The Polish Military Organisation, PMO (Polish: Polska Organizacja Wojskowa, POW) was a secret military organization which formed during World War I (1914-1918). Józef Piłsudski founded the group in August 1914; it adopted the name POW in November 1914. It aimed to gather intelligence and to sabotage the enemies of the Polish people. Piłsudski used the POW to act independently from his cautious Austro-Hungarian supporters, and it became an important, if somewhat lesser known, counterpart to the Polish Legions. Its targets included the Russian Empire in the early phase of the war, and the German Empire later. Its membership rose from a few hundred in 1914 to over 30,000 in 1918.