How Poland is Preparing for War

welcome back spare parts Army Poland is

now preparing for war in the hopes of

deterring it from ever happening in the

first place Poland is sending more

troops to its border with Belarus after

claiming two bellerian military

helicopters violated its airspace most

importantly I think that if Russia is

stopped in Ukraine it won't attack again

they intend to double their land forces

to a staggering 300,000 Personnel over

the next 5 years seeking to stop people

once and for all from claiming they

accidentally invaded Poland to put this

into context once once it's completed

Poland's military will be larger than

the French and German forces combined

which makes a lot of sense because a lot

is at stake for them polish prime

minister Tusk said quote we are living

in the most critical moment since the

end of World War II the next 2 years

will decide everything Poland aims to

achieve this gigantic goal by raising

their defense spending to 4% of GDP or

about $133 billion over the next 5 years

it's the highest percentage in the

entire NATO alliance it's it's like

they're throwing out their old military

and replacing it with a brand new one

but what challenges will Poland's

defense modernization efforts face along

the way what type of unique weapon

systems will they need to invest in and

which strategies will they Deploy on the

Tactical level I'm your average infan

Chris Cappy hit the like And subscribe

button and let's find out not my circus

not my monkeys it's a popular polish

saying that means it's none of my

business and I'm not responsible for

this volatile situation however when

your nation is located at the Crossroads

between eastern and western Europe when

it comes to geopolitics Poland rarely

has the luxury of it not being their

monkeys today Russian forces in Ukraine

are battling on a front line that's only

800 km away from Poland's border you

wouldn't even need to take turns driving

there it's like the same distance from

New York City to North Carolina but

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week only Poland is one of the countries

most affected by this conflict because

they've already taken in 1.3 million

refugees from Ukraine Poland's publicly

stated justification for increasing

defense spending can be found in their

2020 National defense strategy paper

approved by their president quote the

most serious threat is the neo-imperial

policy of the authorities of the Russian

Federation the military aggression

against Georgia the illegal annexation

of Crimea and the activities in eastern

Ukraine have violated the basic

principles of international law and

undermined the pillars of the European

security system if that statement by the

Polish government sounds like a bunch of

paranoid hogwash to you like my

therapist always says to me then

remember Poland has the distinct honor

of being one of the most invaded people

throughout all of history they've been

invaded or fought battles hundreds of

times on their own soil in the past

10,000 years the Mongols tonic Knights

Nazi Germany the Ottoman Empire and

Russia are just a few of the usual

suspects to invade however on the other

hand critics of Poland's National

defense strategy like Robert cha state

that he believes they could have troubl

securing long-term financing for the

project he believes the large- scale

orders are driven by political populism

aimed at gaining popularity here and now

instead of being a well thought out plan

either way so the potential economic

advantages of their valuable geographic

location has been offset by the fact

that they have so few easily defensible

natural land boundaries rivers and

mountains to prevent foreign Invasion

imagine you just bought your dream home

but it's located in the middle of a

shooting r range that's that's Poland

this is part of the reason why Poland

lived under nearly half a century of

Soviet communist rule where their

economy was tightly controlled this

meant their development was constrained

by the higher priorities of the Eastern

block that is until they finally gained

genuine Independence in 1989 but Poland

instantly faced a major problem all of

their bases in military infrastructure

was created to facilitate advancing to

the West while defending against an army

trying to move to the East according to

a publication titled Poland's threat

assessment after 1991 Poland had to do a

complete about face and flip their bases

locations to face a threat from the East

this was a lot harder than simply moving

your no trespassing signs this was done

while simultaneously pulling off major

civil reforms to transform from a

centralized Communist economy to a

democratic free market one as a result

Poland experienced an economic

Resurgence but during periods of

prolonged peace and prosperity it's easy

to let down your hair and lower your

guard a little from 1995 to 2009 the

Polish military size was reduced from

300,000 to a low of

121,000 many units were disbanded and

training centers closed their doors

according to the research paper titled

defense and Industrial policy in Poland

by Marcy turowski even as Poland's

economy grew their defense manufacturing

capabilities atrophied and received less

funding in 1999 Poland joined NATO and

in 2004 the European Union in an effort

to solidify alliances and maintain that

sovereignty but this had the KnockOn

effect of purchasing tanks from foreign

NATO allies becoming dependent on them

instead of their own industrial base

Poland's former Minister of Defense said

quote until then the threat from the

East was underestimated however we soon

realized that the policy of reducing the

Army was leading nowhere and was the

wrong approach try as Poland might to

stay out of the geopolitical circus

those monkeys kept dragging them back in

because in 2014 the Russian invasion of

Crimea seriously spooked Poland they

took two major steps in response the

first was transferring military

technology from the United States and

South Korea the second was consolidating

defense industrial base from 50 separate

polish companies down to one single

holding called the pgz then in 2022

Russian invasion of Ukraine saw Poland

taking the step of kicking their effort

to get rid of their old Soviet era

equipment into high gear 260 tanks were

gifted to Ukraine which is almost all

their Soviet era T-Series based tanks

it's like the old polish saying goes

with the hag off the carriage it's

easier on the horses that was considered

politically correct in the 1800s because

now they could focus on replacing old

stockpiles with brand new Arsenal I

think one word can sum up all of

Poland's National procurement strategy

since then

Mass it's the piece of the puzzle that

Poland feels they can bring to the table

sheer Manpower this makes sense as their

population is currently in the top 10 in

Europe at an estimated 41 million people

and a land mass of over 320,000 Square

km that's a lot of ground to cover down

on and protect because the Lynch pin of

Poland's hold defense strategy revolves

around acquiring 1,300 new main battle

tanks but what will these tanks be

protecting take a look at Po's border

it's every military planner's worst

nightmare to defend Poland shares a 530

some odd kilm border with Ukraine

According To open- Source numbers there

are eight ports of ground entry between

Poland and Ukraine and an additional

four Railways these are where much of

Western military aid transits through

it's what we would call the main

high-speed Avenues of approach that

would need to be defended it would also

become a two-way range possibly in the

future Poland decided they need a

contingency plan in case this border

ever becomes hostile occupied by Russia

it gets worse because they also share a

continuous 400 km border with bellus

who's a member of the Moscow Le

collective security Treaty Organization

now there are 11 ports of Entry

connecting Poland to bellus according to

publicly available data just right there

that's a total of roughly 19 different

Avenues of approach for tanks to come

through in a worst case scenario polish

forces need to split up and disperse

throughout this territory to defend it I

can personally relate to this I also

have trouble setting up personal

boundaries however Poland has an ace up

their sleeve in 2017 their military

stood up the territorial Defense Forces

which is a 37,000 Strong Reserve unit

with the ability to call up an

additional 100,000 volunteers if needed

the territorial defense Force's main

mission is to guard against hybrid

threats from bellus in the East the

current conventional threat from bellus

is considered to be a medium threat with

only 2,000 Russian forces stationed

there and 50,000 active duty bellarus

professional soldiers we've seen how

bellus got creative in the past by

sending thousands of immigrants to

Poland's border to pressure them

politically however a larger concern

here is that in March 2024 Russian

tactical nuclear weapons were moved to

bellarus this created a pressing need

for air defense that we're going to get

into so there are four main highways to

cover but the problem is it's not like

those serve as perfect choke points when

we look closer when we zoom in on the

Tactical picture we can see how Poland's

geography plays a major factor their

land is made up largely of flat Plains

and Farms that are dotted with small

forests usually a few colmers wide this

makes the borders more porous less cover

and less concealment it's a major reason

why Poland requires this mass and

quantity because of the lack of natural

choke points it will all work out

somehow polish military authorities are

all too aware of this problem throughout

history and so the strategy they

developed is to deploy three polish Army

divisions equipped with The Cutting Edge

gear to three separate areas of

operation the first is the newly created

18th mechanized polish division that was

stood up in 2018 their mission is to

focus on defending the Southeastern

border the 18th mechanized division is

already pre-positioned in the Southeast

instead of having to spend valuable

weeks to deploy here's the map of some

of Poland's major rail networks that can

help facilitate Logistics the railway

through the city of zesu just 60 km from

the border has become a major hub for

Western Aid shipments into Ukraine and

the target of Russian spiry rings this

is why it's important to have stockpiles

and infrastructure here ahead of time as

a contingency plan next up is the 16th

mechanized division that's focused on

protecting the northeastern borders

especially here this is called the

infamous s Gap the thigh gap of Europe

the salki Gap is a narrow strip of land

about 65 km wide between bellarus and

the Russian exclave of kenrad this is

where Poland shares a direct border with

Russia the border is about 230 km long

with four major roadways connecting it

to Poland before the war in Ukraine

estimates placed a sizable 30,000

Russian troops and hundreds of tank

station there but they have since been

diverted to the front lines in Ukraine

this has left only only 6,000 Russian

troops behind assuming no changes some

Polish tanks will be tied up in the

north by the small force from the

operational perspective though control

over this Corridor was essential for

NATO to reinforce their Baltic allies in

case of a conflict prior to Russia's

invasion of Ukraine this location looked

like it was a major vulnerability to

Nato planners because of the potential

for Russian forces to skirt across to

bellarus linking up and effectively

cutting off the Baltic States from

resupply however that calculation has

now changed according to this article by

tenant of Euro News this threat is

greatly reduced today thanks to Sweden

and Finland joining NATO tenet says

quote to put it simply with NATO members

bordering most of the Baltic Sea Russia

would be unable to prevent Western

reinforcements arriving by sea if that

sounds like a lot to you I challenge

that assumption sir because Poland

resurrected the first Legion division

from 1944 to also deploy here it's the

first one that's formed from scratch

entirely starting in 2022 and will

consist entirely of state-of-the-art

equipment the first Legion division will

be the largest of them all and its goal

is to saturate or fill in the gap

between the 18th and 16th divisions so

that's why maintaining large tank

formations is strategically important

for Poland the unique requirement of

their geography makes it necessary but

the vast majority of Poland's new tanks

will come from the 820 South Korean k2s

that they plan on producing domestic

ically in their own country make haste

slowly part of the problem with any

defense procurement is just how long it

takes we have to adjust our frame of

mind from thinking about threats that we

Face Tomorrow to thinking about threats

we might face 10 15 years from now much

of Poland's new equipment will not be

fully acquired until 2030 or 2035 even

according to their own estimates the

world could look very differently by

then for all we know Taylor Swift might

not even be the top female artist

anymore more it'll take Poland until

2026 just to start manufacturing those

K2 tanks Warsaw has already ordered 366

American Abrams tanks for over $4

billion that amount will include

everything though from spare parts and

training to brand new repair

headquarters take a look at the Polish

city of pnan in the western part of the

country safely tuck away it's where the

Abrams training academy and new Abrams

repair plant is located this is actually

a lesson learned by Poland in the early

2000s when they first purchased foreign

tanks from Germany and they quickly

found themselves with no way to fix them

this Center will also fix damage Abrams

Tanks coming out of Ukraine so far five

of them have been knocked out there

Poland will receive 250 of the newest M1

A2 sep version three which will include

all those modern bells and whistles like

thicker armor on the top to counter the

newest thread of kamakazi drones this is

why in the meantime they've ordered

rapid deployment of 180 South Korean k2s

as a stop top Gap so far they've

received 46 k2s and 69 of the Abrams

ordered but in case things get spicy

quicker than that there's another idea

the Polish government has been kicking

around since 2023 they might request