Розділ 11 Слабший проти сильнішого. Війна в повітрі – Польща 1939 і Україна 2022

Poland in September 1939 and Ukraine in February 2022 found themselves in a very similar situation: they had to face an enemy that prevailed not only numerically, but also qualitatively. The entire territory of our countries was under air strikes, there were no safe areas. This situation has become an extremely serious challenge for military aviation and the air defense system of our countries. The fundamental difference between the situation of the two victims of aggression was that in September 1939, Poland was a signatory of binding interstate alliance treaties, which made it possible to hope for quick and effective help from the allies in the event of aggression. Ukraine did not have such allied relations established in a legally binding form. Both Poland and Ukraine, preparing to repel aggression, had significantly less resource potential than the aggressor countries – Germany and Russia. This made it necessary to choose priorities in the modernization of the armed forces, focusing limited resources on those areas that seemed to be priorities. From the perspective of more than two years of war, it can be said that the Ukrainian air defense system coped with the challenges of wartime. Suffering significant losses during the first massive strike, it retained combat capability and showed high efficiency in resisting air attack. Why did the Polish air defense system fail to do this in 1939, despite the heroism of the pilots and anti-aircraft fighters? After all, in both cases it was necessary to face a significantly larger enemy, which, moreover, had a technological advantage. In both cases, given the insufficient capabilities of fighter aircraft, it was necessary to rely mainly on ground-based air defense equipment. In our opinion, the answer should be sought in a plane that lies beyond the confrontation in the air – in the plane of strategy and geopolitics. Germany's successful blitzkrieg and Russia's failed blitzkrieg, the lack of effective support for Poland by its allies and constant assistance to the defense of Ukraine by its partners (although its volumes were not always sufficient, and delivery times were quick). Defense forces of Ukraine stopped the advance of enemy troops, and air defense managed to minimize the consequences of enemy missile and air strikes.