Poland

Everything you need to know about the Polish Special Unit GROM

People often ask me about GROM, expecting to hear about the equipment, weapons and tactics. But GROM is so much more. It’s a group of friends with passion, gathered under a sign of eagle with a lightning in its claws. Their hard work and persistence is a proof that what they do has a meaning and can be a true passion.

To understand this enthusiasm, so typical for all GROM operators, the enthusiasm that gives the service a meaning, we have to go back in time. I’ll tell you about the history of Poland as I see it. The history that ends for me when general Petelicki created the Special Unit GROM in 1990.

Most of us do not remember very well that once Poland was one of the most powerful countries in Europe. This period is called by historians “the golden age” of Poland. In the middle of the XVI century the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with some 390,000 square miles and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million was the largest political, military and economic empire in Europe after Russia and Turkey. The country did not conquer any of the neighbors declaring the right of each nation to live in peace, what was a serious mistake from a military point of you.

It resulted in Poland stopping to arm itself and based its military strategy on Pospolite ruszenie (It’s a name for the mobilization of armed forces during the period of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The tradition of wartime mobilization of part of the population existed from before the 13th century to the 19th century. In the later era, pospolite ruszenie units were formed from the szlachta (Polish “nobility”). The pospolite ruszenie eventually outclassed professional forces and the country became practically powerless in the next 100 years.

That type of governance and internal disturbances allowed the neighboring countries – the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Austria – to become stronger, eventually enabling them to conduct partitions of the Commonwealth. In 1795 the Polish state lost its independence for the following 123 years. It did not appear on the map of Europe until 1918 – the date of the end of the World War 1. The generation that lived in the period between the end of First and the beginning of the Second World War was full of hope and eager to rebuild their country.

The period after the end of the Great War was a time of hope and new economic possibilities. First truly modern harbor in Gdynia, railway connecting Silesian Coal Basin and the Baltic Sea were built, other numerous new investments were undertook in the whole country. Young state was modernizing and becoming more socially open with each year. A new intellectual quality new generation was raised – ready and prepared to stand for their country if time comes.

Unfortunately, the controversial Versailles Treaty from 1919 re-arranged the new Europe and weakenws the old empires – Russia, Austria and Germany – and left them with a sense of injustice, which is one of the reasons why, after only 20 years of peace, the Second World War broke out.

Year 1939 came. To secure itself, Poland signed precious military pacts with the UK and France hoping for aid in case of war. Very quickly after the breakout of war and the attack on Poland on 1 September 1939, Germany signed a peace treaty with Russia that allowed the latter to attack Poland on 17 September, thus dividing it between the two aggressors. Neither UK nor France helped Poland at the beginning. They finally declared war on Germany, but by that time it was too late for Poland. After the so-called “September campaign,” the Polish Government did not sign the capitulation, but moved to Paris and then to London, from where they made decisions and gave orders to the Polish resistance back home.

In order to successfully achieve its aims, a special military unit was established. The soldiers were called – Cichociemni (“silent and unseen”). Their task, after being deployed to Poland, was to sustain the structures of the Polish state, training the member of Resistance and fighting the German occupant. Cichociemni were trained like the British Special Forces, although the curricula were different according to the specialization. There was intelligence training, sabotage, training for radio-operators and documents forgers. The parachute training was common for everybody.

Their training included:

Sabotage and mines training, physical training, shooting training (basic military training)
Parachute training
Covert operations and partisan warfare
Final briefing training (parachutists had to prepare a set of plausible lies – false identity including different name, date of birth, profession etc.)
Special air training (in London) – design and types of German aircrafts
Polish intelligence training
Armored warfare training on German tanks
Polish motor training
English training

The training was completed by 606 soldiers, and 579 were cleared for jumping. There were 82 jumps where 344 paratroopers, including 316 Cichociemni-paratroopers, were deployed.

The first jump in Poland took place at night on 15 February 1941, in Debowiec. The last jump was on 28 December 1944. Of the 316 Cichociemni paratroopers deployed to Poland, 112 died:

6 died on the flight to Poland
3 died during the parachute jump
35 perished in the Gestapo torture chambers
12 died in the German concentration camps
28 died in the guerrilla fights
18 perished during the Warsaw Uprising
3 committed suicide by poison upon arrest
6 were murdered by the communist regime after the war

At the end of the World War 2, when the Soviet army approached Warsaw, the Polish Underground State struggled to avoid “being liberated” by the Red Army, which meant being occupied by the Soviets. The Underground issued an order to commence an uprising in Warsaw. At the end of July 1944, it was thought that the Reich was on the verge of collapse. German troops were losing on all fronts. The Warsaw uprising began on 1 August 1944, when the Home Army attacked at 5pm (so called “W-hour” “Godzina W”). Home Army Units of the Warsaw district and oddziały dyspozycyjne KG AK attacked the German premises in all the district of the occupied Warsaw.

During the next two months, nearly 16,000 members of the Polish resistance were lost – 10,000 were killed and 6,000 were missing. Out of 20,000 members of Polish resistance wounded, 5,000 were seriously wounded. 15,000 soldiers (including 900 officers and 2,000 women). The exact number of the civilian casualties is unknown. German Propaganda announced that 250,000 civilians died.

The uprising ended on 2 October 1944, in the evening, when a capitulation was announced. The insurrection did not change the course of history. After the World War ended, as the result of the Yalta Conference, a new order was established and Poland was subjected to the Soviet influence zone. Not until 1989, after the wave of workers’ strikes under the leadership of Lech Walesa, did Poland make a peaceful transition from Communism to Democracy.

New reality presented new challenges. Operation “MOST” (“Bridge”), when Polish special service took part in relocation of the Russian Jews to Israel, was one of them. These and other endeavors placed Poland on the list of possible Islamic terrorist attacks that forced the Polish government to establish a new unit, fresh from the communistic legacy, trained in the Western manner by our allies to respond to the new threat.

Lt. Col. Sławomir Petelicki was assigned to set up a special unit in 1990. The GROM Military Unit was named after the legendary “Cichociemni” Home Army Paratroopers. There couldn’t be any other name. At the beginning, JW 2305 was subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was a police-like formation. From 1 October 1999, as a result of an agreement between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, it fell under the command of the Commander of Polish Special Forces

Instructors who helped to train the first GROM operators were specialists from the USA and UK. Today, it’s not a secret anymore that they were experts from Delta Force and SAS. The first GROM soldiers were sent off to be trained in these units.

GROM took part in police-type military operations in Haiti in 1994. On Balkans (1996, 1999, 2001) the soldiers arrested 7 war criminals, including Slavek Dokmanovic aka “Butcher of Vukovar,” during Operation Little Flower. They also took part in missions in Slovenia and Kosovo. In the Persian Gulf, the soldiers’ principal assignment was inspection of ships in 2002-2003.

The Unit took part in the attack on Iraq in 2003 (Battle of Umm Qasr 21.03.2003) and then in Iraq itself in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, hand-in-hand with the American special forces, and were responsible to catch people from the “personality identification playing cards.” They took part in many other covert operations. GROM is still present in Afghanistan, were they have been operating since 2002, fighting Taliban, countless hostage rescue operations, arresting and eliminating hundreds of insurgents and significantly contributing to stopping many attack on the allied forced.

For the last 23 years, JW GROM has been gaining experience in different parts of the world. Their operators are trained to conduct operations in all climate conditions. Their training prepares them to operate in the severe climate of Scandinavia, as well as tropical jungles in South America. The experience and lessons learnt from combat and extensive trainings are the reason why the curricula is constantly modified and adjusted to meet current needs and enable the soldiers to be ready to respond to current threats.

From the very beginning, physical strength, endurance and fitness were only some aspects of the training. Even more important was team-building, bonding and trust. The basic training was followed by special tactics and counter-terrorism courses that last a few months. The whole training is comprehensive – it not only prepares soldiers for combat, but also presents unprecedented possibilities of development in the Polish army.

GROM is prepared to conduct operations in peace and in war times. Their tasks consists of Hostage Rescue, counter-terrorist land operations (aka ‘black tactics’) include rescuing hostages from fixed structures (houses, high-rise buildings) and vehicles (airplanes, cars, trains), VIP detail duty, perimeter protection, and supporting operations of other military and non-military units. Special operations (aka ‘green tactics’) include reconnaissance, sabotage deep in the enemy hinterland, eliminating potential human and structural threats from the enemy’s infrastructure, assistance in evacuating the civilian population, and winning ‘hearts and minds.’ Sea-borne counter-terrorist operations (aka ‘blue tactics’) involve combating terrorism in coastal areas, on vessels, and on off-shore platforms, tactical intervention and combat targeting personnel and other data as well as intelligence.

GROM soldiers are divided into operators who work within battle groups and sub-units with soldiers. The latter consists of analysts, electronics engineers, IT specialists, EOD specialists and MOE specialists, as well as specialists from wybuchowe wchodzenie do pomieszczeń. The smallest cell is a section. Every section consists of 6 persons and they then are part of a group. Groups create teams. These teams consist of perfectly trained and equipped operators, each of them has minimum two specializations e.g. Radio-operator, explosive specialist, paramedics. The aim of this is to be able to quickly replace each operator in case of loses. Each unit has also snipers. They receive comprehensive training so they can operate on the open terrain as well as within urban areas.

Poland Wants a Permanent US Base to Counter Russian Aggression

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wants a permanent U.S. presence in his country to balance against Russian aggression and has already had talks with American officials about establishing a base there.

The Poles are even willing to pay up to $2 billion dollars to help build the base and needed infrastructure for a permanent U.S. base there.

Blaszczak said he had the talks recently in Washington that were prompted by security concerns following Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support for pro-Russia separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.
“The result of our efforts is that the U.S. Senate has contacted the Pentagon about an assessment of…[the] permanent presence of U.S. troops in Poland,” Blaszczak said on state Radio 1. “Such presence is of great importance because it deters the adversary.”
Poland currently hosts a contingent of U.S. troops on a rotational, temporary, but open-ended mission.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that an increase in NATO’s military presence near Russia’s borders “certainly does not contribute to security and stability on the continent in any way.”
“These expansionist steps, certainly, result in counteractions of the Russian side to balance the parity which is violated every time this way,” Peskov told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency on May 28.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said that “Poland becomes the object of a retaliatory strike by placing the base.” Dzhabarov, added that this “makes Poland one of the main targets in case of a possible conflict.”

To read the entire article from Radio Free Europe, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Poland to Buy Patriot Missiles From the US, On Eve of Trump Visit

Poland’s Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said on Wednesday evening that they’ve struck a deal with the United States to purchase Patriot Missile Systems.

“A memorandum was signed tonight that the U.S. government has agreed to sell Poland Patriot missiles in the most modern configuration,” Macierewicz said in a news conference broadcast on public television on Thursday morning.
“I am glad that I can pass on this information on the day of President’s Trump visit to Warsaw,” Macierewicz also said.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived on Wednesday in Warsaw where the White House said he would showcase his commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in a speech and in meetings with a group of nations closest to Russia on his way to the G20 summit in Germany on Friday and Saturday.
In March Poland said it expected to sign a deal worth up to $7.6 billion with U.S. firm Raytheon to buy eight Patriot missile defense systems by the end of the year.
Warsaw sees the deal as central to a thorough modernization of its armed forces by 2023.

Poland, the former communist nation that shares a border with Russia, is one of the few NATO members that meet the alliance’s defense spending target of 2 percent of economic output.

The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. Manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, it derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system. The AN/MPQ-53 at the heart of the system is known as the “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target” which is a where the “PATRIOT” name is derived.

It was used against SCUDs during the Gulf War and the Israelis used it to shoot down an SU-24 from the Syrian Air Force when it penetrated Israel’s airspace.

The first deliveries of the missile interceptors, which have been a source of tension between NATO and Russia, may take place within two years.

To read the entire article from Reuters click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

Jednostka Wojskowa Komandosow

1st Special Forces Regiment, Special Forces Group, Commando Military Unit

Let’s start from history.

The history of special units formed in Poland after the Second World War goes back to the year 1951 when the first two subunits were formed in Sztum and Opole. Main tasks were UW (focused on sabotage and subversion), DA and SR. According to Warsaw Pact standards their identity was hidden under term of Reconnaissance Unit and all activity was described as Special Reconnaissance.

In 1954 19th Independent Reconnaissance Battalion was formed. Among subunits consisted of the conscripts fully professional teams were concealed. In 1961 as a consequence of intelligence work conducted by NATO special service, the battalion name was changed into the airborne battalion.

At the same time in 1961 26th reconnaissance battalion was formed in Krakow. Three years later the battalion was relocated to a small town of Dziwnów at the Baltic and was renamed 1st Assault Battalion. Later unit was moved to Lubliniec in Silesia district.

The battalion activity was described as special operations in strategic and operational areas of interest of the Commander–in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces. The emphasis was put on missions conducted in urban area, both enemy and homeland. This approach paid back when such operations were ordered and successfully conducted by the unit.

On 15 August 1993 the 1st Assault Battalion was transformed into 1st Special Forces Regiment (1 PSK).

It was assumed that SF teams would operate “separately and in complete isolation from their own troops, in the area controlled by the enemy troops or in the enemy’s rear with his quantitative and technical superiority.”

In 1995 1st SFR was given the distinctive name of “Commando” and adopted traditions of special units operating during the Second World War. PSK was common acronym describing the regiment.

(Every subunit has a different patron: SOTG A- Polish Independent Special Battalion and 1st Assault Battalion, B- 1st Independent Polish “Commando” Company, 2nd Special Motorized Battalion and 62nd Special Company, C- Polish Home Army Battalion “Parasol”; HQ Support Squadron- Polish Home Army “Zośka” Sabotage Battalion.)

Due to situation in the country first, still limited contacts with the western units started in 1994.

21st Century

In 2001 the 1st Regiment sent its first independent contingent to mission in Macedonia. Team was responsible, among other things, for the protection of international observers and VIPs, surveillance, assigning and securing LZs for rotary wings aircraft and stayed in readiness to conduct hostage rescue operations.

In 2005 element from the PSK conducted wide spectrum of tasks to provide security for polish contingent deployed to Pakistan as part of the after earthquake “Swift Relief” operation. Team was responsible for polish forces, VIPs visiting contingent AOR, and cooperated closely with NATO and Pakistani security forces.

Next year PSK supported another polish military involvement, in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Irak operation was significant engagement for the unit. First squadron size element from Lubliniec was sent there as a part of polish led Multinational Division Central-South. It was demanding challenge both for SF operators, their leaders and conventional commanders serving for big structures, which were not prepared for dealing with unconventional subunit trained mostly to conduct irregular warfare.

First deployment in 2003 passed on establishing contacts with other NATO SOF elements subordinated to combined, joint SOF command and showing to conventional commander’s unique capabilities and assuring them, that more independence in some situations means more effects. Conducted SR missions and highly effective combined raids complemented PSD tasks most often ordered to PSK teams. Another issue was equipment issued to the operators, which effected with interesting modernisations and plenty of headache making requests sent via logistic channel.

During next deployments training and tactical cooperation between PSK SF and Iraqi elite security forces gave new potential for the Division.

In 2006 MD C-S mission changed its profile to assistance and advisory, what also influenced SF team still subordinated to this conventional unit. Despite previous hundreds of DA, SR and UW missions conducted unilaterally and with NATO or Iraqi forces, dozen commandos were ordered to focus on PSD for the commanders and VIPs. One year later situation in the Iraq dramatically changed, what caused reinforcement and gave more freedom in conducting offensive operations. After short time SOTF subordinated to division CG was created. TF was to conduct independent operations in polish AOR and provide Military Training Team for Iraqi SOF. In July 2008 polish conventional contingent finished its activity in Iraq, three months later PSK element also returned to Poland.

Another place where PSK operated was Afghanistan. In 2004 responsibility for security of polish contingent in Bagram Base was took over from GROM unit and PSK SF team continued providing base security, convoy operations and randomly VIPs PSD. One year later those tasks were hand over to conventional element.

PSK returned to Afghanistan in 2006, when one SOTU was tasked with PSD duties for Polish and American generals, who assisted and advised Afghani government officials. Polish commandos were responsible also for the protection of military and civilian VIPs from different countries including the US v-ce President and the President of Afghanistan. Highly valued professionalism of the operators was awarded with high military decorations by NATO representatives.

Next order sent PSK soldiers to Mazar-e-Sharif, when they conducted HUMINT operations, cooperated with the local authorities supporting Afghan security forces and led “hearts and minds campaign.”

In 2007 Regiment was ordered to send one SF team as a reconnaissance element for Polish Battle Group operating in Paktika province. With main focus on HUMINT activity in Paktika, team supported many direct actions conducted by Afghan forces and conducted PSD duties in different locations in Afghanistan. This mission took one year.

Directly after that PSK deployed numbers of soldiers as a part of TF 49, polish SOF Task Force operating in Kandahar province. Their most important task was to improve combat capabilities of Afghan Security Forces. The second priority was to disrupt rebel forces logistics and fight against their “safe-havens.”

The commandos were also to collect Intel from their AOR. The last task was to conduct “hearts and minds campaigns”. In February 2009 they returned to Poland. A year later, soldiers from the Regiment deployed to Afghanistan again to form an independent ISAF SOF TF 50 operating in Ghazni province.

From the very beginning they conducted SR, DA, VIP PSD. However, their main task was to train Afghan police to be able to carry out the tasks independently.

First big success for this deployment was input in creating all country system of SWAT type police units, PRCs (Provincial Response Company).

For almost two years TF 50 partnered also ANSF (Afghani National Security Forces) in Paktika province. Main focus was to train PRC and coordinate cooperation among other local security forces, what led also to training NDS (National Directorate of Security) strike force- Wakunish.

Focused on creating, training and advising their Afghani Partnering Units, TF 50 achieved many significant successes including detention of numerous JPEL targets, elimination of many enemy fighters, reduction of dozens of tons of the explosives materials and loads of different weapon. Other operations included highly complicated Hostage Rescue Missions conducted in Paktika province, when PSK team on request of Afghani officials and US Battle Space Owner, gained unique experiences fighting inside the complicated buildings against hostage takers wearing suicide vests. Both operations led to rescue all of the hostages and elimination of all terrorists.

Symbolic appreciation of their professionalism was Meritorious Service Medal awarded to one of the TF 50 commanders, who was the first Polish soldier who received such a distinction.

Unit Today

PSK among other polish SOF units got subordinated to POL SOFCOM, which was established in 2008. Shortly after units name was changed to Jednostka Wojskowa Komandosow (JWK).

Today unit’s structure consists of staff, three combat squadrons, C2 support squadron, logistic squadron and training branch. Every SF team in the squadron has different specialisation: MFF, mountains, scuba, combat support.

Unit is appointed to conduct of the full spectrum of SpecOps in versatile environment, during peacetime, crisis and wartime. Operations can be conducted independently and as a part of joint and combined structure.

The oldest Polish SOF unit encountered many problems throughout long years of its existence and only the hard work of the soldiers, their commitment and stubbornness let built current character of the unit visible in modern system of international SOF community.