Not only hundreds of thousands of Poles watched the celebrations of the Polish Army. The soldiers' march and presentation of military equipment were besides closely followed by abroad journalists. Strong, modern, third-largest NATO army and first in Europe – specified a image of Polish armed forces was presented by Western media. Polish defilade was besides noticed in Moscow.
" NATO Poland paid tribute to its historical triumph over the Red Army in 1920, commemorating the fallen Poles and presenting modern tanks and another equipment that it hopes will halt the threat it sees in modern Russia," wrote the American press agency Associated Press (AP), summarizing the celebrations Holy Polish Army. AP noted the presence of over 2.5 1000 Polish soldiers, dozens of American soldiers and another allied troops on the Warsaw parade, presentation of tanks and another military vehicles, fighters and helicopters. The most crucial message that prevailed in the American account was the words of president Andrzej Duda: “We must arm ourselves and build specified possible that no 1 dares to assault us.”
The American press agency, which cooperates with major media in the planet (radio, television, press), stressed the fact that in August "Poland signed a $10 billion deal with the US government on purchase of 96 Apache assault helicoptersIt’s okay. ”
The strength of Poland, the defeat of Bolsheviks
The American paper “The Washington Post” besides wrote about “the increasing strength of the Polish army” and the celebration “the historical defeat of the Red Army”. Readers learned from the article that “since Poland got out of Moscow's control in 1989 and then joined NATO, she was working on upgrading her army.” It was besides stressed that part of russian armament, which has been equipped with the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland for years, is being passed on to the defending Ukraine.
In a akin tone, the British “Daily Express” in its online edition wrote about the Polish Army holiday. At the same time, it was stressed that "Poland's parade in honor of the defeat of the russian Red Army sends a message to Russia". "Poland worked to modernise its army over 3 decades after independency and accession to NATO. These efforts intensified after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and then again in 2022," we read on the English-language portal.
The French weekly “Marianne” besides wrote about increased investments and modernization of the Polish army. "More than EUR 10 billion for the acquisition of weapons, 4% of GDP: Poland will shortly become Europe's leading military power", reported the online edition of the opinion-making magazine. The French learned that “two and a half years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and at a time erstwhile Ukraine is making an unexpected raid on the Russian course circuit, Poland is multiplying the announcements of the acquisition of military equipment worth billions of dollars. Neighbouring Ukraine and Belarus, he wants to strengthen his military capabilities and modernise his army, which is now the 3rd largest NATO army and the first in Europe."
The Warsaw defilade was besides reported by a writer of German ARD television. On the website of the news diary “Tagesschau” he wrote that “a military parade takes place all year at the Polish Army Festival in Warsaw. Since Russia attacked neighboring Ukraine, this event has taken on fresh meaning." The author briefly mentioned the types of troops and equipment presented: “The Apache fighters and helicopters fly over crowds, and Leopardy crosses the streets, Abrams and recently acquired Korean K2 tanks, recently purchased HIMARS rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers – everything that the Polish Army has to offer". After that, he stressed that "no another NATO state invests as much in defence as Poland does in GDP".
The Ukrainian TSN (National tv News Service 1+1) besides wrote about yesterday's celebrations, stressing that "104 years ago Polish soldiers along with their allies, the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, stopped Bolsheviks and Poland defended independence".
Kremlin propaganda in attack
The Russian TASS agency limited its message to conveying dry facts. The article lists the number of defiling soldiers, types of military vehicles presented, names of current politicians and dignitaries, etc.
However, this does not mean that Russian propaganda did not take advantage of the chance to discredit the Polish Army. The day after the parade in Warsaw in many Russian-language Kremlin-dependent portals (including RIA Novosti, newsinfo.ru) began to appear articles serving readers the image of a weak army and a frightened society. Russian propagandists processed information from Onet.pl portal texts for their use. "Polish media talked about consequences for Warsaw in the event of a conflict with Moscow", "We die beautifully in trenches. Poland described the war script with Russia" – these are examples of titles and headlines that were built, citing the book “Army in the Ruin” by Edyta Żemły, whose fragments were published by Onet. The book is the fruit of the author's work, which has held respective twelve talks with generals, commanders, employees of the National safety Bureau, co-workers of the President. Russian propagandists did not get into the thesis and conclusions of the book, they utilized only the title and the contextual phrases to present a false image of the Polish army. The message that Poland has a "third largest NATO army and the first in Europe" (as the French wrote) could not, according to their intentions, break into the consciousness of the average Russian.
