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The First Polish Armoured Division fought during the later part of the Normandy Campaign in 1944, playing a key part in closing the Falaise Gap, then joining the long advance across France and into Germany, before ending the war by occupying the German port of Wilhelmshaven. Despite its impressive achievements it perhaps isn’t quite as well known as the Polish troops who fought in Italy, but it certainly deserves to be.
We start with a look at the experiences of General Maczek, commander of the division, during the fighting in Poland in 1939 and France in 1940. Maczek was one of the most highly regarded Polish commanders during this period, and his unit, the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, one of the most effective. There is fascinating material on how many of the Poles who had fought in France managed to reach Britain, and how they were then formed into new units, ready to return to the fight. This was a difficult period for the Poles, whose main aim was to prepare for the liberation of Poland, and we see how their desire to use their limited number of men to form the heart of a new Polish army clashed with the British desire to have them form a standard British armoured division, ready to fight in Normandy.
There are sections where it feels like the two authors have fallen out and ended up writing separate accounts of the fighting, both of which have ended up in the book. Sadly this is at its worst during what should be the highlight of the book, looking at the division’s role in closing the Falaise Gap. This saw the Poles hold out on a hill they named the Maczuga, or Mace, resisting a series of German attacks over two days, and greatly reducing the number of Germans who were able to escape to the east. However we get at least three accounts of this fighting, with chapters five and six each covering the battle! This whole section needed some significant editing – at one point I was convinced I’d accidently turned back several pages, only to find that the exact same text was repeated twice! This section also includes some significant errors – at one point it is claimed that British casualties in Normandy were higher than on the Western Front of the First World War - this may be true of the average daily casualty rate, but the British lost around 11,000 dead in Normandy compared to half a million on the Western Front, and the British suffered almost as many casualties on the First Day of the Somme as in total in Normandy! On several occasions Allied tanks are described as ‘slow’, despite being faster than their German opponents. Much is made of them being petrol powered, but so were the German tanks – it was the Soviets who made extensive use of diesel power, but they lost more tanks than anyone else in the war. There is also a tendency to exaggerate the Polish contribution - at one point we are told that if they hadn’t held on the Maczuga the Germans might have reformed and swept the Allies back into the sea! Pride in the impressive achievements of the Polish troops is fine, but this goes beyond that into myth-making, and makes the rest of the text unfairly seem less trustworthy. The Germans were trying to retreat east past the Poles because they had already been defeated in Normandy – the Polish stand increased the scale of that defeat, but it didn’t cause it.
Other parts of the combat account are much stronger. The Polish contribution to Operation Totalize is covered well, as is the pursuit towards the German frontier. The different accounts of the fighting on the Maczuga are also perfectly good – it’s just a shame there are so many of them! We get a good feel for the changing nature of the fighting, from the massive armoured attacks of Totalize to relatively small scale but sometimes intense battles during the advance across Germany. During this period they won the admiration of General Crerar, commander of the First Canadian Army, which contained the Polish division.
Overall this is an excellent account of the history of the First Polish Armoured Division, although it would have benefited from less duplication during the account of the fighting in the Falaise Gap.
Chapters
1 – 1938-1940
2 – Regrouping in the United Kingdom
3 – New Formation, Same Old Politics 1942-1944
4 – Fresh Blooding: Normandy, August 1944
5 – The Forgotten Polish Victory: August 1944
6 – The Battle on the Maczuga
7 – Clearing France, September 1944
8 – Into Belgium
9 – The Netherlands
10 – The End Game
Author: Evan McGilvray and Janusz Jarzembowski
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2022