Polish general (1892?1994)
Lieutenant General
Stanisław Maczek
(
[sta??iswav ?mat???k]
; 31 March 1892 ? 11 December 1994) was a Polish tank commander of World War II, whose division was instrumental in the Allied
liberation of France
, closing the
Falaise pocket
, resulting in the destruction of 14 German
Wehrmacht
and
SS
divisions. A veteran of World War I, the
Polish?Ukrainian
and
Polish?Soviet Wars
, Maczek was the commander of Poland's only major armoured formation during the September 1939 campaign, and later commanded a Polish armoured formation in France in 1940. He was the commander of the famous
1st Polish Armoured Division
, and later of the
I Polish Army Corps
under Allied Command in 1942?45.
[1]
Family
[
edit
]
Stanisław Władysław Maczek was born on 31 March 1892 in the
Lwow
suburb of Szczerzec (now Ukrainian:
Shchyrets
),
[2]
then in
Austro-Hungarian
Galicia
. His father was a lawyer, who after retiring opened chambers in
Drohobycz
.
[3]
His family was of distant
Croatian
extraction;
[4]
[
contradictory
]
he was a cousin of the Croatian politician
Vladko Ma?ek
.
[
citation needed
]
Education
[
edit
]
After graduating from the grammar school at
Drohobycz
in 1910, he attended the philosophy faculty of
Lwow University
where he studied Polish
philology
[3]
(i.e. language and literature). Among his tutors were the renowned Polish philologists
Wilhelm Bruchnalski
[
pl
]
and
Jozef Kallenbach
,
[3]
He also attended lectures by
Kazimierz Twardowski
.
[2]
During his studies he served in the
Strzelec
paramilitary organization, in which he received basic military training. After the outbreak of World War I, Maczek interrupted his studies, hoping to join
Jozef Piłsudski
's
Polish Legions
, but instead was drafted into the
Austro-Hungarian Army
.
[
citation needed
]
World War I
[
edit
]
After receiving a brief officer training, Maczek was sent to the
Italian Front
of World War I. Initially an
NCO
in the
Tyrolean
Regiment
[2]
of the
Imperial and Royal Army
, he was promoted to
second lieutenant
in 1916 and then in 1918 to lieutenant. As the only Polish battalion commander in Austria-Hungary's Alpine regiments, Maczek gained experience in mountain warfare, which proved valuable in his later career.
[
citation needed
]
Poland's borders
[
edit
]
On 11 November 1918, after receiving news of the
Armistice
, Maczek disbanded his battalion and returned to the newly reborn Poland. Three days later he arrived at
Krosno
, where he joined the
Polish Army
. Assigned the command of a Krosno battalion, Maczek began a limited offensive against the forces of the
West Ukrainian People's Republic
(ZUNR) with the aim of relieving his
besieged hometown
. However, due to insufficient support, after initial successes at
Ustrzyki
,
Chyrow
and
Felsztyn
, the Polish offensive got bogged down and the
Polish?Ukrainian War
turned into
trench warfare
for the rest of the winter.
[
citation needed
]
In April 1919 Maczek was withdrawn from his unit and became the organizer and commander of the so-called 'flying' company (
Polish
:
lotna kompania
) as part of Gen.
Aleksandrowicz
's
4th Infantry Division
. This unit, created on Maczek's initiative, was modelled after the German
Sturmbataillone
of World War I and was highly mobile, with horse-drawn vehicles (in the singular,
taczanka
,
podwoda
) from Austrian Army depots, and well-equipped with
heavy machine guns
. The unit was formed mostly from battle-hardened troops of the
Krosno
battalion, and its combat value was well above the average of the Polish Army of the time. Hence it served in a "firefighter" capacity, plugging holes that appeared in defensive lines, but also fighting with distinction in the Polish spring offensive. It took part in some of the heaviest fighting of the war, including the battles for
Drohobycz
,
Stanisławow
,
Buczacz
, and finally the
ZUNR
capital,
Stryj
.
[
citation needed
]
After the end of the Polish?Ukrainian fighting, Maczek was confirmed in the rank of major with seniority from 1 June 1919. He was then attached to General
Iwaszkiewicz
[
pl
]
's
Polish 2nd Army
as a staff officer. Bored with staff duties, Maczek repeatedly asked his superiors to give him command over a front-line unit. His wish was fulfilled only after the start of the
Polish?Bolshevik War
, when the 2nd Army suffered a defeat in initial clashes with
Semyon Budyonny
's
1st Cavalry Army
. In
Jarosław
, Maczek formed a new 'flying' rifle battalion, mostly composed of fresh recruits and horseless
uhlans
. Despite insufficient training, the unit was moved to the front and Maczek again acted as a "firefighter", moving his unit quickly to wherever it was needed. His unit covered the retreat of the Polish forces at
Mosty Wielkie
, after which it was attached to Gen.
Juliusz Rommel
's
1st Cavalry Division
. It took part in the Polish assault on
War??
near
Zamo??
, a tactical counter-assault on the rear of
Budyonny
's advancing Cossacks directly preceding the victorious
battle of Komarow
. After the end of hostilities, Maczek's battalion was officially named after him, although it was disbanded shortly after the signing of the
treaty of Riga
.
[
citation needed
]
Interwar years
[
edit
]
Maczek decided not to resume his studies at Lwow University and remained in active service. Between 1921 and 1923 he commanded an infantry battalion within the Lwow-based
26th Infantry Regiment
. On 1 August 1923 he was promoted to
lieutenant colonel
and sent to the
Higher Military School
in
Warsaw
. He graduated the following year and served until 1927 as head of
Section II
(intelligence) in Lwow. Later that year he moved to
Grodno
, where he became deputy commander of the
76th Infantry Regiment
. In 1929, after finishing his training, he became commander of the Grodno-based
81st Infantry Regiment
, holding that post until 1934. During that time, on 1 January 1931, he was promoted to
colonel
. In 1935 he was transferred to
Cz?stochowa
, where he became commander of infantry (practically, deputy commander of the whole division) in the 7th Infantry Division.
In October 1938 Maczek's experience as a commander of "flying" troops received recognition from his superiors, and he was given command of the
Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade
, the first fully motorized formation in the Polish Army.
September 1939
[
edit
]
On the
outbreak of war
in September 1939, the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade was attached to the
Krakow Army
[5]
defending
Lesser Poland
and
Silesia
. Equipped with only
light tanks
and
tankettes
and with only one artillery battery of just eight heavy cannons, the brigade went into battle on the first day of war. After the
Battle of Jordanow
, Maczek's unit faced the entire
German XVIII Corps
of Gen.
Eugen Beyer
and successfully shielded the southern flank of the Polish forces, along the
Beskids
. Supported by only a few battalions of
Border Guards
and
National Defence
troops, Maczek's motorized brigade faced two Panzer divisions
[5]
(
4th Light Division
under
von Hubicki
and
2nd Panzer Division
under
Veiel
), as well as the
3rd Mountain Division
under
Eduard Dietl
.
For five days Maczek's brigade fought bravely and efficiently, slowing the pace of the German
Blitzkrieg
to a bloody crawl: despite numerical and technical superiority, the Germans were unable to make more than 10 kilometres headway per day. Maczek's men took maximum advantage of the mountainous terrain, halting many German attacks and occasionally counter-attacking. However, after the front of the Krakow Army was broken to the north of the brigade's position, Maczek's formation was pulled out of the front line.
The brigade then fought as a screening unit, defending the bridges and fords in
Lesser Poland
, until it arrived at
Lwow
and joined the city's defences. It formed a mobile reserve during the
battle for Lwow
, allowing other Polish units to withdraw towards the
Romanian Bridgehead
. However, the plan was made obsolete by the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union on 17 September. After two days,
Marshal of Poland
Edward Rydz-?migły
ordered the brigade to cross the Hungarian border. Maczek's brigade was interned in Hungary. Although the unit had lost about half of its men, it had not been defeated in open combat, and therefore gained respect even from the enemy. It is considered to be the only Polish unit not to have lost a single battle in 1939. Maczek was not only esteemed by his superiors but also loved by his soldiers, who referred to him as
Baca
[
pl
]
, a traditional
Polish highlanders'
name for a
shepherd
.
France, 1940
[
edit
]
Stanisław Maczek, 1944
After the end of the September campaign Maczek made it to France, where he joined the
re-created Polish Army
and was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general
. He was made the commanding officer of the Polish military camp in
Coetquidan
. He then prepared a detailed report on the workings of German
Blitzkrieg
tactics, and possible precautions against it. This report was, however, completely disregarded by the French general staff (the Germans captured it ? unopened).
[
citation needed
]
He also started gathering any 10th Brigade veterans who had reached France in two camps in
Paimpont
and
Campeneac
. His aim was to preserve the integrity of his former unit and prevent the conscription of some of the best-trained Polish soldiers into standard infantry formations, where their experience would probably have been wasted. However, the French command was initially not interested in the formation of a Polish armoured unit and the
Polish 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade
received almost no equipment. It was not until March 1940 that Maczek received a dozen obsolete
FT-17
tanks for training, plus a few dozen cars and motorcycles.
Everything changed when
Germany invaded France
in the spring of 1940, by simply bypassing the
Maginot Line
. General Maczek's unit suddenly received all the equipment it requested, under one condition: they had to go into action immediately. That proved impossible, because many of Polish soldiers had no experience with the new French equipment and there was no time for training exercises. General Maczek decided instead to lead a small force of his best-trained men, hoping that the rest of his unit would join them later. That small force was called the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade (
Polish
:
10 Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej
) in honour of the "Black Brigade" from 1939. On 6 June, 10th Brigade had one tank battalion, two strong motorized cavalry squadrons, one anti-tank battery and one anti-aircraft battery. It was attached to the
French 4th Army
near
Reims
and ordered to cover its left flank.
[6]
However, Maczek's unit was much too weak to achieve success against German armoured divisions. Polish soldiers managed to cover only one retreating French infantry division by attacking German forces in
Champaubert-Montgivroux
. Later the brigade had to withdraw with the rest of the French troops and joined the
French XXIII Corps
. On 16 June the brigade attacked by night the town of
Montbard
over the
Burgundy Canal
. Maczek's soldiers achieved complete surprise and took many German prisoners.
However, by then the brigade was fighting alone, with the French units on both flanks either routed or in retreat. There were no French forces to take advantage of that victory and the decimated Polish unit found itself surrounded and without fuel. On 18 June, Maczek decided to destroy unusable equipment and withdraw on foot. Later that day he had to split the remnants of his brigade into small groups, so they could pass through the enemy lines. Many of Maczek's men, including the general himself, found their way through
Vichy France
, North Africa and Portugal to the United Kingdom, where a Polish armored unit was recreated, while others joined the Polish and French resistance organizations in France and Belgium. Maczek relocated to London.
[
citation needed
]
Scotland
[
edit
]
Initially, the British high command wanted to use the recreated Polish Army solely for defence of the Scottish coastline between
Aberdeen
and
Edinburgh
, and the veterans of the Polish tank formations who arrived to the UK were pressed into the
Polish 2nd Rifle Brigade
under General
Rudolf Orlicz-Dreszer
. However, immediately on Maczek's arrival the idea was abandoned and General
Władysław Sikorski
managed to persuade the British government to create instead a Polish armoured unit.
[7]
After two years of training at the
Blairgowrie
training ground, in February 1942 General Maczek formed the
1st Polish Armoured Division
. Initially serving in defence of the Scottish coast between
Montrose
and the
Firth of Forth
, the division was equipped by the British authorities with
Churchill
and
M4 Sherman
tanks in preparation for the
Normandy landings
.
To Germany
[
edit
]
British Field Marshal
Sir Bernard Montgomery
in conversation with Major General Stanisław Maczek during his visit to the 1st Polish Armoured Division Headquarters in Breda, 25 November 1944.
Towards the end of July 1944 the Polish 1st Armoured Division was transferred to
Normandy
, where it was to prove its worth during the 1944
invasion of Normandy
. Attached to the
First Canadian Army
, Maczek's men entered combat on 8 August, seeing service during
Operation Totalize
. The division twice suffered attacks of
friendly fire
from
U.S. Army Air Force
aircraft, yet achieved a brilliant victory against the
Wehrmacht
in the battles for Mont Ormel,
Hill 262
and the town of
Chambois
. In this series of offensive and defensive operations, which came to be known as the
Battle of Falaise
, 14 German Wehrmacht and
SS
divisions were trapped in the huge
Chambois pocket
and destroyed. Maczek's division had the crucial role of closing the pocket to block the escape route of the German divisions.
[8]
Senior commanders of the First Canadian Army, May 1945. Seated from the left: Stanisław Maczek (Polish Army),
Guy Simonds
,
Harry Crerar
,
Charles Foulkes
,
Bert Hoffmeister
. Standing from the left:
Ralph Keefler
,
Bruce Matthews
,
Harry Foster
,
Robert Moncel
(standing in for
Chris Vokes
,
Stuart Rawlins
(British Army).
After this decisive battle, Maczek's Division continued to spearhead the Allied drive across the battlefields of northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and finally Germany. During its progress it liberated Ypres, Oostnieuwkerke, Roeselare, Tielt, Ruislede and Ghent in Belgium. (Coincidentally, the Polish word
maczek
means "poppy" in English, the symbol of remembrance associated with the area around Ypres in the First World War.) Thanks to an outflanking manoeuvre, it proved possible to free Breda in the Netherlands after a hard fight but without incurring losses in the town's population. A petition on behalf of 40,000 inhabitants of Breda resulted in Maczek being made an honorary Dutch citizen after the war. The Division's finest hour came when its forces accepted the surrender of the German naval base of
Wilhelmshaven
, taking captive the entire garrison, together with some 200 vessels of Hitler's
Kriegsmarine
.
Maczek commanded the 1st Armoured Division until the end of European hostilities and was promoted to
major-general
. After the capitulation of Germany he went on to command the
Polish I Corps
and became
commanding officer
of all Polish forces in the United Kingdom until their demobilization in 1947.
Exile
[
edit
]
Maczek's grave, Polish cemetery,
Breda
, Netherlands
After the war, Maczek was stripped of Polish citizenship by the
Communist
government of the
Polish People's Republic
, and thus had to remain in Britain. He left the army on 9 September 1948
[9]
but was denied a general's pension by the British government as he had not been a member of the British armed forces.
[9]
As a result, Maczek worked as a barman at an
Edinburgh
hotel until the 1960s.
[10]
General Stanislaw Maczek, Bench outside Edinburgh Council Chambers.
Although living in the United Kingdom, General Stanisław Maczek had a strong connection to the Netherlands. Besides being a regional hero to the areas he liberated in World War II, he was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Breda. Recently acquired archive documents show that the Polish general secretly received a yearly allowance from the Dutch government, for the rest of his life. He got his allowance, because Mayor Claudius Prinsen of Breda was worried in 1950,
[11]
after receiving information that Maczek was in a 'difficult financial situation'. The Polish general was doing unskilled labor to make ends meet. He also had to take care of a chronically ill daughter who needed costly treatment.
[12]
The mayor of Breda informed the Dutch national government that a war hero was in financial need. He made an appeal to the government to help the man that liberated the Netherlands.
[13]
The government decided quickly and awarded Maczek an indexed general's pension, which was paid for by the Ministry of Foreign affairs from a secret budget. The Dutch government did not want this to be made public, due to its sensitive nature.
[14]
In the Cold War period, announcing that the Dutch were paying a non-communist Polish ex-general, would certainly strain diplomatic relations with the communist Polish government and the Soviet Union. Not to mention, it would confront the British government with a not so proud moment in their history. Uninformed about his improved financial situation, the Dutch public responded at once in 1965 when news came that his chronically ill daughter needed costly medical treatment in Spain. The Dutch population raised a substantial amount of money following a national radio broadcast for the Maczek family, helping out the general that liberated them.
[12]
In 1972 an appeal was made by the
Poolse Katholieke Vereniging in Nederland
to the Dutch Parliament. This organization became the voice for the remaining Polish veterans in the Netherlands and asked for compensation of pension lost due to the aftermath of the war.
[15]
The Dutch Ministry of Defence did not meet this request, based upon the
Algemene Militaire Pensioenwet
(1966), which stipulates that non-Dutch persons needed to have been associated with the Dutch Armed Forces during the war period, in order to be entitled to a wartime pension.
[12]
[16]
In 1989, the last Polish
Communist
Government of Prime Minister
Mieczysław Rakowski
issued a public apology to the General, and in 1994 he was presented with Poland's highest state decoration, the
Order of the White Eagle
.
[17]
Lieutenant General Stanisław Maczek died on 11 December 1994, at the
age of 102
.
[18]
According to his last wish, he was laid to rest among his soldiers at the Polish military cemetery in
Breda
, the Netherlands.
[18]
Next to the cemetery the
Maczek Memorial Breda
was opened in 2020. Each year during
Liberation Day
festivities, Breda is visited by a large Polish contingent and the city devotes part of the festivities to the fallen Polish soldiers.
Many artefacts and memorabilia belonging to Maczek and the
1st Polish Armoured Division
are on display in the
Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum
in London.
In 2018 a bronze statue was unveiled in honour of General Maczek in the quadrangle of the
Edinburgh City Chambers
. A footpath crossing
Bruntsfield Links
which leads to the general's former home in Arden Street in
Marchmont
, has been named General Maczek Walk.
[19]
[20]
Honours and awards
[
edit
]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
General Maczek's home, 1948?94, Marchmont district of
Edinburgh
,
Scotland
-
-
-
Polish 1st Armoured Division Memorial,
Normandy
, France
-
Polish 1st Armoured Division Memorial,
Tielt
, Belgium
-
Street named after General Maczek,
Aalter-Brug
, Belgium
-
General Maczek Museum,
Breda
, Netherlands
-
General Maczek Memorial by
Karin Hardonk
, General Maczek Square,
Stadskanaal
, Netherlands
-
Bust of General Maczek,
Krakow
, Poland
-
General Maczek Memorial,
Gda?sk
, Poland
-
General Maczek Memorial,
Warsaw
, Poland
-
General Maczek memorial plaque, Warsaw, Poland
-
Polish 1st Armoured Division Memorial, Warsaw, Poland
-
Maczek quotation on reverse of Memorial: "The Polish soldier fights for the freedom of all nations but dies only for Poland."
In popular culture
[
edit
]
Maczek, as the leader of the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, is a historical figure in the novel
A Witness to Gallantry: An American Spy in Poland 1939
.
In
The Death of the Fronsac
by
Neal Ascherson
, a Polish officer, Maurycy Szczucki, serves with General Maczek in World War II. After the war, Szczucki returns to Edinburgh where he discovers the impoverished Maczek working as a barman in the Learmonth Hotel. The General is frequently visited by old comrades, who "salute him before they order a whisky."
[21]
Maczek is referred to into
Alexander McCall Smith
's short story, "In Sandy Bell's". The protagonist's landlady tells of the general working in a bar in Edinburgh. "He wasn't too proud. His men saluted him when they ordered a drink."
[22]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Astonishing story of unsung WWII hero premieres in captivating new documentary"
. Retrieved
4 April
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
Mieczkowski, Zbigniew (2004).
The Soldiers of General Maczek in World War II
. p. 16.
ISBN
83-914145-8-2
.
- ^
a
b
c
Editor Zbigniew Mieczkowski
The Soldiers of General Maczek in World War II
ISBN
83-914145-8-2
Page 16
- ^
Mieczkowski, Zbigniew (2004).
The Soldiers of General Maczek in World War II
. p. 17.
ISBN
83-914145-8-2
.
- ^
a
b
Krzysztof Barbarski
Polish Armour 1939?1945
ISBN
0-85045-467-0
Page 8
- ^
Stanislaw Mikolajczyk
The Pattern of Soviet Domination
Sampson Low, Marston & Co 1948 Page 8
- ^
Garlinski, Jozef.
Poland in the Second World War
, p. 235;
ISBN
0-333-39258-2
- ^
John Keegan
Six Armies in Normandy
;
ISBN
0-14-005293-3
, Chapter 7, "A Polish Battlefield"
- ^
a
b
The Poles in Britain 1940?2000
(ed. Peter Stachura), Chapter 6 (by Evan McGilvray), p. 64;
ISBN
0-7146-8444-9
- ^
The Poles in Britain 1940?2000
, ibid., p. 54.
- ^
National Archives (Netherlands) NL-HaNA, Buitenlandse Zaken / Code-Archief 65?74, 2.05.313, inv.nr. 25330,brief van Prinsen aan de Nederlandse ambassadeur in Groot-Brittannie, 6 maart 1950
- ^
a
b
c
"The Polish veterans after World War II"
. 6 January 2016. Archived from
the original
on 7 August 2016
. Retrieved
10 January
2016
.
- ^
National Archives (Netherlands) NL-HaNA, Buitenlandse Zaken / Code-Archief 65?74, 2.05.313, inv.nr. 25330, Intern memorandum A.P. Hoevelaak t.b.v. dossier Maczek 726.2, onderwerp: ‘Radio-aktie ten behoeve van dochter Generaal Maczek’
- ^
National Archives (Netherlands) NL-HaNA, Buitenlandse Zaken / Code-Archief 65?74, 2.05.313, inv.nr. 25330, Verzoek van ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (Mr. Simons) aan Binnenlandse Zaken omtrent de goedkeuring en geheimhouding van het verlenen van jaargeld aan generaal Maczek, 21 November 1951
- ^
National Archives (Netherlands) NL-HaNA, Defensie / Militair Personeel, 2.13.5372, inv.nr. 165. Verzoekschrift van de Poolse Katholieke Vereniging in Nederland aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten Generaal, 23 juni 1972
- ^
National Archives (Netherlands) NL-HaNA, Defensie / Militair Personeel, 2.13.5372, inv.nr. 165. Antwoord van het Ministerie van Defensie op het verzoekschrift van de Poolse Katholieke Vereniging in Nederland, 15 September 197
- ^
Binder, David (14 December 1994).
"Stanislaw Maczek, 102, General Who Led Poles in World War II"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
24 May
2010
.
- ^
a
b
The Poles in Britain 1940?2000
, ibid., p. 67.
- ^
"Statue plan for Polish WW2 general who worked in Capital"
. Edinburgh Evening news. 12 March 2017.
- ^
Brown, Graham.
"VIDEO: Statue of war hero General Maczek installed thanks to late Angus peer's memorial campaign"
.
The Courier
. Retrieved
18 July
2019
.
- ^
Ascherson, Neal (2017).
The Death of the Fronsac
. Head of Zeus.
ISBN
9781786694393
.
- ^
Jassat, Nadine Aisha; Hamilton, Anne; McCall Smith, Alexander; Rankin, Ian; Sheridan, Sara (2022).
The People's City
. Edinburgh: Polygon.
ISBN
9781846976018
.
External links
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]
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