Dutch football club NAC Breda have paid tribute to the Polish troops who liberated their city from German occupation by featuring the names of the fallen on the team’s new kit.
Unveiled at a press conference last week, the strip has been released to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Breda’s liberation by troops led by General Stanisław Maczek.
“On 29 October 1944, the First Polish Armoured Division, led by General Maczek, liberated our beautiful city of Breda. Now, 80 years later, we honour these heroic fighters who never gave up and always kept going […] The 40 fighters who gave their lives during the liberation of Breda, so that we can lead ours, are honoured on our home shirt this season” – reads an official statement of the club.
The back of the shirt, meanwhile, is to be embossed with a discreet red-and-white badge bearing the words: “NAC Breda 1944-2024 Dziękuję.”
The white away strip has also been designed to honour Maczek’s soldiers and features an image of them marching through the city’s main square. “On this shirt,” writes the club, “the fighters are literally given a face.”
Formed in Scotland as part of the Polish I Corps, the First Polish Armoured Division was commanded by General Maczek, Poland’s premier mechanised tactician. Transferred to Normandy not long after the D-Day landings in 1944, the unit played a crucial role in closing the Falaise Pocket, thereby trapping several German divisions. Nicknamed the “black devils” by the Germans, Maczek’s troops soon carved a reputation for their courage and willingness to fight. Liberating a string of towns, Saint-Omer, Ypres, Tielt, and Ghent were among those that owed their freedom to the First Polish Armoured Division.
Read more about Gen Maczek here.
Image: X @NACnl
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
