Tadeusz Tabaczek was born to Wladyslaw and Franciszka (nee Dymowska) on 12 May 1912 in Krakow, Poland. He had one sibling: Maria.

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Tadeusz volunteered for the Polish Navy in 1932 and was one of 16 selected from 165 volunteers, but because of a lack of equipment he was unable to serve in the navy. That same year, at 20 years of age, Tadeusz was conscripted into the army and assigned to the 2nd Armoured Regiment in Zurawica. He completed non-commissioned officer’s school in the spring of 1934. After a reorganization of the armoured units, he was assigned to an armoured car company, part of the 8th Armoured Battalion, in Bydgoszcz. Since the barracks in Bydgoszcz were not yet completed, he was sent to the 1st Armoured Regiment in Poznan, where on 1 September 1934 he was promoted to Corporal.

 

In the fall he of 1934, decided to return to civilian life. His dream had been to be a professional soldier, but the command of the 1st Armoured Regiment mistreated the company which had been assigned to them, referring to them as peasants from the villages, since they were from Zurawica. But the company showed them what they were capable of on 1 June, at the regiment’s annual field day, when the members of the company excelled at several events. Staff Corporal Soltys (under whose command 6 tanks were destroyed in Normandy) won 6 events, and Tadeusz won 5 events in running and throwing.

 

In July 1939 Tadeusz was sent for a 4-week training program with the 5th Tank Battalion in Krakow. Two days before WWII broke out, he was in Katowice picking up requisitioned vehicles that were to be brought to the 5th Tank Battalion in Krakow. On 1 September 1939, the war found him in Oswiecim where he and his men slept in the Salesian Monastery. He delivered the 96 requisitioned vehicles with the help of 4 riflemen and Silesian drivers.

 

On 3 September 1939, they were awakened at 2 am. He was given an 8-cylinder Buick and ordered to evacuate the Command of the 5th Military District of Krakow. He was given permission to stop at his home and say his goodbyes to his mother and sister. In the evening, they burned all confidential military papers and then Tadeusz was put at the disposal of General Jatelnicki-Jacyna. They left for Lancut where they stayed with Count Potocki. On 9 September they arrived at Lwow, and on 12 September they left for Tarnopol and stayed at Mikulince which was 19 km from Tarnopol.

 

On 17 September, four Russian tanks drove in and stood in the town square. The General asked if they had come to help fight the Germans, but they replied that they had come to fight, but it was the Poles they were going to fight. The Poles left Mikulince that night and stopped at a church rectory where, after an hour’s sleep, they were wakened by the priest. A boy had come on a bike from another village with information that the Russians had arrived and were looking for the Command of the 5th Military District. Because he had warned the Poles, the Russians shot that priest. Without that priest’s warning, they would have ended up in Katyn.

 

They headed for Romania but since they had heard stories about how they were beating and robbing soldiers there, they headed for the Jablonica Pass on their way to Tatarow (now in the Ukraine). On the morning of 21 September they crossed the border into Hungary. The Hungarians took away their arms and stationed them in Beregszasz - the officers in the Hotel Donald, and the drivers in their vehicles. The General procured a pass, and they drove the Buick to Budapest, driving 374 km in one day. General Jatelnicki-Jacyna wanted the Polish Consulate to arrange their departure for France. However, it did not work out and they returned to Berergszasz.

 

After a few days, the whole command of 6 or 7 vehicles was sent to a camp for staff officers in Balatonföldvár, but Tadeusz along with his car, General Jatelnicki, and a few other officers stayed in Budapest. The officers stayed in town and Tadeusz waited in a garage with their vehicles for several days. A good Hungarian by the name of Jozef Andrejko fed them. The General brought Tadeusz some civilian clothes so that he was able to walk around town with Andrejko. Andrejko spoke a little Polish because he was with Poles in Siberia during WW 1.

 

After a few days of uncertainty, they drove to the camp at Balatonfolvar, along with some Silesian drivers who had also escaped to Budapest. There were 67 officers in the camp ranging from Majors to Generals. Tadeusz helped a few dozen drivers to escape, while he waited for orders from the General, even though he could have escaped any evening. The General became ill and was taken to a hospital in Budapest, and he told Tadeusz to wait for a sign. In the meantime, he helped 17 officers escape.

 

He was asked by a Hungarian officer to be driven to Siofok, so he moved the gasoline cans, spare tire, etc. into his room and hid two Polish officers in the trunk of the Buick. The Hungarian sat in the back seat like some kind of royalty. Tadeusz asked the hidden officers to keep quiet, but on the way there they started wriggling around. The Hungarian asked about the noise, so Tadeusz explained that it must be some tools bouncing around. He was very nervous, since being caught smuggling officers could have resulted in him being taken to an internment camp, but luckily, they settled down.

 

In Siofok, the Hungarian got out, and gave Tadeusz enough change for a a glass of warm wine and told him to turn around and wait for him in the bar. He drove to the end of the street and turned on a side street, where he opened the trunk and let out the two officers. They somehow straightened themselves out and offered him some money. He told them they might need that money, and should hook up with a Hungarian family who could buy them train tickets to France. He drove the Hungarian back to the camp, put the gasoline cans back in the trunk, and told the General that everything had worked out.

 

At one time, the General asked him to help Colonel Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko (later a top general in London) to escape, along with Captain Szermet, who was the youngest officer in the camp, but who spoke German and who acted as a translator between the Hungarians and General Jatelnicki, who was the Commanding Officer for the Poles. At the villa, cars were parked down near a gardener’s building where Tadeusz and Studnicki lived. Tadeusz was in charge of the garage. It was agreed that he would talk to the guard, a Slovak, to distract him, and then the two officers would sneak across and hide in his room. They waited for it to get dark, so that he could point them in the direction of the station in Siofolk, which was 16 km away. It was less intensely watched than the station in Balatonfolvar which was only 4 km away. After about an hour they began to look for Captain Szermet and a Hungarian officer came to the General and told him to summon Szermet. It seemed that the escape had been uncovered, and everyone was looking at Tadeusz askance, since he had organized it. He went to his room and told them that the Hungarians were looking for Szermet, and that the General wanted Szermet to return, because he was their translator and spoke German well. Colonel Bohusz-Szyszko suggested that Szermet should return, and that he could escape when it got dark. Captain Szermet said to hell with the Hungarians, the Colonel is staying and so am I and we will escape together.

 

Tadeusz reported back to the General, that Bohusz-Szyszko and Szermet would not return, which made the General very angry. When it got dark, Tadeusz led the two officers out of his room and onto the road showing them the right route. That he chose not to escape at the same time cost him a lot of his health, but he followed orders from his General, whom he respected like a father.

 

Earlier that day, two more officers had tried to escape from the villa, one being Major Zgorzelski, and since they were near Lake Balaton it was supposed to be easy to escape in that direction. So early in the morning they had tried to escape, but they were caught by the guard, and they were taken to the General, to swear that they were not trying to escape from the internment camp.

 

Eventually, Tadeusz did make it to France and in May 1940 he served with the 3rd Tank Battalion in France. After the fall of France in June 1940 he was taken as prisoner of war by the Vichy French and from 1941 to 1942 he was in internment camps in North Africa (in Algeria, Morocco, and Niger). For a few months he worked as a mechanic for a colonial French railway in Niger.

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In 1942 he went to England and was assigned to the 1st Polish Armoured Division. From 1942 to 1947 he served with the 24th Lancers Regiment of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and was engaged in the liberation of Normandy, Belgium, the Netherlands and then entered Germany in 1945. He remained in Germany for two years, as part of the occupation forces. He then enlisted with the Polish Resettlement Corp on October 30, 1947.

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Tadeusz was awarded the following medals:

Polish Medals:

• Army medal

• Armoured Insignia

British Medals:

• 1939-1945 Star

• France and Germany Star

• War Medal 1939-1945

 

Tadeusz married Maria Marzec and had two stepchildren: Elizabeth and Adam, and settled in Canada after the war. Tadeusz passed away in London, Ontario in 1981.

 

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Copyright: Tabaczek/Marzec family

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