1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

POLISH AIRBORNE IN STAMFORD

The Headquarters of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade was in Rock House, Stamford, from July 1944 until May 1945, and most of its units were based within the triangle bounded by Stamford – Corby – Peterborough.  In May 1945, the Brigade was transferred to Germany on occupation duties.

Creation of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

Colonel Stanislaw Sosabowski had been the Deputy Commander of the 4th Polish Infantry Division in France at the time of his evacuation to Britain in June 1940.  In October 1940, he was given command of the 4th Polish Rifle Brigade, based in Scotland and charged with coastal defence.  

Some of Sosabowski’s men volunteered for commando and parachute training in preparation for returning to Poland to help the underground army.  On their return from parachute training, the volunteers’ enthusiasm for it was infectious, spreading to Sosabowski himself, who decided to form a Polish Parachute Brigade that could eventually be dropped direct into Poland.  He began unofficially organizing and training his men as paratroops: unlike the British, he did not give them the choice of volunteering but decided that everyone fit enough would become a paratrooper.

In September 1941, Sosabowski’s brigade officially became the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade and was to be used specially for operations in Poland.

Operation MARKET GARDEN

After breaking out of the Normandy beachhead in August 1944, Allied troops advanced rapidly through France and Belgium.  Many planned Allied Airborne operations were cancelled before they were launched because Allied ground forces had already captured the target areas.

On 17 September 1944, the British 1st Airborne Division and the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were finally launched into action in Operation MARKET GARDEN.  The British were to capture key river bridges at Arnhem, and the Americans those around Nijmegen and Eindhoven, and hold them until Allied ground forces advanced to meet them.  

The plan for capturing the Arnhem bridges called for parts of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade to land by glider on 18 and 19 September, bringing in artillery and other support troops.  The bulk of the Brigade was to parachute on the southern bank of the Neder Rijn river on 19 September to reinforce the southern flank of the British troops, who should have by then captured the bridges.   

Unfortunately, events did not go according to plan.  The Polish paratroops - flying from Saltby and Spanhoe airfields were initially scheduled to land at Arnhem on 19 September but bad weather throughout the East Midlands delayed their arrival at Arnhem, part of the force arriving on 21 September and part on 23 September. 

One positive consequence of these delayed landings to the south of the river was that they diverted some German troops away from attacking the British troops trapped in Oosterbeek on the north of the river.  During the night of 23/24 September, some Polish paratroops managed to cross the river and join the British in Oosterbeek but, despite their vigorous efforts, their contribution was too late to alter the course of the battle.  During the night of 25/26 September, the Polish troops helped cover the withdrawal of 1st Airborne Division survivors south across the river.  

The Poles had suffered heavy casualties for little gain: ‘One thousand seven hundred Polish troops parachuted or glided into Holland; 1,310 marched out.’ 1 Major General Sosabowski later suffered a further blow when he was ‘controversially removed from command in December 1944, following sustained criticism by Lt Gen Browning, with whom Sosabowski had an acrimonious relationship.  This treatment of Sosabowski, and by implication 1st Polish Para Brigade, was considered to be an injustice by many of the British airborne veterans who served and fought alongside the Poles in World War II.’ 2

• 1

  Sosabowski, Stanislaw. Freely I Served: The Memoir of the Commander, 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade 1941–1944 (p. 238). Pen & Sword Books. Kindle Edition.

• 2

  Paradata - A Living History of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces, https://www.paradata.org.uk/unit/1st-polish-independent-parachute-brigade [accessed 7 April 2023]