CraigT
10 Nov 2020
Genealogy / Does anyone have any relatives who served with 1st Polish Armoured Division (Gen. Maczek) [311]
Hi, long shot this - I'm researching the wartime history of my grandadad on my mum's side. His name was Wladyslav Zakrzewski, he met and married my Scottish granny in 1941 (I think) when he was stationed at Blairgowrie in Scotland. He served with the 1st Polish Armoured Div., 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade, but I'm not sure which Regt.- I think the 1st but it could well have been the 24th Uhlans. On my granny's ID card dated 1943 he's listed as a Corporal, but I've a feeling he ended the war as a Sergeant. He passed away in 1980 or 1981, and the older I get, the more I look like him. Peas in a pod even.
His story is so similar to many I've read here: served in the Polish army pre 1939 (they had tankettes and horses), fought, escaped to either Romania or Hungary en-route to a military prison camp in Czechoslovakia perhaps? Can't remember exactly, somehow did the epic trek across Europe to France, where I believe he fought again, then Dunkirk perhaps, to Catterick and then Duns or the borders and eventually Blairgowrie. After the war he returned to Scotland and settled in Perth (changed his name to Richard Scott, further shortened to Dick Scott - easy for him to say - Wladyslav Zakrzewski was impossible for anyone else to say) where he was active in the ex-servicemen's club, where I remember they all drank a lot of wee glasses of hootch and sang quite a bit.
He didn't talk a lot about the war, but as a kid I pestered him and got bits and bobs. I remember building an Airfix Sherman tank with him one weekend, I would have been about 9, he insisted on painting it and adding numbers to the rear (a 51?) all the while telling me about France and all the dead horses and the flies at Falaise. He had a dent in his skull which may have been a wartime memento courtesy of a tank hatch. He told me about a dog which attached itself to the column, the boys fed it scraps and it would take cover under the tanks when it heard aircraft or artillery coming in, long before they did. I've got loads of these wee snippets.
Once upon a time I had his red Poland shoulder flash and the 1st Armoured black and orange hussar's-wing arm badge, which have long-since disappeared - I do still have a Mills Bomb (hand grenade) which he defused, cut out a section and welded it to the fly-off handle (he was an engineer post-war), painted it black and orange and stuck his 10th Armoured unit badge on the end (an armoured winged fist holding a sword over a tank drive wheel) and used it as an ashtray for years. It's quite a thing. I have the miniature set of his medals (my uncle - his only son, was given the full-size ones naturally, and I believe, a German officer's dress dagger) so far I've identified, the Krzyz Zaslugi - Sreberny - the Cross of Merit (Silver), the Polska Swemu Obroncy - the Army Medal for War '39-'45, the '39-'45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal '39-'45. Doesn't help me identify his unit though.
My mum's got all the photos still, she has weighty albums at home in Scotland - I live in New Zealand now - I'll ask her to scan and send me through what she can so I can share them, but in the meantime - does anyone here recognise his name, maybe know who served with him and can shed any more light on the bits of story I have?
Kind regards and many thanks,
Craig
Hi, long shot this - I'm researching the wartime history of my grandadad on my mum's side. His name was Wladyslav Zakrzewski, he met and married my Scottish granny in 1941 (I think) when he was stationed at Blairgowrie in Scotland. He served with the 1st Polish Armoured Div., 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade, but I'm not sure which Regt.- I think the 1st but it could well have been the 24th Uhlans. On my granny's ID card dated 1943 he's listed as a Corporal, but I've a feeling he ended the war as a Sergeant. He passed away in 1980 or 1981, and the older I get, the more I look like him. Peas in a pod even.
His story is so similar to many I've read here: served in the Polish army pre 1939 (they had tankettes and horses), fought, escaped to either Romania or Hungary en-route to a military prison camp in Czechoslovakia perhaps? Can't remember exactly, somehow did the epic trek across Europe to France, where I believe he fought again, then Dunkirk perhaps, to Catterick and then Duns or the borders and eventually Blairgowrie. After the war he returned to Scotland and settled in Perth (changed his name to Richard Scott, further shortened to Dick Scott - easy for him to say - Wladyslav Zakrzewski was impossible for anyone else to say) where he was active in the ex-servicemen's club, where I remember they all drank a lot of wee glasses of hootch and sang quite a bit.
He didn't talk a lot about the war, but as a kid I pestered him and got bits and bobs. I remember building an Airfix Sherman tank with him one weekend, I would have been about 9, he insisted on painting it and adding numbers to the rear (a 51?) all the while telling me about France and all the dead horses and the flies at Falaise. He had a dent in his skull which may have been a wartime memento courtesy of a tank hatch. He told me about a dog which attached itself to the column, the boys fed it scraps and it would take cover under the tanks when it heard aircraft or artillery coming in, long before they did. I've got loads of these wee snippets.
Once upon a time I had his red Poland shoulder flash and the 1st Armoured black and orange hussar's-wing arm badge, which have long-since disappeared - I do still have a Mills Bomb (hand grenade) which he defused, cut out a section and welded it to the fly-off handle (he was an engineer post-war), painted it black and orange and stuck his 10th Armoured unit badge on the end (an armoured winged fist holding a sword over a tank drive wheel) and used it as an ashtray for years. It's quite a thing. I have the miniature set of his medals (my uncle - his only son, was given the full-size ones naturally, and I believe, a German officer's dress dagger) so far I've identified, the Krzyz Zaslugi - Sreberny - the Cross of Merit (Silver), the Polska Swemu Obroncy - the Army Medal for War '39-'45, the '39-'45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal '39-'45. Doesn't help me identify his unit though.
My mum's got all the photos still, she has weighty albums at home in Scotland - I live in New Zealand now - I'll ask her to scan and send me through what she can so I can share them, but in the meantime - does anyone here recognise his name, maybe know who served with him and can shed any more light on the bits of story I have?
Kind regards and many thanks,
Craig