AUGUST 3 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

AUGUST 3

1914

Jozef Pilsudski, Marshal of Poland, created the First Cadre Company in Cracow. It was the predecessor of the Polish Legions, and formed the core of the Polish Legions' First Brigade during World War I. On August 6, 1914, Austro-Hungary declared war on Tsarist Russia.  The First Cadre crossed into Russia and captured Kielce, then proceeded to break through Russian lines and advanced north. The Polish troops attempted to capture Warsaw so as to set off an uprising in Tsarist Poland against the Russian regime. However, on August 13,  the Russians checked the First Cadre just outside Kielce, forcing the Cadre's retreat from Kielce to Kraków.

1944

Polish Prime Minister Met with Stalin:  Polish Prime Minister Stanislaw Mikolajczyk met with Marshal Stalin in an effort to make arrangements for Mikolajczyk to travel to Warsaw and begin preparations for the establishment of a new Polish government there. Mikolajczyk added that he expected Warsaw to be free very soon to which Stalin replied, “Pray God!”   But Stalin refused his request on the grounds that the Soviet Union has broken off diplomatic relations with Poland and did not recognize the legitimacy of the Polish Government in Exile in London.

1948

Russian Spy in U.S. State Department:   Alger Hiss, an American government official,  was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge.  On August 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist Party member, appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) to denounce Alger Hiss.  Chambers asserted that he had known Hiss as a member of "an underground organization of the United States Communist Party" in the 1930s, code named the "Ware Group" and that "the purpose of this group at that time was not primarily espionage. Its original purpose was the Communist infiltration of the American government. But espionage was certainly one of its eventual objectives."  Espionage was treason, traditionally punishable by death. The distinction was not lost on the cleverest member of HUAC, Congressman Richard Nixon. He had been studying the FBI's files for five months, courtesy of J. Edgar Hoover. Nixon launched his political career in hot pursuit of Hiss and the alleged secret Communists of the New Deal.