APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070025-1
40 shipping routes worldwide. In 1971 the fleet carried almost 47% of Poland's seaborne foreign trade, the total volume of which is adequately handled by the four major and six minor ports. The Szczecin/Swinoujscie[1] port complex comprises the country's largest marine facility and normally handles over 45% of the annual bulk trade.
Despite continuing personnel and facility deficiencies, civil aviation has been improving gradually since its near demise in the mid-1960's. LOT, the Polish flag carrier, operates 39 major aircraft—all of Soviet manufacture—and in 1971 transported over one million passengers, a new high for the airline. The air facilities system is more than adequate for present military and civil requirements. Currently there are 146 known airfields, most of which serve the military. Several airfields support both military and civil aircraft; Warsaw/Okecie, the international airport of entry, is the principal facility for civil aviation.
Development and improvement of the various transportation facilities are progressing under the current Five Year Plan (1971-75). Railroad programs are focusing on converting all main lines to automatic signaling, changing motive power from steam to diesel and electric, and constructing some container terminals. Main emphasis of highway programs is to improve existing routes by adding wider and better surfaces; also, a new arterial highway under construction is to follow the Baltic coastline. Some 770 miles of new pipelines are being installed, including an addition to the CEMA system. Facilities at several inland waterway ports are being modernized and expended, and some new fluvial ports are under construction; fleet development is also continuing. The first stage of construction is underway on what is to be the largest deepwater maritime port in Poland—Polnocny. The target for the expanding merchant fleet is 3.5 million deadweight tons, and the shipbuilding industry is being enlarged. Plans relative to air transport call for modernizing facilities, renovating equipment, and acquiring new aircraft.
Services of the Warsaw-centered telecom system, which adequately supports government needs, include domestic—and some international—telephone, telegraph, radiobroadcast, and TV. Nearly 50% of the villages have telephone service, and radiobroadcasts reach 96% of the population. TV is transmitted to about 78% of the people. Telegraph channels are provided to 27 countries. Direct lines are available from Warsaw to Prague, Budapest, Moscow, and East Berlin, and indirect access is available to Western Europe via Hamburg. Telecom services are being modernized and increased under the present Five Year Plan; main emphasis is on renovating and improving intercity networks, expanding telephone facilities, and increasing automation.
B. Strategic mobility (S)
Poland's transportation facilities, including the port and airfield installations, could adequately support military logistical operations. There are, however, certain deficiencies in the overall transportation complex that would impose limitations on any large-scale movement and supply of military forces. While main rail and highway routes provide for rapid deployment to all regions of the country, adequate alternative routes are available only in the western parts. Most of the highway net comprises natural-surface roads which limit the capability of the system to handle heavy military traffic. The predominance of single trackage on the rail system is a major deficiency limiting the use of railroads for large-scale movements. Because they are capable of handling large quantities of ammunition, equipment, and supplies and despite being limited in total length and areal distribution, the inland waterways could provide excellent long-distance supply-resupply routes in any military operations. Through connections with East German waterways, the Polish waterway network forms an integrated part of an international waterway route across Eastern Europe, connecting major maritime ports along the Baltic and important strategic areas in the interior with points on or near the West Germany border. Within Poland, the inland waterways could provide logistical support to military units travelling north or south and east or west between major ports on the Baltic and important strategic centers in the interior. Tactically, the waterways are natural barriers to rapid overland movement. Most vulnerable are locks, dams, and weirs on same parts of the system, destruction of which would completely halt through traffic. Damage to dams could cause widespread flooding and flash flooding with subsequent loss of water-level control and shipping channels. Serious interdiction could also be achieved by destroying ports, repair facilities, and large bridges. The large lock and dam at Wloclawek on the Vistula river and the 22 locks on the cross-country Oder-Vistula waterway are the most vulnerable installations on the international through route.
The Polish merchant marine would be able to provide substantial logistic support but very limited
2
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070025-1
- ↑ For diacritics on place names see the list of names on the apron of the Terrain and Transportation map, Figure 12, and the map itself.
