The 1ST Polish Armored Division and the 1ST Polish Independent Parachute Brigade were organized in Britain from 1941-1943. A shortage of manpower presented the greatest problem. Recruits were brought in from the Middle East (ex-Gulag prisoners from the 2ND Polish Corps), the United States, and from other countries. Finally, in the late spring of 1944, both units were ready for action. General Stanislaw Maczek was commander of the 1ST Armored Division which was scheduled to take part in the second stage of the Normandy invasion. The division landed in France between July 29 and August 4, 1944, and was assigned to the Second Canadian Corps.
On August 7, two months after the Allied invasion of Normandy, the German Seventh Army launched a counterattack in the direction of Avranches, with the hope of destroying the Allied armies which had broken out of beachhead. This 70,000- strong German force was at Mortain, while the Allied armies made converging sweeps to ensure that it did not emerge from the trap. Suddenly aware of their danger, the German forces tried to disengage and force a way back through the remaining outlets. On August 15, General Maczek's tanks crossed the Dives River and raced to cut the three German escape routes southeast of Falaise. The Poles captured the last gap at Chambois on August 19. An inferno of death and destruction followed, as the enemy tried to hammer a way through the sector held by the Poles and the Allies launched salvo after salvo of shells on the German Seventh Army's men, guns, tanks and vehicles. Though other Allied units were approaching as fast as they could, the Poles were virtually isolated as the German 1ST and 12TH divisions, fighting with the desperation of the doomed, launched repeat attacks. As tank fought tank at close range and men engaged in hand-to-hand struggles, the Poles were running short of food and ammunition and their wounded could not be evacuated. Not until August 21 was the pressure relieved. H.D. Ziman, a British correspondent writing for The Daily Telegraph on that day, described the battle:
The entire German force, with supporting infantry, bore down on the Poles, who were temporarily out of touch with their allies on either flank. The Poles stood their ground. Compelled to face about - for the enemy force had approached them from behind as well - and with both flanks exposed, they fought back all day against the Germans, who emerged in wave after wave from the cover provided by the forest of Gouffen. ... Although some twenty thousand Germans had managed to slip out before the encirclement was completed by the arrival of American and Canadian troops, the drive, initiative and fighting quality of Maczek's men were responsible for one of the greatest disasters which the German army suffered in France.
