Multinational Division Central-South
Encyclopedia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and the United States of America. As of December 2008, Armenian, Bosnian, Danish, Latvian, Kazakh, Lithuanian, Mongolian, Spanish and Slovakian forces have been fully withdrawn.
The South Central zone
Polish zone in Iraq
Polish zone in Iraq or the South Central / South Center / Central South / Center South zone / sector was created in 2003 when Iraq was divided into four zones. The South Central zone covers the Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Karbala Governorate, Babil Governorate and the Wasit Governorate...
(formerly the Upper South zone, also known as the Polish zone covered the area south of Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
: Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Karbala Governorate, Babil Governorate and the Wasit Governorate, all of which have been transferred to the Iraqi government
Provincial Iraqi Control
The objective of the Iraqi Government and Multi-National Forces in Iraq is to achieve the transition of responsibility for each of the 18 provinces in Iraq from the Coalition to the Iraqi civil authorities, both national and local...
. The region has a population of about 5 million spread over 65 632 km². Major cities in the area include Diwaniyah, Kut
Kut
Al-Kūt is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 374,000 people...
, Hillah, and Karbala
Karbala
Karbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people ....
and Najaf
Najaf
Najaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...
.
The Najaf Governorate was passed back to American control in 2004, due to reduction in strength of the forces under Polish command; this reduced the zone to about 3 million of population spread over 28 655 km². On January 5, 2006, Polish troops handed over control of the central Babil province to U.S. troops.
General information
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s (NCOs) deployed, serving in headquarters and in a unit of military assistance, before the final withdrawal in 2008. Other contingents in 2003 numbered: Spain, 1340; Thailand, 886; Bulgaria, 480; Honduras, 364; Philippines, 350; El Salvador, 346; Dominican Republic, 300; Hungary, 300; Romania, 220; Mongolia, 190; Latvia, 145; Nicaragua, 111, Slovak Republic, 111; Lithuania, 45; Kazakhstan, 25; Denmark, 10; Netherlands, 6; Norway, 5; some support and liaison personnel from United Kingdom and USA.
Casualties of the entire division are around 65.
The Division has been switching from stabilization tasks (patrols, etc.) towards training the Iraqi Army
Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Army is the land component of the Iraqi military, active in various forms since being formed by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I....
(8th Infantry Division and security forces - Iraqi Police
Iraqi Police
The Iraqi Police Service are the uniformed Territorial police force responsible for the enforcement of civil law within Iraq.The current organisation, structure and recruitment practice was guided by the Coalition Provisional Authority following the 2003 invasion of Iraq...
and Iraqi Border Police).
The headquarters of the zone were moved in 2004 from Camp Babilon to Camp Echo.
According to mission statement the primary task of the MND CS was to oversee the transfer of the military and security in the areas under its control to the provisional Iraqi authorities.
Description in State of DenialState of DenialState of Denial is a 2003 documentary film about AIDS in Africa, produced and directed by Elaine Epstein. The film highlights the errors of President Mbeki's government, which insists that there isn't enough evidence to show that HIV causes AIDS and refuses vital life-saving drugs to their people...
In Bob WoodwardBob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
's book State of Denial
State of Denial
State of Denial is a 2003 documentary film about AIDS in Africa, produced and directed by Elaine Epstein. The film highlights the errors of President Mbeki's government, which insists that there isn't enough evidence to show that HIV causes AIDS and refuses vital life-saving drugs to their people...
he recounts the experience of Frank Miller, who as of March 2004 was the senior director for defense on the National Security Council. During the course of a fact finding trip to Iraq in that month he visited the leadership of the Multinational Division. Woodward's description is as follows:
Miller moved on to meet with the Polish commander of the Multinational Division, made up of troops from 23 nations. This was the shakiest part of the coalition--but an important fig leaf to suggest that the war was a broad international effort
The Polish division commander told Miller, "I've got 23 separate national units. They have 23 separate rules of engagement. I pick up the phone, I tell the colonel in charge of the Spanish BrigadePlus Ultra BrigadeThe Plus Ultra Brigade, or Brigada Hispanoamericana, was a military contingent of mixed personnel from Spain , the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua , which was commissioned to support coalition troops in the Iraq War. The deployment started in July 2003...
what to do. He picks up his phone, calls Madrid, and says, 'I've been told to do this. Is it okay?'"
Miller understood that this meant the Multinational Division had little or no fighting capability.
Commanders
| Rotation | Commander | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Andrzej Tyszkiewicz | 17 May 2003 | 11 January 2004 |
| II | Mieczysław Bieniek | 11 January 2004 | 18 July 2004 |
| III | Andrzej Ekiert | 18 July 2004 | 7 February 2005 |
| IV | Waldemar Skrzypczak | 7 February 2005 | 26 July 2005 |
| V | Piotr Czerwiński | 26 July 2005 | 6 February 2006 |
| VI | Edward Gruszka | 6 February 2006 | 18 July 2006 |
| VII | Bronisław Kwiatkowski Bronisław Kwiatkowski Lieutenant General Bronisław Kwiatkowski was a Polish military figure, Commander of the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command... |
18 July 2006 | 24 January 2007 |
| VIII | Paweł Lamla | 24 January 2007 | 25 July 2007 |
| IX | Tadeusz Buk Tadeusz Buk Tadeusz Buk , was a Polish military figure. He received numerous military and civil awards, including the Order of Polonia Restituta.... |
25 July 2007 | 30 January 2008 |
| X | Andrzej Malinowski | 30 January 2008 | 31 October 2008 |
Polish
| Rotation | Division | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| I | 12th Mechanised Division | 2500 |
| II | 11th Armoured Cavalry Division 11th Armoured Cavalry Division - Bibliography :* Wiesław Chłopek, 11 Lubuska Dywizja Kawalerii Pancernej im. Króla Jana III Sobieskiego. Zarys dziejów, Wydawnictwo "Chroma", Żary 2005, wyd. I, ISBN 83-922412-3-1... |
2500 |
| III | 16th Mechanised Division | 2400 |
| IV | 11th Lubusz Armoured Cavalry Division | 1500 |
| V | 1st Warsaw Mechanised Division 1st Mechanised Division (Poland) The 1st "Warsaw" Mechanised Division was a mechanized infantry formation of the Polish Land Forces that existed from 1955 until September 1, 2011. During this entire period, the division was headquartered in Legionowo... |
1500 |
| VI | 12th Szczecin Mechanised Division | 900 |
| VII | 16th Pomeranian Mechanised Division | 900 |
| VIII | 11th Lubusz Armoured Cavalry Division | 900 |
| IX | 1st Warsaw Mechanised Division | 900 |
| X | 12th Szczecin Mechanised Division | 900 |
Ukrainian
| Rotation | Dates | Unit | Commander | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 18 August 2003 - 19 February 2004 | 5th Mechanized Brigade 5th Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine) The 5th Separate Mechanized Brigade was a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces sent to Iraq in august of 2003. Brigade was deployed from 17 August 2003 to March 2004.-Mission objectives:*Maintain stability and safety in Wasit Governorate... |
Major General Major General Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general... Sergiy Bezlushchenko |
1,656(1,614) |
| II | 19 February 2004 - 22 September 2004 | 6th Mechanized Brigade 6th Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine) The 6th Separate Mechanized Brigade was a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces sent to Iraq in March 2004 to replace 5th Mechanized Brigade... |
Major General Major General Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general... Serhiy Ostrovskyi |
1,795 |
| III | 22 September 2004 - 7 May 2005 | 7th Mechanized Brigade | Major General Major General Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general... Serhiy Popko |
1,722 |
| IV | 7 May 2005 - 29 December 2005 | 81st Tactical Group | Major General Major General Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general... Serhiy Horoshnykov |
896 |
| 20 December 2005 - 9 December 2008 | Colonel Colonel Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures... Henadii Lachkov |
37 |