#Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum

[stillunusual]

The flag that was hoisted over Monte Cassino by victorious Polish troops on 18th May 1944, on display at the Sikorski Museum in London….

[greatworldwar2]

• Polish 1st Armoured Division

The Polish 1st Armoured Division was an armoured division formed as part of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II.

After the fall of Poland and then France in 1940, the remaining Poles that had fought in both campaigns retreated with the British Army to the United Kingdom. Stationed in Scotland the Polish 1st Armoured Division was formed as part of the Polish I Corps under Wladyslaw Sikorski, which guarded approximately 200 kilometres of British coast in 1940-1941. The commander of the Division, General Stanislaw Maczek, was Poland’s premier mechanized commander, and many of his subordinate officers from the unit he commanded in 1939, the 10th Mechanized Brigade, had made their way to Britain with him. They were organized on the British Armoured Division model, equipped with British uniforms, weapons and tanks. They were initially equipped and trained on Crusader tanks but in late 1943 and early 1944 these were replaced with Sherman tanks and Cromwell tanks.

By the end of July 1944, the 1st Armoured had been transferred to Normandy, its final elements arriving on August 1st. The unit was attached to the First Canadian Army as part of the 21st Army Group. This may have been done to help in communication, as the vast majority of Poles did not speak English when they arrived in United Kingdom from 1940 onwards. The Division joined combat on August 8th, during Operation Totalize. It suffered serious casualties as a result of "friendly fire" from Allied aircraft, but achieved a victory against the Wehrmacht in the battles for Mont Ormel, and the town of Chambois. This series of offensive and defensive operations came to be known as the Battle of Falaise, in which a large number of German Army and SS divisions were trapped in the Falaise Pocket and subsequently destroyed. Maczek's division had the crucial role of closing the pocket at the escape route of the trapped German divisions, hence the fighting was desperate and the 2nd Polish Armoured Regiment, 24th Polish Lancers and 10th Dragoons, supported by the 8th and 9th Infantry Battalions, took the brunt of German attacks by units attempting to break free from the pocket. Surrounded and running out of ammunition, they withstood incessant attacks from multiple fleeing panzer divisions for 48 hours until they were relieved. The total losses of the division from August 7th when it entered combat until the end of the battle of Falaise on August 22nd were 446 killed, 1501 wounded, and 150 missing, or 2097 soldiers in total during about two weeks of fighting.

After the Allied armies broke out from Normandy, the Polish 1st Armoured Division pursued the Germans along the coast of the English Channel. It liberated, among others, the towns of Saint-Omer, Ypres, Oostnieuwkerke, Roeselare, Tielt, Ruislede, and Ghent. During Operation Pheasant a successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by General Maczek allowed the liberation of the city of Breda without any civilian casualties. The Division spent the winter of 1944-1945 on the south bank of the river Rhine, guarding a sector around Moerdijk, Netherlands. In early 1945, it was transferred to the province of Overijssel and started to push with the Allies along the Dutch-German border, liberating the eastern parts of the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen including the towns of Emmen, Coevorden and Stadskanaal.

In April 1945, the 1st Armoured entered Germany in the area of Emsland. On May 6th, the Division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. There the Division ended the war and, joined by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, undertook occupation duties until it was disbanded in 1947; it, together with the many Polish displaced persons in the Western occupied territories, formed a Polish enclave at Haren in Germany, which was for a while known as "Maczków". The majority of its soldiers opted not to return to Poland, which fell under Soviet occupation, preferring instead to remain in exile. Many artefacts and memorabilia belonging to Maczek and the 1st Polish Armoured Division are on display in the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.30

489 – The Ostrogoths under Theoderic the Great defeat the forces of Odoacer for the second time. 737 – The Turgesh drive back an Umayyad invasion of Khuttal, follow them south of the Oxus, and capture their baggage train. 1399 – Henry IV is proclaimed king of England. 1520 – Suleiman the Magnificent is proclaimed sultan of the Ottoman Empire. 1541 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces enter Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas, encountering fierce resistance. 1551 – A coup by the military establishment of Japan's Ōuchi clan forces their lord to commit suicide, and their city is burned. 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: France and Spain defeat Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo, but soon have to withdraw from Sardinia anyway. 1791 – The first performance of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute takes place two months before his death. 1791 – France's National Constituent Assembly is dissolved, to be replaced the next day by the National Legislative Assembly 1882 – Thomas Edison's first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation. 1888 – Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. 1906 – The Royal Galician Academy, the Galician language's biggest linguistic authority, starts working in Havana. 1907 – The McKinley National Memorial, the final resting place of assassinated U.S. President William McKinley and his family, is dedicated in Canton, Ohio. 1909 – The Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania makes a record-breaking westbound crossing of the Atlantic, that will not be bettered for 20 years. 1915 – World War I: Radoje Ljutovac becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire. 1922 – The University of Alabama opens the American football season with a 110–0 victory over the Marion Military Institute, which still stands as Alabama's record for largest margin of victory and as their only 100 point game. 1927 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season. 1931 – Start of "Die Voortrekkers" youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa. 1935 – The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated. 1938 – Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign the Munich Agreement, whereby Germany annexes the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. 1938 – The League of Nations unanimously outlaws "intentional bombings of civilian populations". 1939 – World War II: General Władysław Sikorski becomes prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile. 1939 – NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game. 1941 – World War II: The Babi Yar massacre comes to an end. 1943 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy is dedicated by President Roosevelt. 1945 – The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire, England, kills 43 1947 – The 1947 World Series is the first to be televised, to include an African-American player, to exceed $2 million in receipts, to see a pinch-hit home run, and to have six umpires on the field. 1947 – Pakistan joins the United Nations. 1949 – The Berlin Airlift ends. 1954 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear-powered vessel. 1962 – Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the National Farm Workers Association. 1962 – James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying racial segregation rules. 1965 – The Lockheed L-100, the civilian version of the C-130 Hercules, is introduced. 1965 – In Indonesia, a coup by the 30 September Movement is crushed, leading to a mass anti-communist purge, with over 500,000 people killed. 1966 – Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana. 1967 – The BBC Light Programme, Third Programme and Home Service are replaced with BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 Respectively, BBC Radio 1 is also launched. 1968 – The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time. 1970 – Jordan makes a deal with the PFLP for the release of the remaining hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings. 1972 – Roberto Clemente records the 3,000th and final hit of his career. 1975 – The AH-64 Apache makes its first flight. Eight years later, the first production model rolled out of the assembly line. 1977 – Because of NASA budget cuts and dwindling power reserves, the Apollo program's ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are shut down. 1980 – Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation. 1990 – The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada's capital city of Ottawa. 1993 – The 6.2 Mw  Latur earthquake shakes Maharashtra, India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) killing 9,748 and injuring 30,000. 1994 – Aldwych tube station (originally Strand Station) of the London Underground closes after eighty-eight years in service. 1994 – Ongar railway station, the furthest London Underground from central London, closes. 1999 – The Tokaimura nuclear accident causes the deaths of two technicians in Japan's second-worst nuclear accident. 2000 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah is shot and killed on the second day of the Second Intifada. 2004 – The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, is retired from service. Almost two years later, the Tomcat itself is retired. 2005 – Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in a Danish newspaper. 2009 – The 7.6 Mw  Sumatra earthquake leaves 1,115 people dead. 2016 – Hurricane Matthew becomes a Category 5 hurricane, making it the strongest hurricane to form in the Caribbean Sea since 2007. 2016 – Two paintings with a combined value of $100 million are recovered after having been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.30

489 – The Ostrogoths under Theoderic the Great defeat the forces of Odoacer for the second time. 737 – The Turgesh drive back an Umayyad invasion of Khuttal, follow them south of the Oxus, and capture their baggage train. 1399 – Henry IV is proclaimed king of England. 1520 – Suleiman the Magnificent is proclaimed sultan of the Ottoman Empire. 1541 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces enter Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas, encountering fierce resistance. 1551 – A coup by the military establishment of Japan's Ōuchi clan forces their lord to commit suicide, and their city is burned. 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: France and Spain defeat Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo, but soon have to withdraw from Sardinia anyway. 1791 – The first performance of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute takes place two months before his death. 1791 – France's National Constituent Assembly is dissolved, to be replaced the next day by the National Legislative Assembly 1882 – Thomas Edison's first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation. 1888 – Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. 1906 – The Royal Galician Academy, the Galician language's biggest linguistic authority, starts working in Havana. 1907 – The McKinley National Memorial, the final resting place of assassinated U.S. President William McKinley and his family, is dedicated in Canton, Ohio. 1909 – The Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania makes a record-breaking westbound crossing of the Atlantic, that will not be bettered for 20 years. 1915 – World War I: Radoje Ljutovac becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire. 1922 – The University of Alabama opens the American football season with a 110–0 victory over the Marion Military Institute, which still stands as Alabama's record for largest margin of victory and as their only 100 point game. 1927 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season. 1931 – Start of "Die Voortrekkers" youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa. 1935 – The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated. 1938 – Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign the Munich Agreement, whereby Germany annexes the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. 1938 – The League of Nations unanimously outlaws "intentional bombings of civilian populations". 1939 – World War II: General Władysław Sikorski becomes prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile. 1939 – NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game. 1941 – World War II: The Babi Yar massacre comes to an end. 1943 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy is dedicated by President Roosevelt. 1945 – The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire, England, kills 43 1947 – The 1947 World Series is the first to be televised, to include an African-American player, to exceed $2 million in receipts, to see a pinch-hit home run, and to have six umpires on the field. 1947 – Pakistan joins the United Nations. 1949 – The Berlin Airlift ends. 1954 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear-powered vessel. 1962 – Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the National Farm Workers Association. 1962 – James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying racial segregation rules. 1965 – The Lockheed L-100, the civilian version of the C-130 Hercules, is introduced. 1965 – In Indonesia, a coup by the 30 September Movement is crushed, leading to a mass anti-communist purge, with over 500,000 people killed. 1966 – Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana. 1967 – The BBC Light Programme, Third Programme and Home Service are replaced with BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 Respectively, BBC Radio 1 is also launched. 1968 – The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time. 1970 – Jordan makes a deal with the PFLP for the release of the remaining hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings. 1972 – Roberto Clemente records the 3,000th and final hit of his career. 1975 – The AH-64 Apache makes its first flight. Eight years later, the first production model rolled out of the assembly line. 1977 – Because of NASA budget cuts and dwindling power reserves, the Apollo program's ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are shut down. 1980 – Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation. 1990 – The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada's capital city of Ottawa. 1993 – The 6.2 Mw Latur earthquake shakes Maharashtra, India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) killing 9,748 and injuring 30,000. 1994 – Aldwych tube station (originally Strand Station) of the London Underground closes after eighty-eight years in service. 1994 – Ongar railway station, the furthest London Underground from central London, closes. 1999 – The Tokaimura nuclear accident causes the deaths of two technicians in Japan's second-worst nuclear accident. 2004 – The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, is retired from service. Almost two years later, the Tomcat itself is retired. 2005 – Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in a Danish newspaper. 2009 – The 7.6 Mw Sumatra earthquake leaves 1,115 people dead. 2016 – Hurricane Matthew becomes a Category 5 hurricane, making it the strongest hurricane to form in the Caribbean Sea since 2007. 2016 – Two paintings with a combined value of $100 million are recovered after having been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002. 2017 – Titus Zeman, a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, is beatified.