An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir Dec 2019/Jan 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 22 | 'Always Ready, Always Here' BY PTE LUKASZ GANCARZ (AR), D COY, 7 INF BN PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE POLISH TERRITORIAL DEFENCE FORCES With the peacekeeping experience accumulated by the two coun- tries over the years it is certain that both Polish and Irish personnel will benefit from this cooperation. Poland's history is full of conflict because of its location, and the country suffered a major blow in 1772 when it was simultaneously in- vaded by the armies of Russia, Prussia and Austria, and was effectively erased from the map for 123 years. During the three-way partition of the state there were many upris- ings against the occupiers, and many Poles joined foreign armies, often to try to gain support for their country's struggle for independence. Included among these expatriate soldiers were Napoleon's Polish legions and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who fought with the revolutionaries in the American War of Independence. After years of struggle victory finally came in 1918 when Poland finally reappeared on the map. Led by national heroes such as First Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, the state and its citizens could finally breathe again. The country bloomed with economic growth and became one of the fastest growing countries in the world. History, however, proved itself not to be on Poland's side yet again when, in September 1939, the country was invaded by Nazi Germany and Stalin's Red Army and torn in two. During WWII, expatriate Poles fought in every corner of the world with the Allied forces. (This author's uncle fought in Africa and Italy, and was one of the first soldiers to enter the infamous Monte Cassino monastery.) After the war, Poland found itself under Soviet control until 1989. Today the Polish armed forces consist of five branches: Land Forces, Air Forces, Navy, Special Forces, and Territorial Defence Forces (TDF). The last branch bears many similarities to our Army Reserve. The concept behind the establishment of the TDF, formed in January 2017, was to equip each of 16 voivodships (Polish administrative areas) with a formidable, well trained and very well-equipped army forma- tion, mostly comprising volunteers, serving on a part-time basis. While this voluntary reserve concept is very well known in Ireland, in Poland it was always the main armed forces who were tasked with not only being combat ready but also being available to cover civil support duties. With constant modernisation of the army and an unstable situ- ation in the region due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it became apparent that a new branch of the army was needed that would be able to organize itself into a fully capable local fighting force. The TDF's creation comprises four overlapping stages. The first (2016-2018) involved the creation of the TDF Command in Warsaw and three full-size brigades in neighbouring voivodships. The second stage (2017-2019) comprised the creation of three more brigades and the Mobile Training Department, consisting of three separate training teams. The third stage (2018-2020) will cover the formation of seven more brigades, while the fourth stage will see the formation of four more brigades on Poland's 'west wall'. The formation of the last units should begin in 2021, with the TDF reaching full strength (50,000) and operational numbers by the end of 2025. Currently, the TDF is in its most intensive development stage, with 15 brigades undergoing constant training designed to ensure a balance between quantity and quality. The TDF now comprises 17,000 volunteers and 3,600 full-time personnel. It is planned that by the end of 2019, TDF strength will be 26,000. The territorial character of the formation means that its members T he Polish Army has a proven record with peacekeeping and stabilisation missions across the world, sending over 84,000 troops to serve in over 70 missions since their first participation in 1953. Deployments have ranged from Korea in the 1950s, through the Balkans conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to various peacekeeping missions in Africa, to Iraq and Afghanistan. In Novem- ber this year, Polish troops are rejoining the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon after a 10-year break.

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