Polish 1st Armoured Brigade of the defenders of Westerplatte

Battle of Westerplatte

The Battle of Westerplatte was the very first battle that took place after Germany invaded Poland and World War II began in Europe. During the first week of September 1939, a Military Transit Depot on the peninsula of Westerplatte, manned by fewer than 200 Polish soldiers, held out for seven days...

or Polish 1st Warsaw Armoured Brigade (Polish: 1 Warszawska Brygada Pancerna) was a military unit in the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie. It was formed on August 19, 1943 from a regiment (pułk) of the same name.

The unit fought at the Battle of Lenino

Battle of Lenino

The Battle of Lenino was a tactical World War II engagement that took place between October 12 and October 13th, 1943, north of the village of Lenino in the Mogilev region of Byelorussia...

 (September 1943) and at the Battle of Studzianki

Battle of Studzianki

The Battle of Studzianki, was a tactical engagement between the elements of the Red Army's 2nd Tank Army employed as the Cavalry mechanized group of the 1st Belorussian Front and elements of the German 9th Army of Army Group North Ukraine defending south of Warsaw...

 during the Lublin-Brest Offensive (Magnuszew

Magnuszew

Magnuszew is a village in Kozienice County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Magnuszew. It lies approximately north-west of Kozienice and south-east of Warsaw....

 bridegheads in August 1944). From mid-August it was subordinate to the Polish First Army

First Polish Army (1944-1945)

The Polish First Army was a Polish Army unit formed in the Soviet Union in 1944, from the previously existing Polish I Corps as part of the People's Army of Poland . The First Army fought westward, subordinated to the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, during the offensive against Germany that led to...

. Later the unit fought in the East Pomeranian Offensive

East Pomeranian Offensive

The East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive operation was an offensive by the Red Army in its fight against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front...

.

In January 1945 it received another the honorary name, Warszawska (of Warsaw). In July and August 1945 fought against Polish anti-Communist guerilla.

In January 1946 it was downsized to regiment (becoming 1st Warsaw Tank Regiment), and from June it was stationed in the Modlin

Modlin Fortress

Modlin Fortress is one of the biggest 19th century fortresses in Poland. It is located the town of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki in district Modlin on the Narew river, some 50 kilometres north of Warsaw...

 area.

Popular culture

The Polish TV series Czterej pancerni i pies

Czterej pancerni i pies

Czterej pancerni i pies was a Polish black and white TV series based on the book by Janusz Przymanowski. Made between 1966 and 1970, the series is composed of 21 episodes of 55 minutes each, divided into three seasons. It is set in 1944 and 1945, during World War Two, and follows the adventures of...

(Four tank men and a dog) featured the adventures of a tank crew from this brigade.