The invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 had brought the UK and France into the Second World War. Those two countries had signed treaties with Poland to say that they would assist Poland if it was invaded. However, neither the UK nor France felt it was immediately able to provide military support, and just over one month later Poland fell to the invaders.

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Jerzy Kobryner evacuated to Romania and later served in the 1st Podhale (Highland) Rifle Battalion in the September Campaign. This was an infantry unit within 1st Polish Armoured Division. The division’s infantry battalions worked alongside its four regiments of tanks. The division was led by an experienced Polish officer, General Stanisław Maczek. A large part of the division’s troops had originally been serving in the Polish Army in in 1939, and had fled abroad on their country’s defeat, hoping to continue the struggle from elsewhere. Jerzy had been in France in 1940 and fled to the UK after that country’s defeat by Nazi Germany.

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Troops of 1st Polish Armoured Division began arriving in Normandy in late July 1944, and first went into battle on 8 August. By mid-August, as German forces in Normandy began to retreat to the east, the division advanced southwards. They aimed to trap German troops before they could escape. The division seized a hill known as Mont Ormel that lay in the path of the German retreat (it was later given a Polish name of ‘Maczuga’, or Mace, referring to the Medieval weapon).

 

For the period 19–21 August, the Poles here were cut off from other Allied units and were attacked on all sides: from the west, by retreating Germans, and from the east by other German troops attempting to help their comrades escape. By strongly resisting these attacks, along with fierce fighting by nearby Canadian units, the Poles significantly reduced the number of German troops who were able to escape and continue to fight for the remainder of the war.

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At the end of the Second World War, Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union, which installed a communist government. This regime repressed other groups, including Poles who had fought with the Western Allies. In turn, many Poles were suspicious of the Soviet Union, which had sealed the defeat of Poland in 1939 by invading their country shortly after Germany’s attack. As a result, many Poles who had served alongside British forces chose not to return to their home country but settled elsewhere. Naturally this was a great blow, after years of fighting with the Allied cause. Jerzy Kobryner was one of those, and as a new resident of the UK he took the name G.R. Colebourne.

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Source: https://theddaystory.com/d-day-in-80-objects/

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