POLISH FORCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 December 1939, Page 7

POLISH FORCES

GOOD PROGRESS BEING MADE IN REORGANISATION TRAINING OF LARGE UNITS WELL ADVANCED. FORMATION OF INFANTRY DIVISIONS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 19. Speaking to the Press in London today Major Ilinsky, of the Polish military mission, outlined the Polish efforts being made to reorganise her fighting forces. "The Poles who were able to escape from Poland and make their way toward the friendly borders of France and Britain form the , first nucleus of our army, the reorganisation of which in both countries is in progress according to the agreements concluded with the British and French Governments,” he said. “The army, navy, and air force of Poland exist again. Speaking of naval activities, he 'recalled that Polish ships now constitute a part of the Allied forces operating under the Polish flag under the command of Polish officers and manned by Polish crews. A special naval depot, Major Ilinsky said, will be established with the purpose of training further personnel and formation of reserves. “As to our land forces, which are being trained somewhere in France, it is intended to form four or five infantry divisions as well as armoured and mechanised units, taking into account the possibilities now available, he said. "The Polish’ army will be under the Polish High Command and will remain to the end of the hostilities as one of the Allied armies under the interAllied Supreme Command." Training centres for officers and men for the Polish army already were in full swing, lie continued. "The average duration of such training centres is three months, and as the first of these courses was started already in the autumn we may calculate how soon the first large Polish units, fully trained, will be ready to leave their camps and face again the enemy." Concluding, Major Ilinsky said. The organisation of the Polish air foice units is divided into two equal groups, one in Britain and the other in Fiance. We were lucky to get out of Poland a fairly large number of our air force personnel." He could not give collect figures, but he said they were sufficiently large to enable the organisation of several sciuadrons for a start. Machines for the Polish squadron would be British in Britain and French in France.