Land Forces
Eagle of Polish Land Forces
Active1918?present
Country Poland
AllegiancePolish Armed Forces
BranchLand Forces
Size65,000 Active Personnel (45,000 military)[1]
900 Tanks
1500 IFV/APC
150 Helicopters[2]
HeadquartersWarsaw
MarchYes
EngagementsPolish?Ukrainian War
Polish?Czechoslovak War
Polish?Soviet War
Polish?Lithuanian War
World War II
War in Iraq
War in Afghanistan
War in Tchad
Commanders
CommanderLieutenant General Zbigniew G?owienka
Chief of StaffMajor General Andrzej Malinowski
Insignia
Army Flag
The Wojska L?dowe (English: Land Forces) are a military branch of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland. They currently contain some 106,000 active personnel and form many components of European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stretches back for hundreds of years ? since the 10th century (see List of Polish wars and History of the Polish Army), but Poland's modern army was formed after 1918.
Contents
1 History
1.1 1918?1938
1.2 1939?1945
1.3 1945?1989
1.4 After 1989
2 Participation in peacekeeping operations
3 Structure
3.1 Formations
3.2 Arms of Service
4 Equipment
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links
History
1918?1938 Polish defences at Mi?osna, during the decisive battle of Warsaw, August 1920.See also: Polish-Soviet War Polish order of battle
When Poland regained independence in 1918, it recreated its military which participated in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919?1921, and in the two smaller conflicts ( Polish-Ukrainian War (1918?1919) and the Polish-Lithuanian War (1920)).
Initially, right after the First World War, Poland had five military districts (1918?1921):
Pozna? Military District
The Polish land forces as readied for the Polish-Soviet War was made up of soldiers who had formerly served in the various partitioning empires, supported by some international volunteers.[3] There appear to have been a total of around 30 Polish divisions involved. Boris Savinkov was at the head of an army of 20,000 to 30,000 largely Russian POWs, and was accompanied by Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius. The Polish forces grew from approximately 100,000 in 1918 to over 500,000 in early 1920.[4] In August 1920, the Polish army had reached a total strength of 737,767 people; half of that was on the frontline. Given Soviet losses, there was rough numerical parity between the two armies; and by the time of the battle of Warsaw Poles might have even had a slight advantage in numbers and logistics.[5]
Among the major formations involved on the Polish side were a number of Fronts, including the pl:Front Litewsko-Bia?oruski, and about seven armies, including the First Polish Army.
1939?1945 See also: Polish army order of battle in 1939
The German invasion of Poland began on September 1, 1939, and the Wehrmacht seized half the country quickly despite heavy Polish resistance. Among the erroneous myths generated by this campaign were accounts of Polish cavalry charging German tanks, which did not, in fact, take place. In the east, the Red Army took the other half of the country in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Following the country's fall, Polish soldiers began regrouping in what was to become the Polish Army in France. Both the Polish Armed Forces in the West and the Polish Armed Forces in the East, as well as interior (partisan) forces, primarily represented by the Home Army (AK) had land forces during the Second World War. While the forces fighting under the Allied banner where supported by the Polish air force and navy, the partisan forces were an exclusive land formation.
However the army operational today has its roots in the surrogate force formed in support of Soviet interests during the establishment of the People's Republic of Poland after the Second World War. Two Polish armies, the First Army (Poland) and the Second Army fought with the Red Army on the Eastern Front, supported by some Polish air force elements.
