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@SilenceInPolish is doing her excellent August series on the Polish 1st Armored Division. The beginning of their campaign as a division coincides with the Warsaw Uprising in Poland.This first thread will contain some additional details on the division.
After the occupation of Poland in September 1939 by Nazi Germany and Communist USSR, Poland never formally capitulated. Huge amounts of men managed to escape to France, mostly via Hungary and Romania.
Among those men was then Colonel Maczek, both near Lwow, then a part of Poland, now a part of Ukraine as Lviv, where my grandma was born to a Polish-Ukrainian marriage. @KresySiberia . Have a look at this map. Exactly half that land is now Belarus and Ukraine.
In 1938 Maczek who had previously created mobile infantry-cavalry units to fight Ukrainians and then the Red Army in the chaos of post WW1 years, was given command of the 10th Cavalry Brigade.
Despite the name, this was not a unit with horses, lances and sabers. This was a prototype miniature armor division, at least in theory. They never got their promised tanks except some very old Vickers but had tankettes and motorized equipment. Think BEF except Polish and tiny.
Among the brigade elements were the 24th Ulan (hussar) and 10th Dragoon regiments. These would form the core of the 1DP, Pierwszej Dywizji Pancernej, aka 1st Armored Division.
The Brigade recruited heavily from the southern and eastern parts of Poland, especially Krakow&Lwow&Rzeszow as well as the mountainous parts of Poland.
They would fight in those regions in the defense of Poland and gave the Germans a hiding every time they did fight. Amongst their opponents were the 4th Light Division future 9th Panzer Division which 1DP would literally massacre at Falaise.
After the Soviet invasion about half of the brigade would escape to Hungary taking with them captured German tanks. The Hungarians turned a blind eye to the Poles leaving the country to join the reforming army in France. Remember, never surrendered, this was still the Polish Army
Maczek was promoted to the equivalent of Major General/Brigadier and took charge of the recruitment/training of a new Polish army.
This army was built around Polish soldiers who had escaped to the West(those captured by the Soviets were being murdered or put into little better than concentration camps). 2/3 of soldiers were prewar Polish emigres including economic immigrants, a large number in France.
@dougwriter’s uncle for instance. Polish immigrants in France were even subject to conscription, as part of an agreement between the Polish government in exile and the French. There were even wp Spanish Civil War veterans - hard core Communists (not lefties).
The French military at first treated Maczek and his veteran soldiers like idiots and basically cowards who had been spanked by the Germans (10th Brigade had never lost a battle).
Some infantry ended up in Narvik where... they beat the snot out of Germans but had to withdraw. Meanwhile Maczek was trying to create an armored division, something both the Polish high command and the French didn’t like the idea of.He built the 10th ARMORED Cavalry Brigade.
This all changed when the Germans invaded and suddenly a battle group had to be formed from fresh new French tanks that appeared out of thin air. Colonel Dworak’s battle group went into battle and again did well against overwhelming odds. Notice 2nd Panzer Division(Falaise again)
But France fell and Maczek found himself involved in a James Bond exfiltration that puts Hollywood to shame. Disguises, bluffs, a chance meeting with his wife...
Only 1/4 of the Polish Army in France managed to escape. Furthermore, the Polish army had lost its basic recruitment stock, those emigre workers in France. But the Poles started to rebuild.Maczek was intent on building a proper armored division not an infantry division or brigade
The Poles enjoyed Scotland and Scotland enjoyed them. There are very many families in Scotland with ‘ski grandfathers and great grandfathers. @Dougwriter again :)
While the Poles were training in Scotland war continued. Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. An immediate result was that a new source of recruitment appeared, Polish POWs freed from Soviet camps. Unfortunately most officers had been murdered at Katyn.
Maczek swapped officers of which he had too many for ensigns (1:7) to the Polish forces forming up in the Middle East (Anders Army) and the USSR. That’s Zhukov with Polish soldiers...
Meanwhile Poles were fighting in North Africa as part of the Polish Army. There they met... Poles who had been conscripted into the Wehrmacht! Here’s one from a later date talking to Maczek! These Wehrmacht Poles(Silesia Volksdeutsche) loved to desert. Many ended up with Maczek.
As a side note, Poles in occupied Poland found out that Poland was still fighting from an occupation tabloid which printed this picture about Africa Corps taking an 8 Army supply point. The picture has ‘water to drink’ in Polish. It had to have been written by a Polish unit!
End of thread for now. @generalMaczek @KresySiberia @crusaderproject and remember to check out @SilenceInPolish. August is important because of the Warsaw Uprising and the Polish drubbing of two German armies in Normandy.
Oh and @Leedsmilitary wrote one book on the subject of 1DP and I hear he is finishing another one! https://www.amazon.com/Black-Devils-March-Armoured-1939-1945-ebook/dp/B007QUY5N0
Footnotes are attached to the tweets so have a look at my replies to the tweet sequence.
