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Poland Territorial Defense Forces
The National Territorial Defense Forces (OTK) were
founded in
1965 to help defend Polish territory when the Polish
People's
Army was engaged under Warsaw Pact obligations outside the
country. Although their primary mission was defending the
homeland, the OTK also had the Warsaw Pact mission of
transporting Soviet forces and supplies across Poland in
wartime.
Formed mainly from units shifted from the Ministry of
Internal
Affairs, the OTK went under a new Inspectorate for
National
Territorial Defense in the Ministry of National Defense.
The OTK
included the Internal Defense Forces (Wojska Obrony
Wewnetrznej--
WOW, the largest unit) and several smaller territorial
defense
units. Immediately after World War II, the WOW had
suppressed the
Home Army, which had been loyal to the London
government-in-
exile; the WOW had also played a large part in suppressing
the
Poznan workers in 1956
(see The Communist Era
, this ch.).
The WOW, which totaled 65,000 troops in 1982, were
equipped
as mechanized infantry units, including tanks. The
component
units, which were organized at district level, had the
missions
of engaging hostile troops on Polish territory and
eliminating
local underground elements. The units were to receive the
same
individual training as regular ground forces, although
they did
not participate in large-scale coordinated exercises.
By 1990 the OTK was not a credible military force. The
organization included many nonmilitary patriotic and
social
groups, such as the boy scouts, and many military retirees
found
soft assignments in OTK units. Although the force had a
military
commander, it was not under direct control of the Ministry
of
National Defense. By 1991 budget cuts were reducing
personnel
significantly, and plans called for transforming many OTK
units
into civil defense formations that would support
production and
service in the civilian economy. The OTK units remaining
armed
and attached to districts as regional defense forces would
count
as part of the ground forces' planned mid-1990s allotment
of
about 150,000 troops. They would function as cadre units
reinforcing operational ground forces within their
territorial
boundaries.
Data as of October 1992
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