Polish zone in Iraq

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Zones in Iraq as of 2003. Polish zone (South Central), in practice multinational under Polish command, marked in pink.

Zones in Iraq as of 2004. Polish zone (South Central), in practice multinational under Polish command, marked in pink.

Polish zone in Iraq or the South Central / South Center / Central South / Center South zone / sector was created in 2003 when Iraq was divided into four zones. The South Central zone (formely the Upper South zone) covers the Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Karbala Governorate, Babil Governorate and the Wasit Governorate. The region had a population of about 5 millions spread over 65 632 km². The Najaf Governorate was passed back to American control in 2004, due to reduction in strength of the forces under Polish command; this reduced the zone to about 3 million of population spread over 28 655 km². On January 5, 2006, Polish troops handed over control of the central Babil province to U.S. troops. Major cities in the Polish zone include Diwaniyah, Kut, Hillah, and Karbala and Najaf.

Two Honkers in Iraq during the Second Persian Gulf War = operation Iraqi Freedom

Another polish Honker(an all-armoured heavier version Honker Skorpion was created specifically for the Polish Army) during the CIMIC patrol

Multinational forces under Polish command (Multinational Division Central-South, MND-CS) includes or indcluded the contingents from the following countries: Republic of Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kingdom of Denmark, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Latvia, Republic of Lithuania, Mongolia, Republic of Poland, Republic of Romania, Republic of Salvador, Slovak Republic, Republic of Spain, Ukraine and the United States of America; the Lithuania, Ukrainian, Spanish and Slovakian ones had already withdrawn. Polish and multinational forces are increasingly involved with training the Iraqi Army.

The strength of the Polish forces have decreased from 2500 (2003) to 900 (2007); the Division numbers about 2,000 troops. Polish casualties number 25. Casualties of the entire division are 65.

The headquarters of the zone were moved in 2004 from Camp Babilon to Camp Echo.

1 Commanders
2 Forces
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Commanders

Rotation	Commander	From	To
I	Andrzej Tyszkiewicz	17 May 2003	11 January 2004
II	Mieczysław Bieniek	11 January 2004	18 July 2004
III	Andrzej Ekiert	18 July 2004	7 February 2005
IV	Waldemar Skrzypczak	7 February 2005	26 July 2005
V	Piotr Czerwiński	26 July 2005	6 February 2006
VI	Edward Gruszka	6 February 2006	18 July 2006
VII	Bronisław Kwiatkowski	18 July 2006	24 January 2007
VIII	Paweł Lamla	24 January 2007	25 July 2007
IX	Tadeusz Buk	25 July 2007	-