In mid-March, the Pentagon cancelled massive war games involving tens of thousands of NATO troops amid concerns over the coronavirus. The drills were meant to include the airlifting of some 20,000 US service members from America to Europe, and to become the largest deployment of their kind since the Cold War.
Poland's Defence Ministry has confirmed the resumption of NATO's Defender Europe 20 drills, with Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak on hand to inaugurate joint Polish-US exercises at the Drawsko Pomorskie training area in the country's northwest on Thursday.
The drills include some 4,000 US combat troops and 2,000 Polish army personnel, along with 100 main battle tanks, 230 armoured vehicles, artillery and aviation.
The drills are smaller in scope than previously planned, with plans initially including the deployment of 20,000 US troops to Europe from the United States to join another 9,000 US troops already stationed in Europe, plus troops, equipment and support personnel from over a dozen other NATO and partner countries, for a total of 37,000 troops. The exercises were initially intended to stretch out across Germany, Poland and the Baltic countries bordering Russia. Berlin withdrew from the games in March, with the Pentagon's European Command following suit shortly thereafter.
Defence Minister Blaszczak called the US deployment to Poland in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic ‘an expression of trust' and thanked the US for its presence,…
