the mostly-agricultural regions of Eastern Poland, which were still feeling the aftershocks of the Great Depression. The COP plan required a massive financial investment, just the development of the infrastructure and the military industry being estimated at 3 billion zlotys. As expectations of war grew, there was too little private investment in Europe in the late 1930s and so the Polish government carried most of the burden for financing the project. From 1937 to 1939, the COP had consumed approximately 60% of all Polish investment funds. Achievements The following industrial projects were part of the plan: a steel mill (Huta Stalowa Wola) and power plant in a brand new city of Stalowa Wola, a rubber factory in Dębica, an automobile factory in Lublin, an aircraft factory in Mielec, an aircraft engine and artillery factory in Rzeszów, hydroelectric power plants in Rożnów and Myczkowce, and the expansion of Zakłady Azotowe in Mościce. The military industry in the Staropolski Okręg Przemysłowy was expanded in the towns of Radom, Skarżysko-Kamienna, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Starachowice, and Kielce. Most of those investments were located in regions with high unemployment, and their construction succeeded in reducing social tensions and began to strengthen the Polish economy. The development of the COP and similar projects, like the construction of the seaport in Gdynia, were the most outstanding achievements of the Second Polish Republic, marking the beginning of the new era of recently regained independence. The COP plan was continued by the communist government of Poland after the Second World War. However, as the end date for the plan was the end of July 1940, and Poland did not have sufficient capital to carry out the entire plan on its own, few of the intended projects were completely operational before the war broke out, and many other ones were not launched at all. Consequently, their contribution to the equipment of the Polish Army in the run-up to the war was relatively insignificant, and did little to offset the crushing material superiority of the German armed forces. German encirclement and annihilation tactics in the Second World War, with their rapid advances by extremely well-equipped infantry (better than even their British and French counterparts) and fast motorized forces (heavy losses suffered by Panzer divisions were one of the reasons, the Germans created, what became known after World War II was over, as blitzkrieg tactics) and long-range air attacks, ensured that the COP