Destruction of Kalisz - Outbreak of World War I

Outbreak of World War I

The first information of the war reached Kalisz when the nearby border with the German Empire was closed at Nowe Skalmierzyce and train movement across the border to Germany was stopped. Russian officials started evacuating the city alongside military personnel. On August 2, 1914, at dawn, the Russian military retreated from the city without fighting, after setting fire to military warehouses near the railway station. The railway station was set afire as well as the trains and transport wagons. A civic committee was established by the citizens of the town which started administrating the city. Additionally, the Civil Guard was established to keep order in the city, while railway workers tried to put down the fire at the railway station.