The memorial to General Stanislaw Maczek will be formally unveiled on 3 November. The funds for the memorial were raised after a public appeal begun by Lord Carmyllie and supported by the Polish government.
General Maczek was Commander of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and appointed by Winston Churchill to defend Scotland’s east coast from potential invasion. He played a key role in the Battle of Normandy preventing the retreat of thousands of German soldiers at the Falaise Pass and liberated parts of France, Belgium and Holland.
Lord Fraser died during the fundraising process and his family took up the campaign. His daughter Katie Fraser said : “The memorial is quite superb and a fitting tribute to General Maczek and his Polish soldiers. We are delighted to see it in a position ready to be unveiled in time for the 100th anniversary celebrations of Poland regaining independence.”
The Memorial to General Stanislaw Maczek and his Polish Soldiers has arrived at the City Chambers @Edinburgh_CC pic.twitter.com/kWjC3xmELC
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) October 23, 2018
General Maczek married his wife Zofia in 1928 with whom he had a son and two daughters, living out his final years at his adopted home near the Meadows in Edinburgh. He published his memoirs in 1961, but his achievements were not particularly well documented in Scotland until after his death in 1994 at the age of 102.
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