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1-ва Полска Дивизия е съюзническа военна единица през [[Втората световна война|Втората Световна Война]]. Създадена през Февруари 1942 Дънс, Шотландия. Командвана от [[Генерал]] [[Станислав Мачек]] и е била около 16,000 войника.[[Image:Polish Tanks Caen.jpg|right|thumb|Polish self-propelled anti-aircraft guns of the 10th Mounted Rifle Regiment near [[Caen]] at the beginning of the [[Battle of Falaise|Falaise operation]].]]
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=1st Armoured Division
|image=[[Image:Polish-1st-Armd-Div-Badge.jpg|100px]]
|caption=Badge of the 1st Armoured Division inspired by the headdress of [[Polish hussars|Polish winged hussars]]
|country=Poland
|allegiance=
|type=Armoured
|branch=Land forces
|dates=1942-1947
|command_structure=
|size=16,000 soldiers, 380 tanks, 470 guns
|current_commander=
|garrison=
|ceremonial_chief=
|nickname=Black Division<br>Black Devils
|motto=
|colors=
|march=
|mascot=
|battles=[[Battle of Falaise]], [[Battle of Breda]]
|notable_commanders=[[Stanisław Maczek]]
|anniversaries=
}}
The '''Polish 1st Armoured Division''' ([[Polish language|Polish]] ''1 Dywizja Pancerna'') was an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] military unit during [[World War II]]. Created in February 1942 at [[Duns]] in [[Scotland]], it was commanded by General [[Stanisław Maczek]] and at its peak numbered approximately 16,000 soldiers.
==History==
[[Image:1 Dywizja Pancerna route.png|thumb|left|Map of the route of the Division during World War II]]
[[Image:Bitwa falaise 1944.png|thumb|left|Map of the Division's participation in the Battle of Falaise]]
[[Image:10Dyw.JPG|thumb|right|[[Crusader tank]] of Polish 1st Armoured Division near [[Haddington, East Lothian|Haddington]] 1943]]
[[Image:Polish Tanks Caen.jpg|right|thumb|Polish self-propelled anti-aircraft guns of the 10th Mounted Rifle Regiment near [[Caen]] at the beginning of the [[Battle of Falaise|Falaise operation]].]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Tank Maczek.jpg|thumb|right|Gen. [[Stanisław Maczek]] (top left), the division commander, in his command [[Cromwell tank]].]] -->
The Division was formed as part of the [[I Corps in the West (Poland)|I Polish Corps]] which guarded approximately 200 kilometres of [[Great Britain|British]] coast in 1940-1941. In the UK it participated in war games together with the [[4th Canadian (Armoured) Division]], and later fought in France, the [[Low Countries]] and Germany.
===Normandy===
By the end of July 1944 the 1st Armoured had been transferred to [[Normandy]], its final elements arriving on August 1. The unit was attached to the [[Canadian First Army|First Canadian Army]]. This may have been done to help in communication as the vast majority of Poles did not speak English when they arrived in UK from 1940 onwards. The Division joined combat on 8 August during [[Operation Totalize]]. It twice suffered serious casualties as a result of "friendly fire" from Allied aircraft, but achieved a victory against the [[Wehrmacht]] in the battles for [[Hill 262|Mont Ormel]],<ref>[http://www.memorial-montormel.org/index.php?id=57 The battle: history], [[Coudehard-Montormel Memorial|Memorial of Coudehard - Montormel]]</ref> and the town of [[Chambois]]. This series of offensive and defensive operations came to be known as the [[Battle of Falaise]] in which a large number of German army and [[SS]] divisions were trapped in the [[Falaise pocket]]<ref>[http://www.memorial-montormel.org/index.php?id=69 The battle: August 19th, 1944: the closing of the pocket], Memorial of Coudehard - Montormel</ref> and subsequently destroyed. Maczek's division had the crucial role of closing the pocket at the escape route of the trapped German divisions, hence the fighting was desperate and the 2nd Polish Armoured Regiment, [[24th Polish Lancers]] and [[10th Dragoons]] supported by the 8th and 9th Infantry Battalions took the brunt of German attacks by units attempting to break free from the pocket. Surrounded and running out of ammunition they withstood incessant attacks from multiple fleeing [[panzer]] divisions for 48 hours until they were relieved (for more read about [[George Kitching| General Kitching' controversy]]).
===Belgium and the Netherlands===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Poles Breda.jpg|thumb|right|The Mayor of [[Breda (Netherlands)|Breda]] (Van Slobbe), giving a welcome speech to the 1st Armoured Division which liberated Breda]] -->
==Външни връзки==
After the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] armies broke out from Normandy, the Polish 1st Armoured Division pursued the Germans along the coast of the [[English Channel]]. It liberated, among others, the towns of [[Saint-Omer]], [[Ypres]], Oostnieuwkerke, Roeselare, Tielt, Ruislede, and [[Ghent]]. A successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by General [[Stanisław Maczek|Maczek]] allowed the liberation of the city of [[Breda (Netherlands)|Breda]] without any civilian casualties (October 29, 1944). The Division spent the winter of 1944-1945 on the south bank of the river [[Rhine]], guarding a sector around [[Moerdijk]], [[Netherlands]]. In early 1945 it was transferred to the province of [[Overijssel]] and started to push with the Allies along the Dutch-German border, liberating the eastern parts of the provinces of [[Drenthe]] and [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]] including the towns of [[Emmen, Netherlands|Emmen]], [[Coevorden]] and [[Stadskanaal]].
[[Image:Saint omer memorial.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial in Saint Omer to the Polish 1st Armoured Division]]
===Germany===
In April 1945 the 1st Armoured entered Germany in the area of [[Emsland]]. On May 6 the Division seized the [[Kriegsmarine]] naval base in [[Wilhelmshaven]], where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, [[East Frisia]]n Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. There the Division ended the war and, joined by the [[Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade]], undertook occupation duties until it was disbanded in 1947; it and the many Polish displaced persons in the Western occupied territories forming a Polish enclave at [[Haren, Germany|Haren]] in Germany which was for a while known as "Maczków". The majority of its soldiers opted not to return to [[Poland]] which fell under Soviet occupation, preferring instead to remain in [[exile]].<ref>[http://www.memorial-montormel.org/index.php?id=70 The battle: 1-sza Polska Dywizja Pancerna - Organization], Memorial of Coudehard - Montormel</ref>
==Organization during 1944-45==
'''1st Armoured Division''' - General [[Stanisław Maczek]] - comprising:-
;[[10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade]] (''10 Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej'') - Col. T. Majewski:
*[[1st Polish Armoured Regiment]] (''1 pułk pancerny'') - Lt.Col. [[Aleksander Stefanowicz]]
*[[2nd Polish Armoured Regiment]] (''2 pułk pancerny'') - Lt.Col. S. Koszustki
*[[24th Polish Lancers Regiment]] ([[armoured warfare|Armoured]]; ''24 pułk ułanów im. [[Stanisław Żółkiewski|Hetmana Żółkiewskiego]]'') - Lt.Col. J. Kański
*[[10th Polish Dragoons Regiment]] (''10 pułk dragonów [[Motorized infantry|zmotoryzowanych]]'') - Lt.Col. [[Wladyslaw Zgorzelski|Władysław Zgorzelski]]
; [[3rd Polish Infantry Brigade]] (''3 Brygada Piechoty'') - Col. [[Marian Wieronski|Marian Wieroński]] :
*[[1st Polish Highland Battalion]] (''1 battalion Strzelców Podhalańskich'') - Lt.Col. K. Complak
*[[8th Polish Rifle Battalion]] (''8 battalion strzelców'') - Lt.Col. [[Aleksander Nowaczynski|Aleksander Nowaczyński]]
*[[9th Polish Rifle Battalion]] (''9 battalion strzelców [[Flanders|flandryjskich]]'') - Lt.Col. [[Zygmunt Szydlowski|Zygmunt Szydłowski]]
*[http://www.opusmedia.fr/kazimierzduda/default.asp?lg=gb 1st Polish Independent HMG Squadron (''samodzielna kompania ckm.'') - Maj. M. Kochanowski]
; Divisional Artillery (''Artyleria dywizyjna'') - Col. B. Noel :
*[[1st Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment]] (''1 pułk artylerii motorowej'') - Lt.Col. J. Krautwald
*[[2nd Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment]] (''2 pułk artylerii motorowej'') - Lt.Col. K. Meresch
*[[1st Polish Anti-Tank Regiment]] (formed in 1945 from smaller units) (''1 pułk artylerii przeciwpancernej'') - Major R. Dowbór
*[[1st Polish Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment]] (''1 pułk artylerii przeciwlotniczej'') - Lt.Col. O. Eminowicz, later Maj. W. Berendt
; Other Units :
*[[10th Polish Mounted Rifle Regiment]] (''10 pułk strzelców konnych'') (amoured reconnaissance equipped with Cromwell tanks<ref>[http://freespace.virgin.net/shermanic.firefly/a27m.html THE A27M CROMWELL TANK]</ref>) - Maj. J. Maciejowski
*HQ, Military Police,
*engineers (''saperzy dywizyjni'') - Lt.Col. J. Dorantt
*signals (''1 batalion łączności'') - Lt.Col. J. Grajkowski
*administration, military court, chaplaincy, reserve squadrons, medical services.
===Numbers===
*885 - [[officer]]s and [[non-commissioned officer]]s
*15,210 - other ranks (other enlisted soldiers)
*381 - tanks (mostly [[M4 Sherman]]s)
*473 - artillery pieces (mostly motorized)
*4,050 - motor cars, trucks, utility vehicles, artillery carriers.
==Dramatization==
The Division is the subject of a 'Polish campaign' in the best-selling [[Call of Duty 3]] video game. The [[PS2]] version included an interview with a veteran.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MMbAPyCn_k&feature=related]
==See also==
{{Black Brigade}}
*[[List of military divisions]]
*[[Western betrayal]]
*[[World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West]]
*[[Polish migration to the United Kingdom]]
*[[Polish Canadians]]
*[[Great Polish Map of Scotland]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
*{{cite web |url=http://www.memorial-montormel.org/index.php?id=70|title=History of the division |publisher=memorial-montormel.org}}
==Further reading==
* [[Stephen E. Ambrose]], ''Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany.'' Simon & Schuster, 1998 (ISBN 0-684-84801-5).
* John D. Buckley, ''British armour in the Normandy campaign, 1944'', Routledge, 2004 (ISBN 978-0-7146-5323-5)
* Terry Copp, ''Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy'', University of Toronto Press, 2003 (ISBN 0-8020-3780-1)
* McGilvray, Evan. ''The Black Devils' March: A Doomed Odyssey: The 1st Polish Armoured Division 1939-1945''. Solihull, West Midlands, England: Helion, 2005 (ISBN 1-874622-42-6)
* Roman Johann Jarymowycz, ''Tank tactics: from Normandy to Lorraine'', Lynne Riener Publishers, 2001 (ISBN 978-1-55587-950-1)
* [[John Keegan]], ''Six Armies in Normandy'', Penguin Books, 1982 (ISBN 0-14-005293-3)
* Willy Vallaey, Roeselare 1944-45, de Bevrijding: euforie en ontgoocheling, Roeselare, 303 p.
==External links==
*[http://www.maczekmuseum.nl/ Website of Maczek Museum in Breda]
*[http://stadsarchief.breda.nl/actueel/Breda_750/oktober/defaultE.htm Breda Liberated]
*[http://www.polishwargraves.nl/oos/0907.htm Galuba Leon]
===MovieФилм===
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm_zjLpTOBk|General Stanislaw Maczek] aна movie in [[Polish language|Polish]]Полски,
[[Category:Armoured divisions of Poland|1st Armoured Division]]
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