Pentagon abruptly cuts US combat forces in Poland, officials say

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has abruptly canceled the deployment of an armored brigade combat team to Poland, cutting US combat power on NATO’s eastern flank by nearly half as the Trump administration accelerates a drawdown of American forces across Europe, officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo last week halting the rotation of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Cavazos, Texas, according to US officials familiar with the decision. The brigade of roughly 4,200 to 4,700 soldiers had been scheduled to relieve a unit already stationed in Poland as part of the continuous armored rotation that has reinforced the alliance’s eastern edge since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its soldiers had already begun pre-deployment training when the cancellation order arrived.

The cancellation, first reported by ABC News, means approximately 10,000 US troops will remain in Poland rather than the roughly 15,000 that had been planned. The halted brigade would have brought 87 M1 Abrams main battle tanks, 152 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and 18 M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers to the alliance’s easternmost flank.

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz sought to minimize the significance of the reversal. “This issue does not concern Poland — it relates to the previously announced change in the presence of some U.S. Armed Forces in Europe,” he said in a statement.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said defense officials had not offered a coherent rationale.

“It is not at all clear why the decision was made,” Shaheen said. “One of the advantages of having those operating bases in Poland is that, if we have to deploy, we’ve got a base from which to do that. And that’s not only faster, but it’s cheaper.”

The Polish cancellation follows the Defense Department’s May 1 announcement that 5,000 troops would be withdrawn from US Army garrisons in Germany, CNN reported. Together, the two withdrawals represent the most significant contraction of the American military presence in Europe since the drawdown from Afghanistan.

The Army is grappling with a budget shortfall of $4 billion to $6 billion, as rising personnel and maintenance costs outstrip appropriations. The service has also struggled with recruiting, leaving end-strength below authorized levels for the third consecutive year. Officials said it was not immediately clear whether the budget gap was the primary driver of the Poland decision or whether the White House had intervened directly.

Major General Tom Feltey, the 1st Cavalry Division commander, warned that adversaries would read the cancellation as a strategic signal regardless of its cause.

“Make no mistake — our adversaries are paying attention,” Feltey said. “When an armored brigade combat team deploys forward, it sends a clear and unmistakable signal.”

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the timeline for future armored rotations in Poland.