General Stanisław Maczek ([staˈɲiswav ˈmat͡ʂɛk]; 31 March 1892 – 11 December 1994) was a Polish tank commander of World War II, whose division was instrumental in the Allied liberation of France, closing the Falaise pocket, resulting in the destruction of 14 German Wehrmacht and SS divisions. A veteran of World War I, the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Bolshevik Wars, Maczek was the commander of Poland's only major armoured formation during the September 1939 campaign, and later commanded a Polish armoured formation in France in 1940. He was the commander of the famous 1st Polish Armoured Division, and later of the I Polish Army Corps under Allied Command in 1942–45.

Maczek commanded the First Armoured Division until the end of European hostilities and was promoted to major-general. After the capitulation of Germany he went on to command the Polish I Corps and became commanding officer of all Polish forces in the United Kingdom until their demobilization in 1947.

Maczek left the army on 9 September 1948. After the war, the General was stripped of Polish citizenship by the Communist government of the People's Republic of Poland, and thus had to remain in Britain. As he was not considered by the British to be an Allied soldier, he was denied combatant rights and refused a military pension. As a result, until the 1960s he was forced to do menial work as a bartender at an Edinburgh hotel. In 1989, the last Communist Prime Minister of Poland issued a public apology and in 1994 he was presented with Poland's highest state decoration, the Order of the White Eagle.

Lieutenant General Stanisław Maczek died on 11 December 1994, at the age of 102. According to his last wish, he was laid to rest among his soldiers at the Polish military cemetery in Breda, the Netherlands. Each year during Liberation Day festivities, Breda is visited by a large Polish contingent and the city devotes part of the festivities to the fallen Polish soldiers.

Description is not connected to the giveaway. It's a part of my social project.