Polish militia volunteers

There are an estimated 120 such groups in Poland, with total membership around 10,000. Eight hundred members gathered on March 20 in Warsaw at a meeting organised by the Defence Ministry, the first time they have been given official recognition.

Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told them his ministry would pay the wages of 2,500 people who would form the backbone of local volunteer units to be mobilised in the event of a war.

On a Saturday morning in March, 15 volunteers from the National Defence militia, an informal volunteer group, gathered in the rain and bitter cold in a forest near Minsk Mazowiecki, 40 km (25 miles) from Warsaw, to plan their weekly manoeuvres on a map sketched in the sandy soil.

Dressed in full military camouflage with fake rifles in their hands, the volunteers eagerly consulted a dog-eared photocopy of a military handbook before splitting into teams to practise ambushing an enemy.

Bernard Bartnicki, a student who led the drill, said the war in Ukraine boosted the organisation’s ranks.

"Back in the day we would have two, maybe three people at our recruitment days, now it's 20, sometimes 30,” he said.

General Boguslaw Pacek, a defence ministry adviser, has conducted a countrywide survey and estimated total membership at around 10,000.

Some of the 120 or so groups have as few as 30 members, Pacek says, and their skill levels vary. But because they are scattered all over the country, they could form a useful line of local defence in the event of war.

He said the army was looking into compiling training manuals for them and supplying them with surplus equipment.

Robert Przybyl, a 42-year-old project manager, joined a civilian militia unit after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 came down over eastern Ukraine in July last year, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

Przybyl said he was shocked at what happened and started to worry Poland was again coming under attack by a foreign power.

"I want to decide what country my son lives in, and what language he speaks," he said.

His unit, also part of the National Defence militia, was carrying out exercises in a forest near Otwock, near Warsaw. New recruits took 5-km (3-mile) marches to test their stamina.

"Let's be honest, at war we would likely be cannon fodder," Przybyl said in an interview. But he said it was his duty to serve if war does break out.

"I never considered running away," he said.