POLAND’S ARMY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20030, 31 August 1939, Page 7

POLAND’S ARMY

TWO MILLION MEN

STRENGTH OF CAVALRY SOME EQUIPMENT POOR DIFFICULTIES OF TERRAIN

To oppose an onslaught by , an invader, Poland has an army which can be expanded in wartime to a force of 2,000,000 men. The Poles are generally considered to be good soldiers, animated by an ardent patriotism even tinged with chauvinism and with something of the fatalism of the Oriental.

The Polish Army is modelled on the great European armies, but with a -characteristic of its own in the form of specially strong cavalry, organised in a division and 12 independent brigades. Such a force has special value for fighting on Polish territory, which presents a formidable battle-field for a modern army [dependent on first-class roads for its motorised transport and guns. Whereas in Belgium or France armies would find passable roads every three kilometres or so, the average is 10 times less in Poland. Industrial Weakness In technical equipment Poland is much behind the other Western powers. Generally speaking, the structure of its army is reported to be still that of the European armies of 1930. General Sikorski, Poland’s greatest military authority, has repeatedly stressed the effect of industrial weakness on armaments.

The Poles hope to counter this lack of mechanised forces by the extensive use of cavalry, in conjunction with the air arm. They hold the theory that aviation has released cavalry from the exhausting role of reconnaissance, which often made it incapable of playing its part as a shock weapon at the decisive moment.

The cavalry does not look for open territory suitable for making a charge, but for country that is covered and difficult, and which will give it superiority over both infantry and- mechanised forces. Such terrain; lacking roads, [intersected by woods and takes, and sprinkled with marshes, exists in- Poland, where the width of the country also excludes the possibility of establishing a continuous front

Splendid Infantrymen Poland also depends to some extent on fortifications, -and her industrial area in Polish Silesia is covered by an unbroken chain of. armoured fortifications, which !the Poles consider will make surprise impossible. The Poliih infantryman is a soldier inured to fdtigue, strong on the march and. by reason of poverty, accustomed to all kinds of pruvaition. It is claimed that he can -make daily marches of 50 or even GO kilometres, thus keeping up with the cavalry. The Polish command is inspired in every grade by an intellectual vigour which is proof of excellent team work in the army mind. The cadres consist of 19,000 officers and 35,000 N.C.O.’s on the active list and 100,000 officers on the reserve. Danzig and East Prussia Around the boundaries of Danzig are -five Polish divisions. These troops—say the Poles —would be in Danzig in half -an hour if the Germans were to give cause for action. On the horizon, to the north of Danzig, there is a low-lying -spit of sand —Polish territory—and it * is reputed to bear heavy artillery, which could range across the bay and reduce Danzig to ruins.

The Germans in Danzig look eastward toward their common frontier with East Prussia. But the Vistula, deep and broad, separates Danzig from East Prussia, and is only spanned by a single bridge at Tezew, which is just in Polish territory. Troops are stationed on this bridge, and explosives are underneath it.