131st Armoured Division Centauro in late 1942. On 13 December, during the Battle of El Agheila, the Centauro - along with a strong formation from the 132nd Armoured Division Ariete- forced the British 7th Armoured Division to retreat. Rommel gave significant praise of Italian conduct during this action. They were involved in several actions in Tunisia and, according to US historian Brian John Murphy, overran a part of the US forces defending Highway 13 during the Battle of the Kasserine Pass: "Axis forces also made a breakthrough on Highway 13, where the Italians of the Centauro Division spearheaded the attack. In the early morning
1st Armoured Division (Poland) and then France in 1940, the remaining Poles that had fought in both campaigns retreated with the British Army to the United Kingdom. Stationed in Scotland the Polish 1st Armoured Division was formed as part of the Polish I Corps under Wladyslaw Sikorski, which guarded approximately 200 kilometres of British coast in 1940-1941. The commander of the Division, General Stanislaw Maczek, was Poland’s premier mechanized commander, and many of his subordinate officers from the unit he commanded in 1939, the 10th Mechanized Brigade, had made their way to Britain with him. They were organized on the British Armoured Division model,