🎖 Honouring our heroes
It was an honour and privilege to present 99 year old WWII 🇵🇱 veteran LT Eugeniusz Jan Niedzielski with a Thank You Liberator Medal at the Embassy for his contribution to the liberation of the Netherlands in 1944-1945.
“Dziekujemy Wam Polacy” - thank you Poles 🇵🇱 for the sacrifices during the liberation of Europe and the Netherlands. More than 250.000 Poles fought for our freedom during World War II. To compare, there were 20,000 Dutch military and 12...,000 sailors in the merchant fleet active in the war.
Ambassador Karel van Oosterom and Defense and Naval Attaché Gerrit Nijenhuis presented the award, with colleagues from the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London and the Dutch Embassy present.
LT Eugeniusz Jan Niedzielski was deported as a 16 year old by the Soviet Union with his family to Siberia on February 10, 1940, under the Sikorski-Maisky agreement. In 1941 he enlisted in the Polish army 7th Infantry Division, marking the start of his military service.
After a march to Iran in 1942, they came under British command, and through training camps in the Middle East and Africa ended up in British territory. It was here LT Eugeniusz Jan Niedzielski was attached to the Polish Armed Forces in the 10th Armored Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
After landing in Normandy Eugeniusz Jan Niedzielski and his unit took part in the battle of the Falaise pocket South of Caen in August 1944 in what historians call the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War.
They reached the Dutch border on 16 September, and were involved in operation ‘PHEASANT’, designed to liberate Noord-Brabant and to clear the Scheldt to allow the port of Antwerp to be used by the Allies for supply. PHEASANT was a result of the failure of Montgomery’s Operation Market Garden.
During the operation the 1st Armored Division under command of General Maczek was tasked to liberate Breda. Polish forces successfully outflanked the Germans and Breda was liberated without any civilian casualties on 29 October 1944. This as a result of Gen. Maczek orders “Do not shell Breda, do not bomb it. Capture it, building by building". He forbade the use of artillery fire against the city and the use of military interventions by air. As such, the city was liberated without serious destruction.
When Germany capitulated, his country Poland 🇵🇱 was taken over by Stalin’s USSR and LT Niedzielski started a new life in the UK. We owe him our deepest respect!
The Thank You Liberators Medal was initiated in 2000 by the Netherlands National Committee "Thank You Canada and Allied Forces" to honour veterans for their military services in the Netherlands during WWII. It is a sincere token of our gratitude.
