Bundeswehr squadron in Poland: The military works without discord

The Bundeswehr has been deployed in south-eastern Poland with the Patriot air defense system since the beginning of February. The delivery was accompanied by political discord. Does this affect military cooperation?

A snow-covered field, three trailers with launch pads on the horizon. Missiles point east in the gray sky. About a hundred meters in front of it is “the eye”, as the radar device is called, with which the sky is scanned. They are the core of a German Patriot air defense system stationed on Polish soil.

The Patriot squadron has been deployed near the city of Zamosc in south-eastern Poland since February 1st. About 300 German soldiers are part of it, from anti-aircraft missile service to doctors, logisticians to kitchen help. A cross-section of the Bundeswehr.

Contingent leader Colonel Jörg Sievers is extremely satisfied. “It’s a clear signal to Russia. We’re drawing a red line on NATO’s eastern flank. Up to here and no further.”

Smooth cooperation – among the military

Together with the Americans and British, who are also each stationed with their Patriot systems along the eastern Polish border, and with the Poles, they are tasked with defending NATO airspace in the event of threats. According to Sievers, the cooperation works smoothly. The Germans were welcomed with open arms by the Polish troops.

Sievers speaks of “mega support”. The Polish military prepared the site in an enormous effort in such a way that the heavy German equipment did not sink into the soft soil.

A story with tensions

On the operational level, German-Polish relations are a lot better than on the political level. The finger-wrestling between the German and Polish governments was most recently evident in the delivery of “Leopard 2” tanks to Ukraine.

Poland had long exerted pressure on the German chancellor to issue export permits and also to supply “Leopard 2” tanks himself. And the three German patriot positions that are now deployed on Polish soil only found their way there after some back and forth on the political stage.

After a missile attack last November that killed two Polish citizens, then Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht offered German support to protect Polish airspace with German patriots. Her Polish counterpart, Mariusz Błaszczak, initially suggested stationing the Patriots better in Ukraine, which caused considerable upset in Berlin.

War further worsened the relationship

With the war in Ukraine, the already tense German-Polish relationship has deteriorated further. Since the beginning of the war, Poland has criticized Germany for its hesitancy in supplying arms and for the fact that, in Poland’s eyes, the turning point is only sluggish.

While Poland is already spending four percent of its gross domestic product on armaments this year, Germany, despite the 100 billion special fund, has still not managed to reach the NATO target of two percent.

In addition: In Poland, the election campaign for the parliamentary elections in autumn is already in full swing. And here the ruling party PiS is clearly backing an anti-German campaign. Germany is held responsible for almost everything that goes wrong in Poland.

The balancing act that Poland’s government is performing was only evident this week when German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Warsaw. After the bilateral meeting with his Polish counterpart, Pistorius appeared alone before the press. There were also no pictures of the two together.

An unwelcome impression

Even if it is now up to Poland and Germany to work closely together on the “Leopard 2” coalition, the Polish government wants to avoid the impression that it is doing exactly that. From their point of view, it would be counterproductive for their election campaign.

And in Zamosc, too, where the German Patriot squadron protects Polish citizens and critical infrastructure on behalf of the Polish government, images showing this Polish-German cooperation are not welcome.