Chinese Troops Deploy to Poland's Border

In July 2024 China transported soldiers 3,000 miles away into Belarus. They conducted joint training exercises only 1.7 miles away from NATO member Poland's border and 40 miles away from the border with Ukraine. Does this mean its time to sound the alarmist alarm? The chinese are coming the chinese are coming!

The reason this has made world news headlines is because of the implication. Beijing hasn’t done a mission like this since 2015. The timing of this drill indicates the CCP is sending a warning message to the United States that they are prepared to deploy troops to fight against NATO in Europe. BUT it begs the question, COULD they actually project power into Europe? How many troops could they deploy and sustain that far away from their borders and how long would it take them to build up combat power?

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Task & Purpose is a military news and culture oriented channel. We want to foster discussion about the defense industry.

[xxl]

The idea of a couple thousend people's ego's currently holding the balance of whole world is wildly unsettling

[HLZ]

China would have no trouble supplying their troops in Belarus if they signed up to Hello Fresh and used the promo code.

[frankvance]

I was in US Air force transportation for 20 years and you are not wrong on how difficult it is to transport people, equipment, fuel and supplies to a war zone and more important keep them supplied and working under wartime conditions. The US makes transportation it look easy, we have been doing this a long time and we are still learning new lessons every day.

[Mic_Glow]

Born too early to explore space. Born too late to buy a house. Born just in time to get drafted to ww3

[tomconner]

Can you imagine the logistic nightmare trying to supply spare parts for Chinese copies of Russian vehicles.

[killerbean-wxib]

What the hell kind of Hearts of iron 4 scenario is this lol

[TheHXCfrog]

The kid: “would you intercept me? I’d intercept me.”

[christburger]

“Amateurs talk and professionals go logistic.” Not by Napoleon !
This is my quote. There are many others like it, but this one is mine.

[sprescav]

War logistics is more complicated than you think...

[liquirius]

There's an old Polish joke that has many different versions (going back at least to Reagan), but I would never have guessed it's going to become reality:

After many years in hibernation, Bush and Putin wake up and get a newspaper.
Putin laughs. "Look at this, the US has become communist!"
Bush takes the newspaper, and then laughs. "Turmoil at the Polish-Chinese border".

[alanwatts]

For Desert Shield/ Desert Storm, most of the troops were flown in, often on charter airliners (not Air Force transport). Vehicles on the other hand went by boat. NOBODY moves tanks by aircraft. Although possible, it stresses the airframe too much and shortens the life of the aircraft too much. Its like eating your seed corn. The NATO that faced the Soviet Union moved vehicles by rail all the time. Loading and unloading the rail cars was mostly handled by Sergeants. When my tank company had to move from Ft. Hood (now Ft. Cavazos) to Ft. Irwin for NTC, we got all the guys with at least one tour in Germany and put them in charge of the Rail movement. There weren't any problems.

[thedaledoe]

What's that old saying... "amateurs talk tactics while professionals talk logistics"

[matthewmc]

China has been building warm water ports all over Africa and South America. While legitimate military transports are rare, they have A LOT of cargo ships and own the ports they build in other countries with trade agreements.

I'm not sure their aim is perfectly copy the US military model.

[laurenceb]

I really wish I could stop living through concerning historical events

[Raz.C]

Did you say "roughly 12, 000 troops?" ie - twelve thousand? That's closer to a division, than 1 or 2 brigades.

[FAKEGSF]

"because of the implication" lmaoo This was my first thought as soon as you said it the first time.

[mprdhgb]

How many people can China deploy to fight a war in Europe: 50, 000
How many people can China support to fight a war in Europe: 5, 000.

[borovik]

Voice from Poland: thank you for this material! Even before seeing it, I can say that the authorities in Belarus seek to establish an agreement with China. Much like us, they desire a powerful ally who is distant enough not to pose a direct threat of conquest, but who also can prevent other nations from subjugating them. The Belarusians aspire to be what Poland was during the communist era—a strong ally of China in Eastern Europe. This positioning allows them to counteract Russia from multiple angles (they are already present in Central Asia and will likely extend to the Caucasus), akin to how the USA uses Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan to contain China. Moreover, it is important to remember that Russian drones have already violated Belarusian airspace twice. Lukashenko is afraid, which is beneficial, as this fear might compel him to loosen his ties with Russia by leveraging his relationship with China.
Admittedly, the scale of these operations is incomparable, as US naval ships can comfortably traverse the Pacific to reach Taiwan, for instance. To challenge Russia via Belarus, Polish or Lithuanian assistance would be necessary to deliver any aid. Thus, Poland shares a common interest with China, as both nations benefit from preventing Belarus from becoming a part of Russia.
For us, this alignment has profound implications. If an independent Poland is significant not only to the USA and Europe but also to China, this considerably strengthens our strategic position. This is why President Duda of Poland received a more ceremonious welcome in China than Putin.

[krisfrederick]

China ironically has no "Red Ball Express."

[brucescott]

This demonstrates how logistics is how you project power