Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade
The Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute brigade under command of Maj.Gen. Stanislaw Sosabowski, created in Scotland in September 1941 with the exclusive mission to drop into occupied Poland in order to help liberate the country.
Polish Paratroopers about to board a C47.
The unit was eventually used during Operation Market Garden in 1944. The anti tank battery went into Arnhem during the first days of the battle, supporting the British paratroopers at Oosterbeek. This left Sosabowski without any anti tank capability. The light artillery battery was left behind in England due to a shortage of gliders. Owing to bad weather and a shortage of transport planes, the drop into Driel, was delayed 2 days. Finally the 2nd Battalion and elements of the 3rd Battalion with also the support troops from the brigades Medical Company, Engineer Company, and HQ Company were dropped under German fire East of Driel. They over ran Driel, after it was realised that the Heveadorp ferry had been destroyed. In Driel, the Polish Paratroopers set up a defensive "Hedgehog" position, from which over the next two nights further attempts to cross the Rhine were made.
Map detailing the landing areas of the British Parachute/Airlanding Brigades and the Polish Brigade.
The following day, the Poles were able to produce some make shift boats and attempted the crossing. With great difficulty and under German fire from the heights of Westerbouwing at the northern bank of the river, the 8th Parachute Company and later additional troops from 3rd Battalion, managed to cross the Rhine in two attempts. In total about 200 Polish Paratroopers made it across in two days, and were able to cover the subsequent withdrawal of the remnants of the British 1st Airborne Division.
Polish Paratroops on the bank of the river.
On the 26th of September 1944, the brigade (now including the 1st Battalion and elements of the 3rd Battalion, who were parachuted near to Grave on the 23rd September) was ordered to march in the direction of Nijmegen. The brigade had lost 23% of its fighting strength, amounting to 400 casualties.
This picture shows the extent of the battle that took place in Arnhem during Operation Market Garden.