Rogatywka, the origin of the peculiar four-pointed cap used by the Polish Army

Poland is a country with very strong military traditions that are also very unique compared to other European countries.

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One of these unique traditions is the Polish two-finger military salute, which I already told you about here seven years ago. Another peculiarity of Polish military traditions has to do with their most famous headgear: the rogatywka, a four-pointed cap that has become one of the distinctive features of Polish soldiers. HatHistorian dedicated an interesting video to it yesterday:

About the video, I have a few notes to add. The first is that "rogatywka" is not pronounced "rogativca", but "rogatevca", due to the particular way the Polish language pronounces the Y. As HatHistorian points out, the antecedent of the rogatywka is the konfederatka, so called because it was the characteristic headgear of the soldiers of the Konfederacja Barska (Bar Confederation) in the second half of the 18th century (you can see it below these lines). This garment had its origins in the hats worn by the Tatars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

During the time of the partition of Poland (1795-1918), when the country disappeared from the map, the konfederatka gave rise to the czapka (below these lines), a Polish word meaning "cap", but which abroad is associated with a tall, four-pointed peaked cap that became famous among 19th-century Polish horsemen, especially uhlans.

Polish soldiers who fought in Napoleon's armies made the czapka famous, helping to make it one of the symbols of identity of the Polish people at a time when their country had formally ceased to exist.

During World War I, the czapka gave way to the rogatywka, a lower version with a floppy top. The Haller Army or Blue Army, formed by General Józef Haller (below) in France from Polish soldiers, helped popularize this headgear as a symbol of Polish identity.

The Polish Legions of the Austro-Hungarian Army, led by Józef Piłsudski, also wore a version of the rogatywka, although their most common garment was the maciejówka, a flat cap worn by Piłsudski himself (seen here with it).

After Poland regained its independence in 1918, and in the process of seeking to recover the country's identity, the Polish Army adopted the rogatywka as its headgear. A model with a flexible top was adopted in 1919, and finally in 1935 a rigid version was introduced, very similar to the one currently used by the Polish Army for its dress uniforms (below), which has the characteristic of being tilted to the right. This tilt is not a whim: in the Polish Army, headgear is always tilted to the right.

Since the rigid rogatywka was impractical for the battlefield, in 1937 the Polish Army introduced a new flexible model, which is the one I showed you here eight years ago. This rogatywka was the most commonly used by Polish soldiers fighting against the German-Soviet invasion in 1939, and also by many Polish resistance units during the years of German occupation and later in the anti-communist resistance.

The rigid version of the rogatywka disappeared during the communist dictatorship imposed by Stalin in Poland at the end of World War II. However, a new field rogatywka based on the flexible 1937 model was introduced in 1968. In 1983 the rigid rogatywka was brought back by the Polish People's Army for its Honour Guard. Finally, the rigid rogatywka was brought back in 1990, after the fall of communism, for dress uniforms.

As during the interwar period, this rigid rogatywka is still worn with a coloured stripe indicating the soldier’s weapon or speciality (infantry, cavalry, military police, etc.), and not the branch of service, as HatHistorian claims, since the only branches of service of the Polish Army that wear the rogatyska are the Ground Forces and the Territorial Defence Force (WOT), which introduced a flexible rogatywka for its field uniforms only recently, although its most common garment is the brown beret.

Above we can see three different headgear worn by WOT soldiers: the rogatywka (on the left), a rounded tactical cap (right) and the brown beret characteristic of this branch of the Polish Army.

As HatHistorian rightly points out, today the beret is the most common everyday item of clothing in the Polish Army, specifically in the Ground Forces, Special Forces and WOT, as well as in the Żandarmeria Wojskowa (Military Gendarmerie). Berets are worn in different colours depending on the unit or speciality. Above we see artillery soldiers, identifiable by the green colour of their berets.

Other headgear is also used in the Polish Army. One of the most curious is the "kapelusz" used by the 21st Podhale Rifle Brigade, a rounded, wide-brimmed hat that is traditional to that region of southern Poland.

In the Air Force, the most commonly used item of clothing is the "furazerka", as these military caps are known in Poland and are also very popular in other countries. The Polish Air Force uses them in blue on their dress uniforms and in camouflage on their field uniforms, as we can see in this photo.

Finally, the Polish Navy has headgear similar to the Spanish Navy. This is because the Polish Navy did not have a long tradition of headgear, so in 1918 it followed the British model. The naval cap is known generically as "czapka okrągła" (round cap). The officers' version shares the characteristic elongated visor with the rogatywka of the Land Forces. The version for ordinary sailors has a feature in common with those of the Spanish Navy and the British Royal Navy, as it has a ribbon with the inscription "Marynarka Wojenna" (Navy) or the name of the ship on which they serve.

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Images: Fedor Solntsev / Archiwa Państwowe / Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej.