The Winged Hussars of World War II

The Polish 1st Armoured Division

World War II saw the widespread mechanization of forces and the advent of modern maneuver warfare, but some nations still used mounted troops to an extent. One such nation was Poland, which had one uhlan (lance-armed light cavalry) unit briefly engage German armored cars, later incorrectly described as tanks, during the early days of the war (Stories of Poland's Fall). This article, however, is not about that kind of Polish cavalry.

The Polish 1st Armoured Division, a tank unit that fought beside British Commonwealth forces, bore the stylized image of a distinctive historical Polish cavalry type, the winged hussars, as its emblem. Fighting in Normandy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, the division lived up to the reputation of its symbolic predecessors.

But first, a few words about the original winged hussars. The concept of hussar cavalry originates from 14th century Hungary, which employed Serbian horsemen to fight in lighter armor than medieval knights, inspired by and fighting against Ottoman cavalry. Many other nations adopted the concept, and light cavalry gradually became prominent in the early modern era, arguably reaching its peak during the Napoleonic Wars. Most hussar units gradually discarded all armor and traded their bows and spears for firearms, resulting in the modern image of the hussar.

Polish hussars, however, went the other way, and remained relatively heavy cavalry clad in metal armor and armed with lances (though still more lightly armed then knights). Polish hussars initially retained their role as shock cavalry, breaking the enemy lines with a devastating charge. The iconic winged hussars appeared in the 1570s with a series of military reforms in the newly founded Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Wearing metal armor and wielding lances, a variety of other close combat weapons and firearms, these cavalrymen girded themselves with animal hides, and had a pair of wing-like frames fastened to the armor or the saddle, decorated with the feathers of raptors. The purpose of the wings was to terrify the enemy during a charge, and to display the elite status of the wearer. Over the next few centuries, the winged hussars acquitted themselves well against a variety of enemies, including the Ottoman Empire, Sweden, Austria, Russia, and the Cossacks. One of their most famous victories was at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, where their charge saved Vienna from Turkish conquest and delivered the Ottomans their worst defeat in 400 years.

Let us fast-forward to the 20th century and the Polish soldiers fighting under the emblem of their famous predecessors. Their story begins with Stanisław Władysław Maczek (1892-1994), the man who would eventually lead them in war. Maczek suspended (and later abandoned) his Polish philology studies to serve in a Polish unit in World War I, but he ended up being drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army, where he gained much experience in mountain warfare.

Europe was shaken by a slew of Communist takeover attempts after the war, and Poland fought wars both against the Soviet Union and the short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic. Maczek organized and commanded so-called "flying" companies and battalions during these wars: highly mobile infantry units traveling on horse-drawn vehicles and armed with an unusual number of heavy machine guns. These units distinguished themselves in some of the heaviest fighting of these conflicts, and were most often used to plug gaps in the defensive lines.

Maczek remained in the army after the wars; his experience with mobile warfare earned him command of the Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, the first fully motorized Polish formation, in 1938. Equipped only with light tanks, tankettes, and a total of eight heavy guns, the unit was grossly outgunned by the Wehrmacht when the Third Reich invaded Poland in September 1939. Nevertheless, Maczek's brigade and the few border guard and volunteer units attached to hold up two entire German Panzer Divisions for five days, slowing them down to a crawl in the mountainous terrain where Maczek's World War I experience came in handy. There was no way of defeating the combined German and Soviet invasion, but Maczek's unit held the distinction of being the only Polish formation that, despite losing half of its men, was never beaten in battle during the invasion.

Maczek made his way to France and joined the re-created Polish Army at the rank of brigadier-general. He wrote a detailed report on German Blitzkrieg tactics and how to fight them – French high command never read it, and it was later captured by the Germans unopened. He started gathering the veterans of his old brigade, but France had no interest in a Polish armored unit and gave him almost no equipment.

A Polish armored brigade suddenly became urgent when Germany invaded France in the spring of 1940, but the equipment arrived too late, and Maczek had to go into battle with a tiny fraction of his force, as the rest didn't have time to receive any training on French vehicles. Maczek kept fighting until French units broke and retreated on both of his flanks. He and most of his men managed to escape and make their way to Britain to keep fighting.

The Polish 1st Armoured Division, using the emblem of the winged hussars, was formed as part of the Polish I Corps under the command of Władysław Sikorski. They were issued British equipment – initially Crusader tanks, but these were later swapped for Cromwells (The Cromwell Tank) and U.S.-made Shermans (The M4 Sherman) and later Sherman Fireflies. Initially charged with guarding Scotland's coastline, they finally got to meet the Germans for a rematch in 1944.

The division did not fight on D-Day, but its 16,000 soldiers and 400 armored vehicles landed on Juno Beach at the end of July and was attached to the First Canadian Army (which, in turn, was part of the 21st Army Group, commanded by General Montgomery (Montgomery). The unit first saw combat on August 8, in Operation Totalize. Launched near the already liberated city of Caen, the operation's goal was for the First Canadian Army to break through German lines to the south of the city and advance south to the high ground near the city of Falaise, surrounding German forces in a pocket. The division suffered two friendly fire incidents when they were attacked by American planes, but the operation ended as a success. With Commonwealth forces coming in from the north and U.S. forces breaking out of the coastal lodgment with Operation Cobra (The Cobra Strikes) and going around the Germans to surround them from the south, the German troops in Normandy were trapped in what is now called the Falaise Pocket. It was Polish soldiers who closed the pocket by occupying Hill 262 at Mont Ormel (The Falaise Pocket). Maczek's division played a key part in the battle and suffered about half of all Polish casualties. While many Germans managed to push past the exhausted Polish defenders who had practically run out of ammunition and got to live and fight another day during Operation Market Garden (Operation Market Garden), some 60,000 Germans were still killed or captured, dealing a serious blow to Axis forces.

Maczek's division continued to pursue the Germans along the coast of the English Channel, heading into Belgium and the Netherlands as they liberated cities one by one. In late October, a flanking operation planned and led by Maczek ended with the liberation of the Dutch city of Breda without a single civilian death.

The division entered Germany in April 1945, and accepted the capitulation of the defenders of the important port city of Wilhelmshaven and the Kriegsmarine base there. The naval base, a fortress, a fleet of 200 ships and over 10 infantry divisions were captured in a single swoop.

The division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade undertook occupational duties in the area until 1947. By this time, the Soviet Union had secured its grip on "liberated" Poland. Most soldiers of the division, including Maczek himself, decided to stay in exile rather than go home into a life under a communist regime.

Eager to eliminate any potential anti-communist resistance, the Polish government stripped Maczek of his Polish citizenship, and he was forced to stay in Britain, where he left the army in 1948. Despite having fought alongside Commonwealth forces under Commonwealth command, he was denied a general's pension as he was not formally a British officer. Living in poverty, he worked as a bartender in an Edinburgh hotel until the 1960s.

Recognition and aid came not from Britain, but from the Netherlands. The grateful mayor of Breda, the city liberated by Maczek without civilian deaths, turned to the Dutch government about the war hero's plight. The government granted Maczek honorary citizenship of Breda; more importantly, they gave him a pension, using a secret budget to avoid antagonizing the Polish and Soviet governments and embarrassing the ungrateful British. Additionally, the Dutch public raised significant funds to help Maczek pay for the expensive medical treatment of his daughter. In 1989, the last Communist government of Poland issued a public apology over Maczek's treatment, and post-communist Poland decorated him with the nation's highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle.

Lieutenant General Maczek died later that year, at the age of 102. In accordance with his last wish, his body was buried in the Netherlands, in the Polish military cemetery in Breda, where he rests with his comrades.

If you would like to learn more about the role and vicissitudes of Poland in World War II, and of the Polish soldiers and commanders who fought for the Allies, you can do so on our War in Poland Tour.

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