Armed Forces
Polish Armed Forces Go Through A Leadership Change
Minister Mariusz Błaszczak and the Territorial Defence Component announced that new commanders have been appointed, via the X.com channels.
_“As the Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces, Div. Gen. Maciej Klisz was assigned a new posting, starting from 10th October, the Territorial Defence Commander responsibilities would be assigned to Col. Krzysztof Stańczyk”, _the release reads.
Col. Stańczyk has been the 1st Deputy Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces branch as of 11th September this year. As the website of the Territorial Defence Forces states, Col. Stańczyk began his military service back in 1994, at the 9th King Stefan Batory Armoured Cavalry Brigade, based in Braniewo. Then he served in the Józef Bem«s 6th Guns Artillery Brigade in Toruń and the Bydgoszcz-based Central PsyOps Group. Starting from 2007 he was working with the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, and then, from 2011, with the Center for Armed Forces Doctrines and Training stationed in Bydgoszcz.
Heading the General Staff, he is a proponent of a quantitative growth of the Armed Forces. He was the first commander of the Territorial Defence Forces. He was tied to the Territorial Defence component ever since it was born - in 2017. Col. Krzysztof Stańczyk, until 11th September 2023, was the commander of the 8th “Kujawsko-Pomorska” Territorial Defence Forces brigade. He would be replaced here by Col. Marcin Dojaś.
The head of the Polish MoD, Mariusz Błaszczak also referred to another appointment. General Sokołowski would be temporarily working as the General Commander of the Armed Forces.
Div. Gen. Marek Sokołowski is an air and counter-terrorism operations specialist. In 2013 he was working as the commander of the XIII rotation of the Polish Afghanistan detachment, where the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade soldiers formed the core of these forces. In 2014 he was appointed Deputy Division Commander - Chief of Staff of the 16th „Pomorska” Mechanized Division based in Elbląg. On 2nd May 2016, he was appointed by the Head of the Polish Ministry of Defence to become the commander of the 16th Mechanized Division. IN 2019, meanwhile, he was appointed the Training Inspector at the General Command of the Armed Forces.
Chief of the General Staff General Rajmund Andrzejczak, and the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces, General Tomasz Piotrowski, resigned from service on Monday.
On Tuesday, President Andrzej Duda appointed General Wiesław Kukuła to become the Chief of General Staff, and General Maciej Klisz to become the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces. General Klisz, so far, was working as the Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces, while General Kukuła was the General Commander of the Armed Forces.
President Duda dismissed the Chief of the General Staff General Rajmund Andrzejczak, and the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces, General Tomasz Piotrowski, on 10th October.