On Monday, November 3, 2025, Colonel Marek Pietrzak, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (SG WP), announced that along Poland’s eastern and northern borders, the stocking of material depots has begun as part of the National Deterrence and Defence Program – East Shield. Two such warehouses are already operational, while construction of another twelve is underway and scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Ultimately, more than one hundred depots will be established, one in each municipality along the border.
Photos: General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces
Some of these depots will be established on the grounds of military units, while the locations of the remaining ones are being coordinated with local governments and landowners. Each depot will support the defense of up to five kilometers of linear engineering fortifications.
Although East Shield is most commonly associated with concrete barriers and anti-tank ditches, the program also includes the construction of military material depots. These are being built in areas where, due to peacetime restrictions, engineering works cannot be carried out directly along the border.
The depots store, among other things, concrete anti-tank hedgehogs (Czech hedgehogs), construction materials for building firing trenches, HESCO BASTION fortification upgrade kits, concertina wire and other supplies for the rapid erection of fortifications.
The purpose of building a decentralized system of material depots is to ensure readiness for the rapid deployment and assembly of engineering obstacles on the border in the event of a mounting crisis. For that reason, the depots are located in close proximity to the border. If the threat level increases, these materials will be within immediate reach for engineer units to use in blocking sections of the frontier.
The material depots represent one of the three tiers of the storage infrastructure system established under the East Shield program. In addition to these, Engineering Material Depots will be located up to 50 kilometers from the border (at the county level), and Logistics Warehouses will be positioned 50–100 kilometers from the border (at the provincial level).
Procurement of materials for engineering development is being conducted by the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate through Regional Logistics Bases No. 1, 2, and 3. So far, 108 contracts have been signed with suppliers, with a total value of 300 million PLN.
Trwa napełnianie składów materiałowych na potrzeby #TarczaWschód.
Ten znajduje się w niewielkiej odległości od granicy z Federacją Rosyjską. Powstały już dwa takie magazyny, budowa kolejnych dwunastu trwa i zostanie zrealizowana do końca roku.
Docelowo będzie ich ponad sto – w… pic.twitter.com/pWGhSQCqVd— Sztab Generalny WP (@SztabGenWP) November 3, 2025
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