3rd Polish Infantry Brigade The 3rd Polish Infantry Brigade ( " 3 Brygada Strzelców " ) was a Polish infantry brigade which served during World War II . Together with the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade they formed part of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and was created from Polish soldiers who had already escaped from Poland to France , and after the fall of France made their way to Great Britain . Their wartime headquarters were in Biggar High School , South Lanarkshire Formation . 3rd Polish Infantry Brigade ( " 3 Brygada Strzelców " ) - Col . Marian Wieroński : Normandy . By the end of July 1944 the Brigade together with the rest of 1st Polish Armoured Division was transferred to Normandy . The final elements arrived on August 1 and the unit was attached to the First Canadian Army . It entered combat on August 8 during Operation Totalize . The division twice suffered serious bombings by Allied aircraft yet it achieved a brilliant victory against the " Wehrmacht " in the battles for Mont Ormel , Hill 262 and the town of Chambois . This series of offensive and defensive operations came to be known as the Battle of Falaise in which a large number of German " Wehrmacht " and SS divisions were trapped in the Falaise pocket and subsequently destroyed . 1st Polish Armoured Division , including the 3rd Polish Infantry Brigade had the crucial role of closing the pocket and closing the escape route of the German divisions , hence the fighting was absolutely desperate and the 2nd Polish Armoured , 24th Polish Lancers and 10th Dragoons , supported by the 8th Infantry and 9th Infantry Battalions took the brunt of German attacks trying to break free from the pocket . Surrounded and running out of ammunition they withstood incessant attacks from multiple fleeing panzer divisions for 48 hours until they were relieved . Belgium and the Netherlands . After the Allied armies broke out from Normandy , the Brigade was involved in the pursuit of the Germans along the coast of the English Channel . It liberated , among others , the towns of Ypres , Ghent and Passchendaele . A successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by General Maczek allowed liberation of the city of Breda without any civilian casualties ( October 29 , 1944 ) . The Division spent the winter of 1944 – 1945 on the south bank of the river Rhine , guarding a sector around Moerdijk in the Netherlands . In early 1945 it was transferred to the province of Overijssel and started to push along with the Allies along the Dutch - German border , liberating the eastern parts of the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen with towns such as Emmen , Coevorden and Stadskanaal . Germany . In April 1945 the Brigade entered Germany in the area of Emsland . On May 6 they seized the " Kriegsmarine " naval base in Wilhelmshaven , where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress , naval base , East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions . Here the Division ended the war and was joined by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade . It undertook occupation duties until 1947 , when the division was disbanded , see Haren , Germany . The majority of its soldiers opted not to return to now Soviet occupied Poland and stayed in exile .