Polish government considered retreat of troops across Vistula in event of Russian invasion, declassified war plans show
Polish troops might have retreated across the Vistula River, giving up control of around 40% of Polish territory if Russia had invaded the country in 2011, declassified war plans show.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak revealed the declassified documents outlining the country's 2011 defense strategy, in which the scenario of a retreat of Polish troops across the Vistula River was considered, in a post by the ruling Law and Justice party on the social network formerly known as Twitter.
"The plan for the use of the armed forces, approved by the then Minister of Defense (Bogdan) Klich, foresaw that the country's independent defense would last no more than two weeks, and in seven days the enemywould reach the right bank of the Vistula," Blaszczak said.
“The documents clearly show that Lublin, Rzeszow, and Lomza could havebecome Polish Buchas,” Blaszczak added, naming one of the towns on theoutskirts of Kyiv where the Russian army committed mass murders of Ukrainian civilians during its brief occupation of parts of Kyiv Oblast.
The official showed the first pages of the document, which indicate that in 2013 they were removed from the "secret" classification, which may indicate there has been a change in Poland’s defense strategy.
The statement was made in the run-up to the parliamentary election, where the main opponent of the current government is the opposition party, during whose term the defense strategy document was adopted.
The document states that in 2011, NATO forces would have needed up to two weeks to deploy a military contingent in Poland and begin to resist the Russian invasion. All this time, the Polish army had to hold back the enemy on its own.
Ukrainian news outlet Militarnyi notes the importance of taking into account the time period and circumstances surrounding the adoption of this defense strategy.
Experts note that in 2011, the Polish army was in a very difficult situation and had low combat capability. Polish military strategists were planning based on the resources available to them.
Poland has been supporting Ukraine since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Against the backdrop of potential threats, and noting Russian aggression against Ukraine, Warsaw also began to pay special attention to training and equipping the Polish army.
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