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by Evan McGilvray
Softcover (8.3×11.9 inches). 153 pages. 2025 reprint of 2010 reprint of 2005 book.
Subtitle: The 1st Polish Armoured Division 1939-45
This history of the 1st Polish Armoured Division covers its formation with various exiled Polish troops and volunteers. Landed after D-Day, its first action was during Operation Totalize. Combat descriptions of the division’s various subunits receive extensive treatment, along with its drive to close the Falaise Gap and its subsequent desperate struggle to hold the gap closed.
The workmanlike prose then covers movements of the subunits as they moved across France and into Netherlands. The 10 black and white maps are adequate to track the advance through a bewildering array of towns, but a little closer placement to the text would have been appreciated. I really would have liked a more tactical map of the Falaise Gap battle for a tabletop recreation. A full Polish OOB is in the back, but you’d need to research a German OOB, or at least a reasonable approximation of the kampfgruppen.
The book also contains 82 black and white photos filled with uniform and vehicle details. As the division was part of the Canadian corps, British kit predominates.
It’s a competent unit history, which is why it was reprinted.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
