Poland shows off military strength on National Armed Forces Day
On Polish Army Day, August 15, the military is set to hold its biggest ever celebratory march in Warsaw to flex the new modern look of the Polish army, the Ministry of Defence has announced.
The parade will see 2,000 soldiers from Poland and other Nato countries march through the capital accompanied by 200 items of military equipment and 92 aircraft.
Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said the parade would feature Poland's most advanced weaponry, including US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and Abrams M1A1 tanks, K2 battle tanks bought from South Korea and the American-made F-16 fighter jets, as well as domestic equipment such as Baobab-K mine-laying vehicles.
August 15 was Polish Army Day between 1923 and 1947, and has been again from 1992 to the present, as it is the date of Poland's unexpected but important victory over the Red Army in the Battle of Warsaw, also referred to as 'the Miracle on the Vistula.' In the wake of the following Polish advance eastward, the Soviets sued for peace and a ceasefire was sealed in October 1920. The Battle of Warsaw helped defend Poland's newly regained independence. The battle, headed by Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, defended the democratic order of the whole of Europe.
