History of the Polish Army
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This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2011) |
The Polish Army (
(Lotnictwo) branches and are under the command of the Ministry of National Defense (Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej).History
Kingdom of Poland (10th century–1569)
The first Polish Army was created in the 10th-century kingdom of Poland, under the Piast dynasty. The prince's forces were composed of a group of armed men, usually mounted, named drużyna. Their key role was the protection of the monarch and supporting the taxation effort. Their organisation was similar to other such armed units of other Slavic rulers, and were often of foreign origin.
With time, the early tribal warriors gave rise to knights and eventually, by the 15th century, the whole social class of the szlachta or Polish gentry. The Polish gentry formed a distinct element within the ancient tribal groupings. This is uncertain, however, as there is little documentation on the early history of Poland, or of the movements of the Slavonic people into what became the territory so designated.
Around the 14th century, there was little difference between those called knights and those referred to as szlachta in Poland. Members of the szlachta had the personal obligation to defend the country (pospolite ruszenie), and thereby became the kingdom's privileged social class. It was they who were obliged to build and support castles as well as to keep peace and order on territory they were assigned.
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795)
The armies of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, or the First Polish Republic, were commanded by four hetmans. The armies comprised:
- Wojsko kwarciane: Regular units with wages paid from taxes (these units were later merged with the wojsko komputowe)
- Wojsko komputowe: Semi-regular units created for times of war (in 1652 these units were merged with the wojsko kwarciane into a new permanent army)
- Pospolite ruszenie: Szlachta levée en masse
- Piechota łanowa, piechota wybraniecka and piechota dymowa: Units based on peasant (later, townsfolk) recruits
- Cossacks, who were recruited until 1699; included many infantry
- Royal guard: A small unit whose primary purpose was to escort the monarch and members of his family
- Mercenaries: As with most other armies, hired to supplement regular units
- magnatsor cities
Some units of the Commonwealth used fairly unusual tactics. These units included:
- in the late 17th century substantially increased infantry firepower.
- rajtars.
- Tabor: military horse-drawn wagons, usually carrying army supplies. Their use for defensive formations was perfected by the Cossacks, and to a smaller extent by other Commonwealth units.
Army without a country (1795–1918)
After
Large numbers of Poles also served in the occupiers' armies: Austro-Hungarian (before 1867 Imperial Austrian), Imperial Russian and German armies (before 1871 Prussian). However, these powers took care to spread Polish soldiers all over their armies and as a rule did not form predominantly Polish units.
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Puławy Legion
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Polish First Corps in Russia
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4th Rifle Division badge
During World War I, the Polish Legions were set up in Galicia, the southern part of Poland under Austrian occupation. They were both disbanded after the Central Powers failed to provide guarantees of Polish independence after the war. General Józef Haller, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, switched sides in late 1917, and via Murmansk took part of his troops to France, where he created the Blue Army. It was joined by several thousand Polish volunteers from the United States. It fought valiantly on the French front in 1917 and 1918.
Second Polish Republic and World War II (1918–1945)
When Poland regained independence in 1918, it recreated its military which participated in the
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1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division
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4th Infantry Division
People's Republic of Poland (1947–1989)
The Polish armed forces, then known as Polish People's Army, were part of the Soviet-controlled Warsaw Pact. Polish units took part in occupying Czechoslovakia in response to the Prague Spring in 1968. The command post for the invasion was actually located on Polish soil, at Marshal Ivan Yakubovsky's Legnica headquarters.[1]
Third Polish Republic (1989–present)
After January 1990 the name of the armed forces was changed to 'Armed Forces of the
In March 2003 the Polish Armed Forces took part in the
Following the destruction of Saddam's regime the Polish Land Forces supplied a brigade and a division headquarters for the 17-nation Multinational Division Central-South, part of the U.S.-led Multi-National Force – Iraq. At its peak, Poland had 2,500 soldiers in the south of the country. Poland deployed about ten attack and transport helicopters as part of its force in Iraq between 2004 and 2008.[3]
The troop number was reduced to 900 in 2006. Of the 900 soldiers, only 80 ever left their Forward operating base to conduct operations.
See also
- History of Polish Intelligence Services
- List of wars involving Poland
References
- Ryszard Kuklinski, who participated in the preparation of the invasion plans. See Kuklinski p.10'
- ^ Around 200 Polish soldiers took part in combat, including GROM (Mobile-Operational Reaction Group) and FORMOZA (Naval Frogmen Group) special forces, a chemical decontamination unit as well as the ORP Kontradmirał X. Czernicki logistical ship. (Rafał Domisiewicz, Consolidating the Security Sector in Post-Conflict States: Polish Lessons from Iraq, Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- ^ 6 PZL W-3 Sokół Helicopters (2003–2006) and four W-3 helicopters 2007-08 (http://gdziewojsko.wordpress.com/listy/w-3-sokol). 6 Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters (2004–2008) ("Śmigłowce Mi-24 rozpoczęły wykonywanie zadań w Iraku - Wojsko Polskie - Departament Wychowania i Promocji Obronności". Archived from the original on 2011-12-23. Retrieved 2011-11-19.). 4 Mil Mi-8 helicopters (2003–2008)("Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) and http://www.altair.com.pl/konfsmig.htm Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine).