Polish Free Congress

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Raellus

I doubt that many motorized vehicles* (AFVs, trucks, Humvees, etc.) would be intentionally left behind by US forces leaving Poland- they'd most likely end up in Germany. US troops would need their vehicles to get to Bremerhaven before the convoy sails. From there, I think it would depend on what the Germans decide to do with all of those "donated" US vehicles. Would the Germans disburse some of those "donated" US vehicles to the PFC? Quite possibly. It would depend a lot on relations between the two Governments (Unified Germany and the PFC).

Assuming Germany wants to maintain a buffer against renewed Soviet aggression, then giving relinquished US vehicles to the PFC makes a lot of sense. However, Germany might be more focused on ejecting French forces from its soil. That being the case, I think the Germans would keep the bulk of "donated" US vehicles for themselves.

*Non-SP artillery, on the other hand, probably would be left in situ, consequently ending up in the hands of the PFC.
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This is what I was thinking: Hardly any American equipment would be left in Poland for the PFC, since the XI Corps isn't leaving in the first place, and the heavy stuff left behind by the rest of the US Army would be in Bremerhaven, on the far side of Germany. Unless the Germans (who seem to be a committe of Army commanders?) have an agreement with the PFC, why would they ship any of that stuff back across Germany, to another army, allied or not?

Having said all that, maybe-- if the newly-unified Germans wanted leverage over the PFC in 1997-98-- they could have sponsored the formation of some PFC units by donating some of the East German gear & vehicles as they upgrade East units to FRG establishment.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Having said all that, maybe-- if the newly-unified Germans wanted leverage over the PFC in 1997-98-- they could have sponsored the formation of some PFC units by donating some of the East German gear & vehicles as they upgrade East units to FRG establishment.

I really like that idea. Whatever military arm the PFC would have been directing on Polish soil during the first few years of the Twilight War would most likely be equipped with captured Polish military equipment, so there wouldn't be compatibility issues with former DDR gear.

The Lublin gov't would use any evidence of German material support for the PFC to claim that the PFC is a catspaw for the "revanchist" Unified German gov't. Even in the 1990s, there are probably enough Poles left with very unpleasant first-hand memories of life under German occupation, 1939-'45. I imagine that there would be some underlying unease there, especially if the Lublin gov't had done a good job blaming the whole war on German aggression (an argument the USSR would also certainly make).

Discussing PFC-German connections makes me wonder how much popular support the PFC would have had amongst the Polish people. I wonder what percentage of Poles would consider the PFC to be the legitimate government of their country, what percentage would see it as an illegitimate pretender (and thus an enemy entity), and what percentage wouldn't take it seriously either way.

This all assumes a cooperative relationship between the PFC and NATO. Is there any evidence in canon that this wasn't the case?

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