By mid 1940, some 35,000 Polish airmen, soldiers and sailors had made their way to Britain, making up the largest foreign military force in the country after the French, as well as making it the largest Polish army ever formed abroad; of these some 8,500 were airmen. Many were members of the Polish Air Force which had fought the "Luftwaffe". However, the Air Ministry and the RAF underestimated their potential value in fighting against the "Luftwaffe," as they felt that the Polish defeat on home soil was due to incompetence and lack of training. Most of the Poles were initially posted either to bomber squadrons or the RAF Volunteer Reserve.