GENERAL Stanislaw Maczek, holder of the highest Polish military
honours and an expert in armoured warfare, died yesterday at his
Edinburgh home. He was 102.
The Polish Consulate General reported that General Maczek had decided
to make Scotland his home following his final military post, as
commander of the 1 Polish Army Corps at the end of the Second World War.
He was born on March 31, 1892, at Szczerzec, near Lwow, and served in
the Polish Army from 1918. He took part in the Polish-Bolshevik War of
1920, commanding a rapid intervention unit.
After that war he graduated from the staff college and commanded
several army units. In 1938 he took over the 10th Mechanised Cavalry
Brigade, which distinguished itself in the campaign against Nazis in
September 1939, retreating into Hungary undefeated.
The following month he was promoted to Major General and received the
highest Polish military honour -- the Gold Cross of Virtuti Militari.
In France, and later in Scotland, he organised the 1 Polish Armoured
Division and, commanding the unit in the Normandy campaign of 1944, he
liberated numerous towns in France, Belgium, and Holland.
His victory at Falaise-Chambois gained him fame and acknowledgment as
an expert in armoured warfare.
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