land and sea border by people and goods (smuggling)
• ensuring safety and public order in the border area
• combat any threats to national security in the border area

Border Guard was organized in a military style, with uniformed and armed agents. It was controlled by the Ministry of Treasury, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Ministry of Military Affairs. The highest level of organizational structure of the agency was Main Headquarters (Komenda Glowna), based in Warsaw. It was followed by Regional Inspectorates, Border Inspectorates, stations and posts. It carried out actions through patrols, manning border checkpoints, tracking, rouses and intelligence work. It had its own river and sea flotilla, intelligence academy, and the Main School of Border Guard (Centralna Szkola Strazy Granicznej), which was located firstly in Gora Kalwaria (until 1928), then in Rawa Ruska. The school had a department of training of guard dogs, also located in Rawa Ruska.

Each station of the agency was responsible for some 20 to 25 kilometers of the borderline. The stations oversaw posts of the first line and posts of the second line. In 1938, there were 129 stations of the Border Guard, 419 posts of the first line (these were located right along the border), and 212 posts of the second line (located in the interior of the country, right behind posts of the first line).