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Poland Military Command Structure
In peacetime the direct commander of the armed forces
is the
chief of the General Staff, who also carries the title
general
inspector of the armed forces. The General Staff is
responsible
for all phases of command, including training, strategic
and
organizational planning, mobilization, and
logistics--activities
previously divided among several departments in the
Ministry of
National Defense. The chief of the General Staff has three
deputies: the chief of the training inspectorate, the
chief of
armed forces strategic planning and organization, and the
chief
inspector of logistics. Those officers in turn head the
three
main support commands of the military branch. The chief
commands
directly the four military districts, together with
unified air
and air defense, navy, and higher military education
commands.
Directorates for personnel, medicine, education, finances,
and
military police are commanded by the General Staff as a
whole.
Throughout the 1980s, Poland's armed forces were
administered
through three military districts. In 1991, in keeping with
the
eastward shift of threat perception, plans were made to
split the
Warsaw Military District, which had covered all of eastern
Poland, to form a fourth military district centered in
Kraków.
Although this step nominally gave Poland the strength of
two
districts facing eastward, the actual formation of the
Kraków
Military District was delayed in 1992 because funding was
unavailable to make the necessary shifts of personnel and
equipment.
Data as of October 1992
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