Fierce battles erupted near Hrubieszow in the summer of 1914, once the First World War broke out, and many houses were destroyed in the shelling. In 1915, the city was occupied by the Austrians and the Germans, who remained there for three years. The conquerors imposed heavy taxes on the inhabitants and confiscated goods, and poverty and famine were rampant. Many were on the brink of starvation. Countless young men were recruited as forced laborers for the construction of the railroad. Cholera and typhoid epidemics broke out in the city in 1915 and in 1916, and many of the city’s residents perished.
In the last few weeks of the First World War, in November 1918, Hrubieszow was liberated by a Polish battalion from Chełm. The city was annexed to the Polish state reestablished through the Treaty of Versailles, and it was incorporated into the province of Lublin.