Polish Armor

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As a final testiment to Polish determination and prowness in battle, not once, even in the surrendert of 1939, did a single Polish military standard ever fall into the hand of a Axis soldier in defeat.

In the west... After the 1939 defeat, many Polish soldiers fled to France making their way through neutral countrys like Hungary. Some even crossed into Hungary as complete units. On orders from Commander-in-Chief  Marshal Rydz Smigly, the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade commanded by Colonel Stanislaw Maczek escaped into Hungary were it was interred. Learning that Polish forces were being organized on French soil, Col. Maczek escaped from Hungary in October 1939 and reported to Gen. W. Sikorski, commander of the Polish forces in exile, in Paris. As reward for his services, General Sikorski promoted Maczek to the rank of Brigadier General and placed him in charge of Polish units at the Army camp at Coetquiden, Brittany. When Germany finally attacked France in 1940, the 10th was still refitting. Consisting of only 1700 men, they were pushed into central France and took part in the fighting there scoring victories in the vicinity of Montbard, the Burgundy Canal.. Upon the surrender of France, the French government officially disbanded the unit. Polish soldiers who wanted to continue the fight escaped the best they could to England. By 1942 (now) Major General Maczek formed the 1st Polish Armored Division in England. During the Battle of Normandy, the 1st Polish Armored Division was credited with the closing of the Caen-Fallaise Gap, where fourteen Nazi divisions were trapped and destroyed. This increadable action was achieved under intense enemy pressure. The unit fought with the American 385th Infantry Regiment in complete isolation. Both units were relieved just as fuel and ammunition were becomming exhausted. The Division’s "crowning achievement" came when it's forces captured the German port of Wilhelmshaven, along with 200 German naval vessels. Stanislaw Maczek was finally promoted to Lt. General by the end of the war and passed away in Scotland in 1994 at the age of 102.

By the time of German capitulation, about 600,000 Poles were bearing arms against the Axis. These brave men were organized into 2 armies on the eastern front and 2 corps on the western. Apart from ground troops, there was Naval and Air Force units as well.

In the east... Created as a support within the 1st Polish Army, the 1st Armored Brigade (Heroes of Westerplatte) often operated independently or attached to various Soviet guard or tank armies. It's first action was at the Magnuszew bridgehead on the Vistula facing, among others, the elite Herman Goring Panzer Divison. Entering the battle in penny packets owing to the fact that bridges over the river could not support the traffic flow, it held against fierce German attacks before resuming the offensive. The brigade moved on to assist the 1st Guards Tank Army in breaching the Pomeranian defense line before helping destroy the last German resistance in Gdynia and Gdansk.