Casemate Armoured Hussars. 1st Polish Armoured Division

[Shar2]

Armoured Hussars

Images of the 1st Polish Armoured Division 1939 - 47

Helion and Company

 

This new book published by Helion and Company and written by Janusz Jarzembowski is a pictorial history of the unit from 1939 to 1947. The books one hundred and forty seven pages are packed full of period photographs, documents and diagrams.  Each photograph is well captioned, usually including some background to the photo as well as detailing what they show.  These photographs were collected by the authors Father during his time with the Polish Army and were stored in albums, until interest in the almost forgotten division and it’s commanding officer, General Stanislaw Maczek, caused the author to revisit the archive in order to provide a narrative for the division and his Fathers memory.

 

 

The introduction describes how the Division fought, in its various guises from the very first days of the war against both Germany and Russia all the way to the fall of the Reich, until the unit was finally disbanded in 1947.  Many of these brave men decided not to return to their homeland, due to the rise of Communism and set up home in Great Britain, where the Polish Resettlement Corp was established for the final demobilisation and disbanding took place in 1949. The collapse of communism in in Eastern Europe in1989 finally enabled the survivors of the 1^st Polish Armoured Division to receive the recognition of their exploits from their homeland, and return home. This is their tribute.  

Conclusion

This is a very special book, and a fitting tribute to the men of the 1^st Polish Armoured Division. The photographs are not only interesting historically, but to see the faces of the men who did the fighting is quite poignant.  From a modellers view point there is plenty of useful information on the vehicles used, the clothing and the environment that could be put to good use in a diorama.  There’s even something for the aircraft modellers, as there are quite a few photographs from abandoned airfields, showing the wrecked aircraft and airfield equipment.

Review sample courtesy of

 

 

 

[Panzer Vor!!!]

Another on the to buy list , looking forward to Sherman pics for modeling

 

Wrecked aircraft -----bonus  

[fatfingers]

I got this last year and its got some great pics in it. Keep meaning to get Vol 2.

 

Regards,

 

Steve