War Memorial & Memorial 1st Polish Armoured Division

At the Council house in Made a memorial is erected to honour the liberation of the village Made by the 1st Polish Armoured Division.

In 1942 the 1st Polish Armoured Division was composed in England. This division was manned by Polish men and Polish immigrants from all over the world. The Polish forces started in France. In mid September they reached Holland, where they at first liberated Terneuzen, Axel and Hulst. The Polish forces went to Breda, where they liberated several villages at the end of September 1944. The Polish fight was without big losses. On October 31th this came to an ending; there were big losses north of Breda. The Polish found a way out by going to Oosterhout. Here they received backup from the Prinses Irene Brigade, the American and British forces. With this backup the 1st Polish Armoured Division made a counter attack that liberated the village Made on November 4th. After this liberation a lot of villages in the area were liberated by the Polish forces.

Made has a city bond with the Polish commune Koźmin. This has also arisen from the great honour the people of Made have for their Polish liberators.

On the monument are also the names of the 42 war victims of Made and Drimmelen.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Peter van Steenbergen (1, 2), Wies Huybregts Schapendonk (3, 4)
• SCHIPPER, P. DE, Bij de bevrijding begon de oorlog, Vèrse Hoeven uitgeverij, Raamdonkveer, Nederland, 2005.