Following the formation of the 1st Polish Armoured Division in February 1942, Polish troops under the command of General Stanisław Maczek trained in Perthshire, East Lothian, Berwickshire, and East Anglia before taking part in the Normandy landings of 1944. In the Normandy campaign they played a conspicuous part in the Battle of the Falaise Gap, and in the liberation of the Netherlands and defeat of the Third Reich. After the war and the Communist take-over in Poland, many of the Polish soldiers in the West, including General Maczek, were unwilling to return to Poland, where their personal freedom was far from assured. Many settled in Britain, particularly in Scotland.