Archiv: Wojska Obrony Terytorialnej (Territorial Defence Force) / militia / Poland


07.06.2023 - 08:30 [ BalticWorlds.com ]

In Poland, COVID-19 exposes progressing societal militarization

(May 31, 2020)

As the lockdown unraveled, the disoriented Polish public swiftly learned from the media that the country is “at war with an invisible aggressor”, one that requires the Minister of Health to act like a “Commander in Chief” and puts the medical staff on the “front lines”. This military rhetoric was soon multiplied by media reports on the spike in Russian and Chinese “information warfare” against the European Union over COVID-19. Far from being purely discursive, this warlike response to the pandemic has also involved a wide deployment of close to ten thousand military personnel across the country. Already in March, the newly-founded Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) were mobilized for the first Polish comprehensive anti-crisis military operation after 1989.

07.06.2023 - 08:24 [ NationalInterest.org ]

How the Army Is Training European Militias to Stop a Russian Invasion

(January 14, 2020)

Their tasks could include slowing the advancing units of an aggressor nation by destroying key transportation infrastructure such as bridges, attacking enemy forces at choke-points and potentially serving as forward observers for NATO aircraft responding with air strikes.

07.06.2023 - 08:16 [ US Army ]

Special Forces Soldiers train with Polish, Latvian allies in West Virginia

(October 8, 2019)

The State Partnership Program (SPP) is a National Guard Bureau initiative that links states and territories with partner countries around the world to foster mutual interests, establish long-term relations, enhance U.S. national security interests, and promote political stability. Through the SPP program, the Illinois National Guard is partnered with Poland and the Michigan National Guard is partnered with Latvia.

07.06.2023 - 08:14 [ West Virginia National Guard ]

W.Va. Special Forces train with Polish, Latvian forces in West Virginia

(July 3, 2019)

West Virginia Army National Guard (WVARNG) Special Forces Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) recently completed the first irregular and unconventional warfare training iteration for members of the Polish Territorial Defense Forces and Latvian Zemmessardze as a part of the Ridge Runner program in West Virginia.

Ridge Runner is a WVARNG training program that provides various National Guard, active duty, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally nation armed forces training and experience to in irregular and asymmetrical warfare tactics and operations.

07.06.2023 - 07:57 [ Politico.eu ]

Poland to recruit 35,000 for paramilitary force to combat Russia threat

(June 3, 2016)

Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz announced Thursday that the command structure and senior appointments for the Territorial Defense Force, which will ultimately number 35,000, had already been decided.

The force will be aimed at countering hybrid warfare, such as that used by Russia to annex the Crimean Peninsula, Radio Free Europe reported officials as saying.

07.06.2023 - 07:18 [ Centre for Eastern Studies - osw.waw.pl ]

The Baltic states’ Territorial Defence Forces in the face of hybrid threats

(March 20, 2015)

The concept of so-called ‘hybrid conflict’ is a combination of conventional warfare using state-of-the-art technology (e.g. precision strikes against critical infrastructures, special forces operations) and indirect/non-military actions (no declaration of war, the use of armed civilians, avoiding clashes with the opponent’s regular armed forces, information warfare).[1] Russia might use the presence of large Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states as a pretext to interfere with their internal affairs, which increases the possibility of hybrid conflict in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. Russia could initiate such a conflict by instigating separatism, supporting protests staged by sections of the Russian-speaking community (e.g. over the status of the Russian language), sending groups of armed individuals wearing unmarked uniforms across the border, organising acts of sabotage against critical infrastructures, staging provocations with an ethnic or cultural background, undertaking actions aimed at disrupting the operation of public administration (e.g. cyber-attacks on government servers) and conducting disinformation campaigns.

07.06.2023 - 06:54 [ Reuters ]

Eyeing Russia nervously, Poles enrol in volunteer militias

(March 20, 2015)

The Polish government has kept its distance from the unofficial civilian militias but, with anxieties about Moscow’s intentions growing, the professional military is now looking for ways to harness the volunteer groups.

There are an estimated 120 such groups in Poland, with total membership around 10,000. Eight hundred members gathered on Friday in Warsaw at a meeting organised by the Defence Ministry, the first time they have been given official recognition.