The Blue Army (Polish: Błękitna Armia; French: Armée bleue), or Haller's Army, was a Polish military contingent created in France during the latter stages of World War I. The name came from the French-issued blue military uniforms worn by the soldiers. The symbolic term used to describe the troops was subsequently adopted by General Józef Haller von Hallenburg himself to represent all newly organized Polish Legions fighting in western Europe. The army was formed on 4 June 1917, and was made up of Polish volunteers serving alongside allied forces in France during World War I. After fighting on the Western Front, the army was transferred to Poland where it joined other Polish military formations fighting for the return of Poland's independence. The Blue Army played a pivotal role in ensuring Polish victory in the Polish–Ukrainian War, and later Haller's troops took part in Poland's defeat of the advancing Bolshevik forces in the Polish–Soviet War. History Background Canadian origins Beginning in 1914, the Polish community in North America began to organize in hopes of setting up a military organization with an end-goal of an independent Poland. In late 1914 a delegation was sent by the Polish-American group PCKR (Polski Centralny Komitet Ratunkowy / Polish Central Relief Committee) to Canada in hopes of setting up a Polish unit made up of North Americans of Polish ancestry, but the Canadian government rebuffed them. As the war dragged on, they tried again and found a supporter in Quebec industrialist William Evan Price III. With his contacts, the Polish delegation met Sam Hughes, the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, and pitched a "Polish Legion of Canada" composed of three battalions. This time there was considerable interest, and the Canadians sought and were given permission by British high command to start setting up a Polish Army Camp in Niagara-on-the-Lake. With permission granted the Polish army-in-exile called its camp "Tadeusz Kościuszko Camp," honouring a Polish patriot who led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising aimed at freeing the country from Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia. Over 20,000 men trained in Canada, equipped and paid by France. Yet even though the camp was in Canada and supported financially by the French, the Americans viewed it as a threat to their neutrality. America enters the war The emergence of the Blue Army was closely associated with the American entry into World War I in April, 1917. A month