Ryszard Wozniak was born on 16 May 1914 in Poland.

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He served in the 1st Platoon, 1st Motorized Artillery Regiment, of the 1st Polish Armoured Division.

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Ryszard landed in Normandy in September 1944, supported by thousands of airplanes. The worst fights were in Falaise. There the sky was filled with bullets 24 hours a day. They made yheir way to Rouen and then to Belgium, to Baarle-Nassau, Gilze and Breda, and then Germany. The end goal was Warsaw, but it became Wilhelmshaven.

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At Breda: "I hit a fire in a burn carrier as a scout from Breda over the Terheijden road where Hispano Suiza, an ammunition factory, was standing. The bridge was down but wasn't under fire. We're on the right there. We went along the canal moving

towards Terheijden. In Terheijden there was a mill, and it was defended by a group of Germans. Our commander sent a Sherman tank, and it flared the whole thing there. The fire stopped and a group of Germans came out to surrender.”

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In the northern Netherlands in April:  "In our vehicle was Soldier Trella, who had to scan the area behind us, always guarding the vehicle with a machine gun. Our commander was named Komar.  We saw women working on a farmland with potatoes. The Germans that were guarding them fled into the woods. The women turned out to be Polish. They were from the women’s camp at Oberlangen and we freed them all. The management of the camp was taken over by the women.”

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After the surrender in Wilhelmshaven, the Division was headquartered in Meppen.  Many of the soldiers went back to the camp, to the Polish ladies ofthe Warsaw Uprising, and there were a number of marriages Ryszard met one of the prisoners of

the women's camp: Krystyna Paprocka, and they were married in Meppen by a Polish chaplain.

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The war was over and many of the Poles went back to the Netherlands, since return to Poland was not possible. Poles created enclaves in Roermond, Venlo, Vlissingen, Easternwood, and Breda. Also, in Zeeland Flanders with all the battles that had taken place there.

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Ryszard died on 28 April 1996, in Breda.

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Source: First Polish Armoured Division Facebook post

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