Historian: The Poles in the West & Wartime Britain - Alliances and Commemoration.
PhD Research at QMUL.
Editor of Gen Maczek's memoirs - out 30th Nov.
Nov 13 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Two weeks until the launch of 'The Price of Victory' - the first English translation of the memoirs of General Stanisław Maczek.
So, who is this Maczek chap anyway?...
/1
A Pole, with a Croatian surname, born into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The eldest of four brothers - and the only one to survive beyond 1921.
A cosmopolitan undergraduate, who switched from Natural Sciences to Philology.
/2
Apr 25 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Right - the Sikorski Museum in London. You need to go.
Why?
1/
Oh, just the Polish flag which flew on the ruins of the monastery after the capture of Monte Cassino 2/ And the charts drawn up from memory by the crew of the Orzeł submarine on their escape from Tallinn - their charts having been confiscated by the Estonian authorities.
Aug 19, 2019 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
#OTD 19th Aug '44
Day 1 of the Battle for Hill 262: #Maczuga
"There was confusion among the German columns; huge trucks filled with troops, guns drawn by six-horse teams, staff cars, recon half-tracks and two enormous assault guns.
I gave the order: "Fire!"
1/ #WW2
#Maczek 2/
Following Von Kluge's order of 16th August for a German retreat from the West, the Allied troops focused on trapping the retreating units within the 'Falaise Pocket'.
The Polish 1st Armoured Division under Maczek was crucial - "the cork in the bottle", in Monty's words.