Antoni Badowski

Antoni Badowski was born in 1924 in Laskowice Wielkie, in the eastern borderlands of Poland. His father was a participant in the Polish-Bolshevik war. The roots of the Badowski family come from Łódź and it was there that Antoni Badowski lived for some time at the initiative of his grandmother. In 1935 he returned to Laskowice Wielkie and this is where he was living when WW2 began.

At the age of 16, he was forcibly deported to Siberia with his mother and siblings. Thanks to the Sikorski-Majski pact, which allowed for the creation of Polish military units in the USSR, he was released from the labour camp. He covered about 3,000km (mostly on foot) to reach Anders' army in the southern USSR. He got there at the last moment, when the troops had already begun evacuating to Persia.

After being quarantined and incorporated into the Polish 2nd Corps, he was transferred to Glasgow, Scotland, where he underwent training and was assigned to a Heavy Machine Gun Squadron of the 1st Polish Armoured Division. He fought in all the battles of the European Campaign with Division, starting with the Normandy landings and the Battle of Falaise, through Belgium, the Netherlands, including the liberation of Breda, and finally participating in the battles for Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Antoni spent the following two years in Germany as part of the occupying forces.

He returned to Poland in 1947 and settled in Łódź. Harassed by security service officers, he soon left for the Regained Territories near Jelenia Góra, where he worked in a carpet factory in Kowary. He eventually returned to Łódź to be near his daughter Alicja who lived here.

Captain Antoni Badowski actively participated in the 1st Polish Armoured Division Association. He often met with young people, telling them the great but very tragic history of the soldiers. He frequently attended celebrations commemorating the 1st Polish Armoured Division in Poland and abroad.

Antoni lived in Łódź until his death on 2 February 2016. He was buried in the family tomb in the Old Cemetery in Łódź.