We are pleased to share the programme of the annual commemorations of the closure of the Falaise-Chambois gap, organised by the Orne department and the National Association of the Remembrance of the 1st Polish Armoured Division.
The participation is expected to be large, as the Polish delegations will include more than 80 soldiers from the Polish Armed Forces Command, the 11th Armoured Cavalry Division Lubuska, the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade and the 21st Podhale Rifle Brigade.
In addition to the times of homage planned as each year in the Orne and Calvados, a ceremony is planned in Val-Couesnon, where soldiers of the independant brigade of Podhale rifles fell on 18 June 1940, defending the “Bretany redoubt”.
Finally, this 2022 edition has a particularly symbolic aspect, as it marks the 75th anniversary of the “ANS 1re DB”. It was in 1947 that General Maczek’s veterans who had settled in France after the war founded this association with the aim of helping each other and passing on the memory of their unit, as well as to honor comrades who had fallen on French soil.
Friday 19th August
Villemontaine (La Fontenelle, Val-Couesnon)
- 11.00 am: tribute to the Podhale soldiers who felt on 18 June 1940 while defending the “Bretany redoubt” against the XV. Panzerkorps.
Saturday 20th August
Chambois
- 9am: mass in the church of Saint-Martin
- 10.15 am : wreath laying at the crossroads of victory
Montormel (Memorial will be closed to visits until 2 PM)
- 11.00am : tribute to General Maczek, wreath laying
- 13h00 : cocktail, wreath laying at the church of Coudehard by the delegation of the 21. BSP
Soignolles
- 17h00 : ceremony in memory of the soldiers of the 10. PSK fallen during the liberation of the village
Saint-Sylvain
- 18h00 : ceremony in memory of the soldiers of the Podhale battalion of the 1st polish armoured division killed for the liberation of the commune
- 7.00 pm: cocktail party
Sunday 21st August
Urville-Langannerie Polish military cemetery
- 9.30 am: mass
- 11.00 am: civil and military ceremony, wreath laying, rekindling of the flame of remembrance
Potigny
- 12:00 pm: ceremony on the place of the 1st Polish armoured division
- 12:30 pm: glass of cider at the town hall
Notice on wreath laying
The organisers would like to point out that the possibility of laying a wreath is conditional on the prior receipt of a nominal invitation, and on the confirmation by the person concerned of the wish to lay. No undeclared associations shall disrupt protocol to lay flowers taken out of their car at the last minute.