Polish Army 1945 to 1989

[mpipes]

Are all the regiments independent? Or did they amalgamate to form divisions/brigades after war broke out?

[ChalkLine]

Originally Posted by mpipes

Are all the regiments independent? Or did they amalgamate to form divisions/brigades after war broke out?

It's a lot clearer on the original page. I couldn't get the format to work on VBB

[Adm.Lee]

Always found it interesting that the Poles made up almost an entire Front in the WP force structure, with its own Army commands. The East Germans, Hungarians, and Czechs only contributed divisions and units to Soviet Fronts.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I have a vague recollection from somewhere that the Soviets believed the Poles were more politically reliable than some of the other WarPac nations and thus gave them more responsibility.

Of course, Solidarity proved that many Poles were not content being just another Soviet lapdog.

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

I have a vague recollection from somewhere that the Soviets believed the Poles were more politically reliable than some of the other WarPac nations and thus gave them more responsibility.

Of course, Solidarity proved that many Poles were not content being just another Soviet lapdog.

Poles were regarded as more reliable than other members of the Warsaw Pact, source is the FM100 series of manuals.

The reason why the East Germans never had their own front and their units were always assigned to Soviet armies is simple; the East Germans were often regarded as being better Communists than the Russians, but the Russians have never forgotten or forgiven WW2. They were never trusted by the Russians.