Poland is Ready

Poland is Ready

Palestine Illustrated News (Jerusalem), July 14, 1939

Nation full of Defiance

          Poland is united, determined, and adequately armed.  You have a nation ready and fit to face any emergency. That is the impression I have come away with after ten days in Warsaw, Lodz and Cracow. The Poles are quite aware of the German wearing-down tactics, and from the barge men, who eternally dredge mud from the shallow waters of the river Vistula with long-handled baskets, to the men in the cool Foreign Office who control the country’s destiny, the answer is the same. “We can take it”. And at the head of this defiant nation stands the Polish Army.

4,000,000 Men

          This, because of the nation's amazing birth-rate, can place in the field virtually as many trained men as the Reich. Effects of the world war on population have meant that the classes of conscripts in Poland are only slightly smaller than corresponding classes in Germany. Poland, with a population about 34,000,000, can mobilize 4,000,000 men without seriously impairing national economy. France cannot equal this with her 41,000,000 population, say the experts. Germany, with 79,000,000, could put more men in the field, but Germany has by no means got 2,000,000 men with full conscript training like Poland has. Poland's Army is extremely mobile, with probably the best cavalry in Europe. The normal strength of the Army is 300,000 men, but at present there are at least 1,000,000 men under arms, with their eyes turned towards the western border. Military experts tell me that their equipment is first class.

Fine Tank Corps

          She has an excellent tank corps and first-class infantry, whom I have seen exercising, but she thinks very highly of her 40 regiments of cavalry. Poles tell a joke on this subject which illustrate the new spirit: Herr von Moltke, the German ambassador, attending a Polish parade, is supposed to have said to Marshall Smigly-Rydz, head of the Polish forces: “But why have you so many tanks?  You have no roads.” To which the Polish Marshal is said to have replied: “No – but you have.”

Poland's Air Force, including several types of excellent performance produced entirely in Poland, is believed to number 1,300 machines with a similar number of reserves. And she hopes for more machines from Britain and France to help her withstand the huge German Air Force. But when it comes to air warfare, Poland has few great targets for bombardment compared with the closely populated Germany.