HOHENFELS, Germany -- Polish Soldiers from the 6th Mechanized Company and their U.S. Army infantry allies conducted a simulated armored assault against American Soldiers role-playing an opposing force during training at Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, on Sep. 2, 2016.
During the training, a Polish company from the 2/17th Mechanized Battalion, integrated an American heavy weapons platoon during a movement to contact to find the opposing forces.
The Polish-American task force led the assault through the hills of Hohenfels, maneuvering their armored vehicles while searching out the elusive OPFOR Soldiers consisting of modified U.S. Army M113 fighting vehicles and Slovenian T-72 tanks.
"This is my first multinational military training," Polish 1st Lt. Tomasz Mazurek, the 6th Mechanized Company commander, said. "So, this is a huge, huge effort for me. And, I think it will be very beneficial for me and for my company to train with U.S. Soldiers."
When the Polish and U.S. forces caught the OPFOR, they were able to engage in a running battle that started in one valley, climbed a ridge, and finally ended in a second valley near the first. As they fought deeper, they encountered tougher enemies.
Fighting in the hills was a new experience for some of the Polish Soldiers, but it provided them with valuable knowledge to fold in to future training.
"This whole area is new for my soldiers because we haven't trained in hills, in mountains with a lot of forests," Mazurek said. "This is new for my company and I hope we can find a solution to use in our training in Poland."
After training and fighting together, the Polish Soldiers and the U.S. infantrymen of 3rd Platoon, the "Spiros" of Dragon Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, were able to communicate despite a language barrier, said Mazurek. This was accomplished by using hand signals that troops from both nations could understand.
The training was part of Combined Resolve VII, a 7th Army Training Command, U.S. Army Europe-directed exercise taking place at the Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels Training Areas, Aug. 8 to Sept. 15, 2016. The exercise is designed to train the Army's regionally allocated forces to the U.S. European Command. Combined Resolve VII includes more than 3,500 participants from 16 NATO and European partner nations.
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