The non-commissioned officers (NCOs) from Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast (HQ MNC NE) left Baltic Barracks on 25 October 2010 at 6 o’clock in the morning to start their two-day Military Historic Seminar and Terrain Walk.
However, the first stop of the trip was Biskupin where some of the first people in Poland build their settlement on an island in order to defend themselves against enemies and wild animals. The place was nicely renovated and gave an excellent picture of the difficulties of those times.
The NCOs were accommodated at the Castle in Gniew, signing in as soldiers of the Castle Forces for the time of their visit. The NCOs were received by the Castilian and Commander of the Castle Forces. They, they signed a contract with the Castilian, put on proper clothing and trained the Basic Military Skills (BMS) of those Forces, namely the noble art of sable fight and shooting with muskets. Most importantly, they learned about the culture and history of the Castle which served as a logistics headquarters for the Teutonic Knights. Finally, they had a nightly walk with torches around the Castle. When leaving the Castle in the morning, they all felt trained in the medieval art of fighting.
The next day, all NCOs moved to Malbork. The headquarters for the Teutonic Knights was presented to them altogether with an incredible history of building up of the Teutonic Order. The Order had 20 castles just in the northern part of Poland so that it was be possible to ride on horseback from one castle to another within a day since the situation did not allow the knights to stay out overnight. Furthermore, they where able to communicate from one castle in order to help each other using smoke in the daylight or fire at night.
After two very educational days, the NCOs returned to Baltic Barracks in very good moods, ready to face the future challenges at the Headquarters. Warrant Officer Jarosław Byjoś, Polish Army, admitted the trip was very useful. “It was both education and integration,” he said indicating a number of interesting things they had learned about the medieval warfare. ”It was impressive what they were able to do in the Middle Ages; they were pretty skilful,” said Sergeant Major Michael Frøslev, Danish Army, mentioning that such trips build a network among all NCOs that makes the daily cooperation better.
Text by: Sergeant Major Michael Frøslev
Photos by: Warrant Officer Jarosław Byjoś
