1st Polish Army
The 1st Polish Army ( Polish 1 AWP - 1 Armia Wojska Polskiego or 1 Armia Ogólnowojskowa ) was a major unit of the Warsaw Pact and belonged to the Pomeranian Military District with its headquarters in Bydgoszcz during the Cold War from 1955 to 1990 . In the event of tension against NATO, it was supposed to maintain the so-called combat readiness A and had a staff of 91,000 soldiers in the event of war as the "Army for Combat of Combined Arms" .
history
The idea of conceiving a Polish front first appeared during a military maneuver in May 1950. This resulted in the coastal front under the command of General Popławski, consisting of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Polish Army and Soviet fronts. Your mission was initially to protect the Polish Baltic coast from landing operations by NATO and in the second phase as a so-called "Jutland Operation" (Operacjia Jutlandii) to conquer northern Germany and Denmark in order to break the access to the Baltic Sea. This concept of using the 1st Polish Army in an armed conflict was changed in 1951. The 1 AWP should be subordinate to the Soviet Central Front under Marshal Rokossovsky . The creation of the front was reflected in the PM-58 Mobilization Plan, adopted in 1958. It envisaged the formation of the following units: front command, two armies (each consisting of two Mot rifle divisions, two tank divisions, two infantry divisions and two anti-aircraft divisions, as well as artillery brigades), an army of the 2nd squadron (consisting of two Mot rifle divisions and two infantry divisions), an air army (consisting of fighter divisions, a fighter division and a bomber division), as well as other front-line units such as an airborne division, an anti-aircraft artillery division, four artillery brigades and support troops.
During the Burza exercises in 1961, the area of the planned operations on the coastal front included Denmark as well as the northern areas of Germany and the Benelux countries. The tasks of the individual armies were defined as follows:
- 1st Polish Army (50 A) - Offensive against the West German and Dutch NATO Army Corps ( NORTHAG ) and the continuation of the attack on Denmark (should be supported by the 7th Polish Zeeland Division ( 7 DD) and 6th Polish Airborne Division (6 DPD) become).
- 2. Polish Army (51 A) - Offensive against NORTHAG and continuation of the attack on the German North Sea coast.
- 4th Polish Army (52 A) - offensive against northern Germany , the Netherlands and Belgium .
The front was to be supported in these activities by massive nuclear strikes, while the entire attack was to last about 15 days.
The first operational plan for the deployment towards the North Sea coast was approved in 1965. The main task of the 1st Polish Army was to form the right wing of the main thrust. After taking possession, the won territory should be defended against a possible NATO air landing . The association should provide support through a mechanized corps of the NVA .
The geopolitical location of Poland and the associated wide access to the sea meant that coastal defense had to be organized during the Cold War. From the west there was a "buffer zone" in the form of the German Democratic Republic and the western group of the Soviet Army on their territory, which protected Poland from direct attacks. The Polish front deviated from the demands of the Warsaw Pact due to its inadequate combat composition. The Polish front was significantly weaker than the fronts of the Soviet Army and even the Czechoslovak front, which affected the choice of the right course of action. The coastal direction was viewed by NATO forces as the weakest in defense. In addition, political considerations also influenced the choice of the “coastal direction”. It was feared that the morale of Polish soldiers against an enemy from Anglo-Saxon countries and France would be low and that they would fight mainly against the Bundeswehr in the coastal direction . In September 1984, the General Command of the Western Front Group with staff was set up in Legnica and the headquarters of the Northern Front Group were moved to Świdnica . It was responsible for:
- Polish coastal front
- 1st western front
- 2nd western front
- Czechoslovak Front
For a long time, the NATO intelligence service was not aware of the operational direction of the 1 AWP. It was based on an attack by the 5th NVA Army on Schleswig-Holstein. However, that major association was intended for a waterway crossing of the Elbe in the Boizenburg - Hitzacker section and an incursion in the northern heath with a focus on Bad Bevensen . This would have led to a confrontation between the 5th NVA Army and Dutch units, while the 1st AWP would have encountered prepared defensive positions of the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division on the other side of the Elbe-Lübeck Canal . The task of the 5th NVA Army in the initial phase was to ensure the introduction of the 1 AWP for the “Jutland operational direction”.
The Polish front might have encountered significant obstacles during a Third World War . Serious problems were their dislocation , displacement, and concentration. The main routes of the Soviet troops ran through Poland (three to four fronts were planned in the event of war), which in turn would have significantly hampered the deployment of Polish units, since the Soviet army had priority. In addition, there was the problem of sustainability at the front level and the reluctance of some Soviet officers towards the national character of the Polish Front, whereupon a concept for the separation of Polish armies between individual Soviet fronts was put forward. While the 1st Polish Army maintained its original direction of attack, the 2nd Polish Army was intended to be part of the forces that fight against the main NATO group ( CENTAG ) defending Bavaria. During the turning point in the late 1980s and early 1990s , the situation in the Eastern Bloc changed radically. Communism collapsed, the satellite states became independent from the USSR, which finally collapsed in 1991 and, as a result, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. As a result of these events, the Cold War ended, so that the concept of the Polish front lost its right to exist and was abandoned.
classification
The armed forces of the People's Republic of Poland (Siły Zbrojne Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej) with headquarters in Warsaw had been divided into six, later into seven, military districts since 1952. These included the military district of Warsaw, Lublin , Krakow , Łódź , Poznań , Pomerania with headquarters in Toruń and Silesia in Katowice .
Organization of the Polish Armed Forces (1985)
In 1985 the Polish front command was structured as follows:
- Front command and front staff
- Political Department of the Front (Zarząd Polityczny Frontu)
- Front Quartermaster
- 1st Polish Army (1 Armia Ogólnowojskowa): 8th, 12th and 15th motorized rifle divisions, 16th and 20th armored divisions
- 2nd Polish Army (2 Armia Ogólnowojskowa): 2nd and 4th Mot Rifle Divisions, 10th and 11th Armored Divisions
- 4th Polish Army (4 Armia Ogólnowojskowa): 1st, 3rd and 9th Mot Rifle Divisions
- Front Air Force
- other front-line units such as 6 BPD, 7 BOW (peace organization), 26, 28 and 31 RDZ
In the event of war, the 7th Polish Zeeland Division and the 6th Polish Airborne Division were scheduled for operations in the west.
Structure of the 1st Polish Army
-
8th Mot rifle division "Dresden" (8 Dywizja Zmechanizowana - 8 double rooms), in Koszalin
- Staff, in Koszalin
- 16. Dnowsko-Łużycki Tank Regiment (16 Dnowsko-Łużycki Pułk Czołgów Średnich - 16 PCZ) with T-55 as the main weapon system, in Słupsk
- 28th Mot Rifle Regiment "Sudecki" (28 Sudecki Pułk Zmechanizowany - 28 PZ), in Kołobrzeg
- 32nd Mot Rifle Regiment "Budziszyński" (32 Budziszyński Pułk Zmechanizowany im. Hansa Beimlera - 32 PZ), in Kołobrzeg
- 36th Mot Rifle Regiment "Łużycki" (36 Łużycki Pułk Zmechanizowany - 36 PRL), in Trzebiatów
- 4th Artillery Regiment, in Kołobrzeg
- 83rd anti-aircraft artillery regiment, in Kołobrzeg
- 47th Missile Artillery Battalion, in Szczecin
- 1st Tactical Missile Battalion, in Trzebiatów
- 15th Division Artillery Battery, in Kołobrzeg
- 5th Reconnaissance Battalion, in Kołobrzeg
- 19th Engineer Battalion, in Unieście
- 13th Telecommunications Battalion, in Koszalin
- 8th Supply Battalion, in Koszalin
- 8th Repair Battalion, in Koszalin
- 39th Medical Battalion, in Kołobrzeg
- 64th NBC Defense Company, in Koszalin
-
12th Mot Rifle Division (12 Dywizja Zmechanizowana im. Bolesława Krzywoustego - 12 DZ), in Szczecin
- Staff, in Szczecin
- 25th Drezdeński Medium Tank Regiment (25 Drezdeński Pułk Czołgów Średnich - 25 PCZ), in Szczecin
- 5th Mot Rifle Regiment "Kołobrzeski" (5 Kołobrzeski Pułk Zmechanizowany im. Otokara Jarosza - 5 PZ), in Szczecin
- 9th Mot Rifle Regiment "Zaodrzański" (9 Zaodrzański Pułk Zmechanizowany), in Stargard
- 41st Mot Rifle Regiment (41 Pułk Zmechanizowany im. Mjr. Bronisława Lachowicza), in Szczecin
- 2nd Artillery Regiment, in Szczecin
- 124th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, in Szczecin
- 21st Missile Artillery Battalion, in Szczecin
- 22nd Tactical Missile Battalion, in Szczecin
- 87th Division Artillery Battery
- 16th Reconnaissance Battalion, in Szczecin
- 2nd Engineer Battalion, in Stargard Szczeciński
- 33rd Telecommunications Battalion, in Szczecin
- 12th Supply Battalion, in Kobylanka
- 12th Repair Battalion, in Gryfice
- 45th Medical Battalion, in Stargard Szczecin
- 19th NBC defense company, in Stargard
-
15th Guard Mot rifle division (15 Dywizja Zmechanizowana im. Gwardii Ludowej - 15 DZ), in Olsztyn (decommissioned in 1988)
- Staff, in Olsztyn
- 35th Panzer Regiment (35 Pułk Czołgów Średnich im. Ludowych Gwardzistów Warszawy - 35 PCZ), in Ostróda
- 37th Mot Rifle Regiment (37 Pułk Zmechanizowany -> 94 Pułk Zmechanizowany), in Morąg
- 50th Mot Rifle Regiment (50 Pułk Zmechanizowany), in Lidzbark
- 75th Mot Rifle Regiment (75 Pułk Zmechanizowany), in Bartoszyce
- 9th Artillery Regiment, in Olsztyn
- 46th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, in Olsztyn
- 19th Tactical Missile Battalion, in Morąg
- Division artillery battery
- 12th Reconnaissance Battalion, in Biskupiec
- 46th Engineer Battalion, in Olsztyn
- 29th Telecommunications Battalion, in Olsztyn
- Resupply Battalion
- Repair Battalion
- Medical Battalion
- NBC defense company
-
16. Kaszubska Armored Division (16 Dywizja Pancerna or 16 Kaszubska Dywizja Pancerna 16 DPanc), in Elbląg
- Stab, in Elbląg
- 1st Panzer Regiment "Warszawa" (1 Warszawski Pułk Czołgów), in Elbląg
- 51st Panzer Regiment "Kościerski" (51 Pułk Czołgów), in Braniewo
- 60th Panzer Regiment "Kartuski" (60 Pułk Czołgów or 58 Pułk Czołgów), in Elbląg
- 55th Mot Rifle Regiment (55 Pułk Zmechanizowany), in Braniewo
- 16th Artillery Regiment, in Braniewo
- 13th anti-aircraft artillery regiment, in Elbląg
- 48th Missile Artillery Battalion, in Malbork
- 4th Tactical Missile Battalion, in Malbork
- Division artillery battery
- 17th Reconnaissance Battalion, in Elbląg
- 47th Engineer Battalion, in Tczew
- 43rd Telecommunications Battalion, in Elbląg
- 16th Supply Battalion, in Elbląg
- Repair battalion, in Elbląg
- 57th Medical Battalion, in Braniewo
- 61st NBC defense company, in Elbląg
-
20th Panzer Division "Warszawa" (20 Dywizja Pancerna or 20 Warszawska Dywizja Pancerna - 20 DPanc), in Szczecinek
- Staff, in Szczecinek
- 24th Panzer Regiment "Dresden" (24 Drezdeński Pułk Czołgów Średnich), in Stargard
- 28th Saski Tank Regiment (28 Saski Pułk Czołgów Średnich), in Czarne
- 68th Panzer Regiment (68 Pułk Czołgów Średnich), in Budowo
- 49th Mot Rifle Regiment "Warszawa" (49 Warszawski Pułk Zmechanizowany - 49 PZ), in Wałcz
- 36th Artillery Regiment, in Budowo
- 75th anti-aircraft artillery regiment, in Rogowo
- 26th Missile Artillery Battalion, in Stargard
- 7th Tactical Missile Battalion, in Budowo
- Division artillery battery
- 8th Reconnaissance Battalion, in Stargard
- 73rd Engineer Battalion, in Gryfice
- 63rd Telecommunications Battalion, in Szczecinek
- Supply battalion, in Szczecinek
- Repair Battalion
- Medical Battalion, in Stargard
- NBC defense company
- 2nd Pomeranian Artillery Brigade, in Choszczno (tactical missiles)
- 5th Pioneer Brigade "Mazurska", in Szczecin
- 6th Artillery Brigade "Warzsawa", in Toruń
- 7th Howitzer Artillery Brigade, in Toruń
- 2nd Pomeranian NBC Defense Regiment, in Grudziądz
- 4th Telecommunications Regiment "Łużycki", in Bydgoszcz
- 14th anti-tank artillery regiment "Sudecki", in Kwidzyn
- 56. company Special Forces (Kompanii specjalnej Fernspäher ) in Szczecin
Commanders
- Division General (Gen. Dyw.) Zygmunt Huszcza 1956 to 1964
- Division General (Gen. Dyw.) Józef Kamiński 1964 to 1971
- Division General (Gen. Dyw.) Wojciech Barański 1971 to 1978
- Division General (Gen. Dyw.) Józef Użycki 1978 to 1983
- Division General (Gen. Dyw.) Zbigniew Blechman 1983 to 1989
- Division General (Gen. Dyw.) Zbigniew Zalewski 1989 to 1990
See also
Notes and individual references
- ^ First Army General
- ↑ Fighter planes
- ↑ see Forcing water obstacles
- ↑ in the north on the PzGrenBrig 17 and in the southern section from Berkenthin on the combat strip of the PzGrenBrig 16
- ^ Siegfried Lautsch: Theater of War Germany. Experience and knowledge of an NVA officer . Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr (ZMSBw), Potsdam, 2013, p. 133ff. ISBN 978-3-941571-28-0 .
- ↑ Air landings around the Kiel Canal
- ↑ amphibious landing on Schleswig-Holstein's Baltic coast