Ypres town Foreword. Dominiek Dendooven.

The generation of my grand-parents went through two wars. Within barely thirty years, they twice experienced a brutal occupation, exile, and close encounters with violence of an extreme nature.  The Liberation in 1944 marked the end of this period. The new order it inaugurated ensured they could live the life they choose, in freedom and democracy. It is thus only right that the Liberation, or in Dutch “de Bevrijding”, is always written with a capital L.    

It is one of the ironies of history that this freedom was ultimately denied the liberators of Ypres. The Poles and to those  Czechoslovaks attached to the 1st Polish Armoured Division saw their homelands ending up behind an Iron Curtain which would only lift towards the end of the 1980s. By then the surviving veterans were of old age and many had spent a hard life in exile. Even the celebrated commander of the Polish 1st Armoured Division, General Stanisław Maczek, stripped from his Polish nationality, had to accept a post as a bartender in a Scottish hotel in order to make a living.

For Ypres, the Liberation of the town on 6 September 1944 also meant a new beginning. Maczek, obviously aware of the town’s fate in the First World War, had decided to avoid actions that could cause considerable damages to Ypres’ fabric. Was it not for his careful and caring considerations, we can only wonder how much longer it would have taken before the town was fully restored to its pre-1914 standards.

Today, Ypres is associated with the First World War and from the four corners of the world visitors flock to its cemeteries, memorials and museums. Yet, precisely because of the omnipresence of the Great War and the enormity of what happened then, the Second World War is largely a forgotten and ignored event. While less than a handfull books have been written in Dutch, so far nothing was available in English to explain what had happened here in 1944 to the large number of visitors and the much smaller number of inhabitants who do not master our mother tongue. It is to remedy this manco that Chris Lock decided to write this book.

Chris was without doubt the ideal person to do so : his past in the Royal Tank Regiment gives him not only the military insight needed to explain the events of 6 September 1944 from a strategic point of view, but also to get acquainted with the weapons used and their impact.  Having lived in Ypres for over a decade, he is entirely familiarised with the town, and could easily talk to local witnesses of the Liberation, while his Czech wife Milena guaranteed an easy access to sources in both Polish & Czech. This background, as ex-military, an inhabitant of Ypres, and married to a Czech lady, largely explains for the author’s empathy with the local Flemings and their Slavic liberators.

This book is a testimony to his piety towards those who went through war, and to his dedication to  commemorate. We are all indebted to Chris Lock to have taken up the challenge to produce a first English narrative of the Liberation of Ypres on 6 September 1944. Lest we forget.

Dominiek Dendooven

Historical Researcher Ypres - Town Documentation Center.

(Copyright Dominiek Dendooven & Chris Lock)

1PAD at Ypres.

Divisional Command Cromwell tanks at this level often had the main cannon removed to allow for more turret space in order that extra radios could be fitted to enable the General to communicate not only with his own Divisional commanders but also with his Corps commander. To disguise this fact, a dummy gun barrel was fitted. However, secondary weaponry such as the hull mounted MG was retained for close quarter defence. Note that in this image General Maczek is seen on board his Humber Scout Car Liaison vehicle to the rear of the tank, with his normal Officer rank radio operator/loader temporarily in charge of the tank. 

(IFF Documents Centre image)

The three 1PAD Armoured Regiments were all equipped with the Sherman V medium tank. They being the Polish 1st, & 2nd Armoured Regiments. The other being the Polish 24th Lancers. The 3 Armoured Regiments Reconnaissance Platoons were also equipped with the Stuart VI light tank, all being supported by Sherman Firefly Tank Destroyers.

Shermans from the Polish 2nd Armoured Regiment take stock on conclusion of successfully engaging a well hidden German anti gun(s), which had knocked out one of their Shermans as they crossed the Diksmuidseweg canal bridge located just to the rear of this particular Polish tank column in the photograph.

(IFF Documents Center image)

Polish 2nd Armoured Regiment Firefly Tank Destroyer having manouvered up tight alongside a building to seek cover. Concerned local residents look on. Both the Firefly and M10 Achilles Tank Destroyers were capable of knocking out the much feared German Tiger and Panther tanks of the time.

(IFF Documents Center image)

Major General Stanislaw Maczek, Commanding Officer of the 1st Polish Armoured Division in the turret of his Cromwell command tank.

Maczek translates freely from Polish into English as "Poppy" hence this educated General was well aware of the Flanders Fields Poppy legend as his powerful Armoured Division approached the town.

Unwilling to bombard the town unless forced, he devised a brilliant plan of encirclement & entrapment. This allowed the German defenders to evacuate the town before finding their escape route had been cut off nearby. However, pockets of stubborn resistance had to be overcome wherever required. This in fact was how the day panned out with many civilian lives saved. It was also costly in part as per soldiers lives lost as revealed in this account. Clearly an amazing General and first rate allied Armoured Division. General Maczek would eventually pass away at the age of 102 in Great Britain and buried with full military honours alongside his fallen soldiers at Breda in the Netherlands. His soldiers who were killed in action or died of wounds liberating the town of Ypres, mostly rest alongside each other in the Polish National Cemetery at Lommel on the Belgian/Dutch border. Their antagonists who also fell that day rest in the nearby German National Cemetery also at Lommel. Today they may be considered comrades in death.

(IFF Documents Centre image)

Destroyed German Panther medium tank photographed alongside the Menin Road near Hooge. This particular tank had previously been engaged by 'Chatanooga' 'Ramrod' US/RAF fighter bombers or by 1PAD armour upon coming across them as they bypassed the town.

(Michael J H De Vinck image)

A 1PAD Polish 24th Lancers Stuart light tank from the regiment's dedicated Reconnaissance Platoon aproaching the outskirts of Ypres. Note the injured tank crewman.

(IFF Documents Center image)

1PAD 10th Dragoons M5 Half Track Armoured Personnel Carriers travel in the wake of the 1PAD Polish 2nd Armoured Regiment's Shermans, Fireflies & Stuarts as they move through the suburbs of the town. This particular section of road would be named in their honour post WW2 as "Polenlaan" (Poles Avenue)

(IFF Documentation Center image)

Representative image of a 1PAD infantryman alongside his Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) Note collar flash representive of his unit, the single black epaulette, black land yard, 1PAD "Winged Hussar" ID recognition flash & POLAND shoulder patch, all worn by 1PAD personnel. 

(Internet image)

Representative image revealing German infantry of the period defending the town's railway station. 

(Image Paul David Drabble ) 

German gunners crew their superb Panzerabwehrkanone (PAK) 40/50 anti tank guns which sadly for many allied tank crewmen, were used against them with terrible & lethal effect. These guns were capable of destroying all known makes of allied armour at extreme range as the following image reveals.

 (See image text for source)

1PAD 1st/2nd Armoured Regiment Sherman destroyed by PAK anti tank gun fire as it bypassed the town at St Jan. Note the PAK armour piercing round entry hole on the left hand side of the tank. The bow mounted machine gun is still in place suggesting the tank was burnt out or severly damaged within. The tracks and both front sprockets have been removed, further suggesting the destroyed tank was then canibalised for usable parts by Divisional Light Aid Detachment mechanics. (LAD)

Please see the 1PAD commemorative tank road march report below which includes the same location today (Author's image)

(IFF Documents Center image)

Members of the town's Resistance with a German prisoner of war. 

It is worth noting that the Resistance offered 1PAD great help during the liberation fight, especially by providing topographical and mopping up assistance.

(IFF Documents Center image)

Members of the town's Resistance escorting droves of captured German prisoners of war through the town.

(IFF Documents Center image)

The author's 1PAD Commemorative tank road march.

Friday 6th October 2017. The author's commemorative Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank commemorative road march in the tank tracks of the 1PAD - 6th September 1944 Liberation of the town of Ypres. (Video Milena Kolarikova-Lock)

Poppy Cross tribute placed by the author at the 1PAD 10th Mounted Rifles Bridgehead memorial, located opposite the Belgian military barracks on the outskirts of Ypres where the commemorative tank road march started. This was the 1st of 3 tributes placed during the day of the commemoration.

(Author's image)

Poppy Cross tribute placed at the village of St Juliaan 1PAD Liberation memorial.

(Author's image)

Poppy cross tribute placed at the 2nd Armoured Regiment action site in St Jan which saw at least 2 Polish Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV's) destroyed by PAK anti tank gun fire leading to the deaths of at least 3 personnel with others being wounded.

Please link with the previously included original image of a destroyed 1PAD 2nd Armoured Regiment Sherman V at this very location.

(Author's image)