Polish 1st Armoured Division
|
Polish 1st Armoured Division at Haddington 1943 |
The
Polish 1st Armoured Division (
Polish 1 Dywizja Pancerna) was an
Allied military unit during
World War II, created in February
1942 in
Scotland. At its peak it numbered approximately 16,000 soldiers. It was commanded by General
Stanisław Maczek.
In the early stages the division was stationed in Scotland and guarded approximately 200 kilometres of
British coast.
Normandy
By the end of July
1944 the division has been transferred to
Normandy. Last elements arrived on
August 1 and the unit was attached to
First Canadian Army. It entered combat on
August 8 during the
Operation Totalize. The division twice suffered serious bombings by Allied aircraft yet it achieved a brilliant victory against the
Wehrmacht in the battles for Mont Ormel, 262 Hill and the town of
Chambois. This series of offensive and defensive operations came to be known as the
Battle of Falaise in which a large number of German
Wehrmacht and
SS divisions were trapped in a huge
Chambois pocket and subsequently destroyed. Maczek's division had the crucial role of closing the pocket at the escape route of those German divisions. Hence the fighting was absolutely desperate and the 2nd Polish Armoured, 24th Polish Lancers and 10th Dragoons supported by the 8th and 9th Infantry Battalions took the brunt of German attacks trying to break free from the pocket. Surrounded and running out of
ammo they withstood all the incessant attacks of multiple fleeing
panzer divisions for 48 hours until they were relieved.
Belgium and the Netherlands
After the
Allied armies broke out from Normandy, Polish 1st Armoured Division pursued Germans along the coasts of the
English Channel. It liberated, among others, the towns of
Ypres,
Ghent and
Passchendale. A successful outflanking manouevre planned and performed by gen.
Maczek allowed liberation of the city of
Breda without any civilian casualties (
October 29,
1944). It spent the winter of 44-45 on the south bank of the river
Rhine, guarding a sector around
Moerdijk in
the Netherlands. In early
1945 it was transferred to the province of
Overijssel and started to push along with the
Allies along the Dutch-German border, liberating the eastern parts of the provinces of
Drenthe and
Groningen with towns such as
Emmen,
Coevorden and
Stadskanaal.
 |
The Wilhelmshaven German commander surrenders this main German U-boot base to Colonel A. Grudziński |
Germany
In April
1945 1st Armoured entered the Reich in the area of
Ems. On
May 6 the division seized the
Kriegsmarine naval base in
Wilhelmshaven, where gen. Maczek accepted the capitulaton of the fortress, naval base,
East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. There the Division ended the war and was joined by the
Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. It undertook occupation duties until 1947, when the division was disbanded. The majority of its soldiers were not able to return to
Poland and stayed in
exile.
10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade (10 Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej) - col. T. Majewski:
*1st Polish Armoured Regiment (1 pułk pancerny) - lt.col. Antoni Stefanowicz
*2nd Polish Armoured Regiment (2 pułk pancerny) - lt.col. S. Koszustki
*24th Polish Lancers Regiment (Armoured; 24 pułk ułanów im. Hetmana Żółkiewskiego) - lt.col. J. Kański
*10th Polish Dragoons Regiment (10 pułk dragonów zmotoryzowanych) - lt.col. Władysław Zgorzelski
; 3rd Polish Infantry Brigade (3 Brygada Strzelców) - col. Marian Wieroński :
*1st Polish Highland Battalion (1 batalion Strzelców Podhalańskich) - lt.col. K. Complak
*8th Polish Rifle Battalion (8 batalion strzelców) - lt.col. Aleksander Nowaczyński
*9th Polish Rifle Battalion (9 batalion strzelców flandryjskich) - lt.col. Zygmunt Szydłowski
*1st Polish Independent HMG Squadron (samodzielna kompania ckm.) - mjr M. Kochanowski |
The Mayor of Breda (Van Slobbe), giving a welcome speech to the 1st Armoured Division which liberated Breda. |
; Divisional Artillery (
Artyleria dywizyjna) - col. B. Noel :
*
1st Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment (
1 pułk artylerii motorowej) - lt.col. J. Krautwald
*
2nd Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment (
2 pułk artylerii motorowej) - lt.col. K. Meresch
*
1st Polish Anti-Tank Regiment (formed in
1945 from smaller units) (
1 pułk artylerii przeciwpancernej) - mjr R. Dowbór
*
1st Polish Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (
1 pułk artylerii przeciwlotniczej) - lt.col. O. Eminowicz, later mjr W. Berendt
Other Units :
*10th Polish Mounted Rifle Regiment (10 pułk strzelców) (recce) - mjr J. Maciejowski
*HQ, Military Police,
*engineers (saperzy dywizyjni) - lt.col. J. Dorantt
*signals (1 batalion łączności) - lt.col. J. Grajkowski
*administration, military court, church, reserve squadrons, medical serviceNumbers
*885 - officers and NCO's
*15,210 - soldiers
*381 - tanks (mostly
M4 Sherman)
*473 - pieces of artillery (mostly motorized)
*4050 - cars, lorries, utility vehicles, artillery carriers
*
List of military divisions*
Website of Maczek Museum in Breda*
Breda Liberated*
Website describing the campaign of the division*
Lance Corporal Waldemar Czyz*
The Life and Times of Jan Pirog, a Polish Soldier*
Captain Kazimierz DUDA - 1st Polish Armoured Division - C.K.M.
