The Coalition Expands - With

The Coalition Expands - With no fanfare that I"ve heard, the US, UK and Australian Special Forces have been joined...

...by Polish Special Forces.

Oh, stop laughing. The "polish soldier" joke came from a complete misunderstanding of Poland's record in WWII, and from some ethnic bickering (mostly on the part of Germans) against Polish immigrants 100 years ago.

Poland has a long and distinguished military tradition. Even the supposed "charging tanks with lances" trope from WWII was really German propaganda, designed to cover for what was in fact a small German defeat; in fact, two companies of Polish cavalry (under Major Julian Filipowicz, as colorful a character as exists in military history) routed a battalion of German infantry, and were driven off by German armored cars. A few polish dead were posed, with ceremonial lances, next to a passing tank for propaganda purposes - and the legend was born.

Poland's army in exile fought brilliantly in WWII.

Poland is America's staunchest ally on the European continent today. We should be proud they're joining us.