Tankers of the 1st Polish Armoured Division train in England with Cromwell tanks prior to deploying to the Normandy beaches in 1944.
By Ambassador Andrzej Kurnicki
Polish General Stanisław Maczek was one of the foremost Allied military commanders of World War 2. An ex-philosophy student, Maczek proved himself to be a charismatic leader, a top commander and a prudent organizer with the ultimate care and respect for his soldiers. On many occasions Maczek also proved to be capable of decisive action in extremely adverse circumstances.
Towards the end of July 1944, the 1st Polish Armoured Division was transferred to the Normandy, France sector, where it was to prove its worth during the battles to expand the Allies' D-Day beachheads . Attached to the First Canadian Army, Maczek's soldiers entered combat on August 8, as part of Operation Totalize.
For the highly experienced General Maczek, commanding of one of the best armoured divisions on the western front, this was also seen as an opportunity for these Polish tankers to exact revenge upon the hated Germans for their brutal September 1939 invasion and subsequent occupation of Poland.
1st Canadian Army generals in Hilversum, the Netherlands, on May 20th, 1945. Sitting, from left to right: Stanislaw Maczek, 1st Polish Armoured Division; Guy Simonds, II Canadian Corps; H.D.G. Crerar, 1st Canadian Army; Charles Foulkes, I Canadian Corps; B.M. Hoffmeister, 5th Armoured Division. Standing, from left to right: R.H. Keefler, 3rd Infantry Division; A.B. Matthews, 2nd Infantry Division; H.W. Foster, 1st Infantry Division; R.W. Moncel, 4th Armoured Brigade; S.B. Rawlins, 49th British Division.
At dawn on August 15th, the entire 1st Polish Armoured Division moved into action. Their task was to capture the crossings on the river Dives in order to prevent the Germans from using these as a route of retreat.
On August 16, Canadian Lt-Gen Guy Simonds, commander issued orders for his II Corps (joint Canadian and Polish) to clear the city of Malaise. The 4th Canadian and 1 Polish Armored Divisions were specifically detailed to cross the Dives River and advance southeast from from the Norman village of Jort.
Accordingly on the afternoon of August 18, the 4th Canadian and Polish Armoured Divisions redeployed their forces in response to a order from Lt-Gen Simonds to prevent the now fleeing Germans from escaping the Falaise Pocket.
The gallant Polish division twice suffered friendly-fire aerial attacks from both the US Air Force and the British Royal Air Force. Despite these setbacks and resultant casualties in both men and equipment, the Poles achieved a great victory against the Germans in capturing Mont Ormel, Hill 262 and the nearby town of Chambois.
General Maczek wrote after the battle: In tank to tank combat, to every German tank we disabled we lost 3 machines. This was caused by the enemy’s access to good positions in a terrain difficult for tank assault. Our losses were also due to the great advantage of the Panthers and Tigers, in both armour and armour-piercing firepower, over Shermans.
General H.D.G. Crerar, 1st Canadian Army; General Guy Simonds, II Canadian Corps; General Stanislaw Maczek, 1st Polish Armoured Division
It was the overall role of the 1st Canadian Army, including the 1st Polish Armoured Division to keep “the cork in position” while the US 3rd Army,- under the command of the legendary General George S. Patton’s - advanced along the south bank of the Seine “to cut off the retreat of enemy forces.”
The small groups of Polish, Canadian and American soldiers in their front-line positions to hold the cork in the bottle knew little of the big-picture strategic objectives of the entire Normandy Campaign. For them, August 20th was a day of intense combat as the retreating remnants of two German SS Panzer Corps fought with ever increasing desperation.
Polish accounts of the fighting on August 20 describe the battle which raged the entire day on the slopes of Hill 262, aka “the Maczuga (the Mace)” which was under furious attack by the Germans from all directions.
The superior Canadian artillery barrages, and the grim determination of the Polish and Canadian soldiers, prevented the Germans from overrunning the Allies defensive position. However at least one German escape route was kept open throughout the afternoon and into the night.
General Maczek wrote: the 1st Armoured Division acted as a forward wedge – carrying the entire burden, of what later turned out to be an enormous assignment.
In September 1944, the British magazine described the Battle of the Falaise Pocket: The Poles, and in particular the 1st Armoured Division under General Maczek, … played a key role in the Allied victory in Normandy on 21st August 1944, when they closed the gap which provided the decimated German army the only way out east of Argentan. Throughout the six days of bloody combat, the Polish division stood against the fury of two German SS corps.
The 1 Canadian Army, including General Maczek's 1st Polish Armoured Division had successfully achieved their crucial role of closing the pocket to block the escape route of the German SS panzer divisions.
Soldiers of the 1st Polish Armoured Division in conversation discussing the battle orders. August 1944
The Battle of the Falaise pocket ended the months-long bitter fighting for Normandy and delivered a decisive defeat upon Hitler’s Werhmacht.
The German army in France never fully recovered from the grievous losses which it suffered at Falaise. For General Maczek and his soldier’s of the 1st Polish Armored Division, the battles of Falaise and Chamois would represent their greatest victory in the West and some long-overdue revenge against the German military..
Following the battle, General Crerar, Commander of the First Canadian Army sent the following telegram to General Maczek:
‘First Canadian Army is very proud because of the fact that Polish Armored Division is a part of us. If in the future we all continue to fight as at the present time, the mutual celebration of final victory should not be much delayed.’
In delivering Crerar’s message, II Corps Commander Lt-Gen Simonds, Commander, added:
‘The Battle of Chambois decided the fate of the war in Normandy as well as that of the entire French Republic.’
Just a few days after the Battle of Falaise, General Maczek was back on the advance. Thanks to an outflanking manoeuvre, it proved possible to liberate the town of Breda in the Netherlands. The Germans put up stiff resistance but Maczek’s tactics protected the civilian inhabitants from incurring casualties. A petition on behalf of the 40,000 inhabitants of Breda resulted in General Maczek being made an honorary Dutch citizen following the war.
The 1st Polish Armoured Division's finest hour came when its forces accepted the surrender of the German naval base of Willemshaven. The Poles were able to capture the entire German garrison, along with some 200 warships of Hitler's Kriegsmarine.
General Stanisław Maczek and the 1st Polish Armoured Division played an important role in the liberation of France, Belgium and Netherlands. Known as the ‘Black Division’ this elite unit was feared by its enemies, and revered by the newly liberated peoples of the formerly Nazi occupied countries.
During the 1944-1945 military campaign, the 1 Polish Division was highly successful due to a number of key factors which included; flexibility within combat formations, superior leadership at all levels of command, maintenance of high tactical mobility, bold tactics to outflank enemy defences, a combination of fire and manoeuvre, and last but not least a cavalry panache that ensured an offensive combat spirit.
These cavalry manoeuvres quickly became the Polish division’s trademark, as attested by their allied Canadian, British and American veterans of WW II.
On June 1st 1945, General Maczek was promoted to Lieutenant General. The post-war Soviet established communist regime and their collaborators in Poland never acknowledged General Maczek’s battlefield exploits.On the contrary: the new Polish authorities stripped one of the most outstanding Generals of the Second World War of his citizenship. Maczek never returned to Poland. instead he settled in Edinburgh, Scotland where he worked as a bartender in a hotel until the 1960s.
General Stanisław Maczek, painted by Stefan Garwatowski, oil on canvas, 1993 / Collections of the Polish Army Museum
It wasn’t until 1989 –and the collapse of Poland’s communist regime -that the figure of General Maczek would become symbolic of Poland’s long, bitter struggle for independence.
In November 1990 he was ceremoniously promoted to the rank of full General, and decorated with the Cross of Virtuti Militari (3rd, 4th and 5th class)by a grateful Polish government. General Stanislaw Maczek died in Edinburgh on December 11th, 1994, at the age of 102. According to his dying wishes, he was buried at the Polish military cemetery in Breda in Holland.
In 2018 the city of Edinburgh honoured General Maczek by unveiling a bronze statue of him in the centre of the Scottish capital. There is also a footpath in Edinburgh that leads to the general’s former home and is named The General Maczek Walk.
Interestingly enough, despite all sorts of publications exhorting the incredible history of General Maczek and 1st Polish Armoured Division, he and his soldiers have not yet assumed the prominence in the annals of military history which they so clearly deserve.
