APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070024-2
The Warsaw-Lodz and Upper Silesia areas are the country's most important urban centers of industry, government, and culture. These urban-industrial centers also contain numerous military facilities and command the country's most important transportation routes. With their dense concentrations of buildings, these strategic areas offer a prime footing for organized resistance in modern warfare. Szczecin and Gdansk-Gdynia are the principal port areas, containing large shipyards and the country's most important naval facilities.
1. Warsaw-Lodz
This strategic area (Figure 13) is in the east-central part of Poland. Warsaw, the country's capital and largest urban center (January 1973 population 1,623,000, including nearby suburbs) is a modern metropolis (Figures 14 and 15), the focal point of railroad, highway, and air transportation networks, and the largest inland port on the Vistula River. A large, modern airfield near the southwest edge of Warsaw is the principal Polish civil airfield, and an airfield a short distance northwest of the city ranks among the best military fields in Poland. Warsaw is the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense and the national command center of all Polish armed forces. It is also the site of the country's principal military academies and has billeting facilities for about 35,000 troops, several supply and ammunition depots, and other large storage facilities. The city is a major industrial center and the prime telecommunications center of the country. It provides about one-fourth of the country's output of electrical, telecommunications, and electronic equipment. It is also a large producer of alloy steel and metals, industrial machinery, and transportation equipment, including motor vehicles, tractors, gasoline and diesel engines, optical and photographic equipment, precision instruments, pharmaceuticals, and various items of equipment for the armed forces. Lodz, the second largest city in Poland (916,000 population, including nearby suburbs, in January 1973), is also a large industrial center. It produces about 40% of the country's textiles. Also of significance is the output of electrical and telecommunications equipment, machine tools, textile machinery, dyes, pharmaceuticals, small arms, and military supplies. It is the site of several large air force depots and has barracks for about 10,000 troops, extensive storage facilities, and an airfield near the southwest edge of the city. The total storage capacity for refined petroleum products in the strategic area, excluding that available at airfields, is 700,000 barrels.
2. Upper Silesia
Called the Ruhr of Poland, this strategic area (Figure 16) in the south has the largest concentration of mines and industries in the country and is one of the leading industrial districts in Europe. The area's central core has an urban population of about 2.5 million people largely concentrated in about half a dozen cities of at least 150,000 inhabitants each. The outlying cities of Krakow and Czestochowa at populations of 605,000 and 189,000, respectively, in January 1973. This strategic area is at the junction of east-west road and rail routes that link southern Poland with the U.S.S.R. and East Germany and north-south road and rail routes that join the Baltic port areas with southern Poland and Czechoslovakia. A closely knit web of roads and railroads serves the numerous industrial and mining installations within the strategic area. The principal telecommunications facilities are at Krakow and Katowice. Military barracks, large ammunition depots, and extensive storage areas are available near the major mining and manufacturing centers. Nearly all of the country's zinc, lead, coal, and most of the domestically produced coke come from Upper Silesia (Figure 17). More than 90% of the national capacity for iron and steel production is in this strategic area, close to the best domestic deposits of coking coal and iron ore. Most of the iron and steel plants are in the vicinity of Katowice, but the largest and most modern steel plant is near Krakow. Numerous industries produce synthetic rubber, plastics, and industrial and agricultural chemicals. The strategic area is also a
FIGURE 16. Upper Silesia strategic area (C) (map)
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070024-2
