What happens to the Polish Non-Combatants?
In previous posts I've discussed how the Polish People's Party subscribed to the 'people's war' concept so the 'civilians' you see in the standard Twilight 2000 setting really aren't a thing, instead they are either in the disaster relief services or TKO. Essential workers if displaced from their workplaces either join these organisations or are moved away with their industries if possible (more on that below).
This asks the question: what happens to those people who aren't in those categories?
Well, first off, who are we talking about; children, the elderly and their carers are the main group.
These people were in the case of an invasion to be evacuated immediately beyond the Vistula Line, the official WTO red line for nuclear warfare. From what little I've read in the sources they were to be evacuated along the three major rail links, two through the Baltic states and one through Ukraine. Transit camps were to be erected by the OP outside the 'military radius' of these transit hubs. While the idea of this radius is obvious; they were not in danger of being struck by strategic strikes against these hubs, the actual radii weren't given or what the perceived threat was. Perhaps they had a few pre-planned areas depending on how far the war had progressed towards the nuclear stage but really I'm just guessing. Poland, being a communist state, had a plan for everything and school and state busses seem to be the primary method of mobility.
On a simple materiel in/refugee out system the people move through the transit hubs, along the rail lines and out to other states. Now as I only read the CIA Polish civil defence briefings I don't know where they go or what happens when they get there. It's my guess large camps are built by the civil defence of the host states and eastern bloc international support systems were worked out. I'm guessing these camps wouldn't be that far from Poland, probably still within the transit states but really they could be anywhere.
Of course, this is a best case scenario. As we all know those hubs were primary targets. The Poles, not being idiots, had decided on alternate land routes for the above-mentioned busses off the main supply routes. You can only guess what that trip would be like. Of course there'd have to be a fleet of logistics vehicles accompanying them and I'm guessing they'd be sourced from state government but non-combat fleets. No doubt these would get a brisk green paint job and be sent straight back into the war.
Now, the essential workers are really two types and they are simply those who can be relocated and those who can't. This isn't covered in any cursory search of courses but I'm guessing that as the fighting intensified after the initial WTO counter-thrust they'd be pulling up every military factory possible and shipping it as far away from the strike aircraft. GMs can use this hypothetical scenario for two sources; Poles returning home from factories and continued usage of the nifty Polish military equipment.
|