On a windswept field in eastern Poland, a contingent of German soldiers has been operating Patriot missile defence systems since January. It forms the most significant German military presence in Poland since the second world war.
The Germans are part of Nato’s efforts to bolster its eastern flank and help Ukraine fight Russia, but their presence is also testing a German-Polish relationship that many consider to be at its worst since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In fact, their deployment was preceded by political feuding, with Berlin rejecting a Polish request for its Patriots to be installed in Ukraine rather than Poland.
But according to the commander of the 300 German soldiers, bickering politicians are disconnected from the situation on the ground, where co-operation is good. “There are political tensions but we don’t feel them here,” says Colonel Jörg Sievers. “If anything, I’ve been very surprised by the proactive help we got from the Poles, who prepared everything for our arrival faster than I thought could be done.”