GREAT POLISH GENERALS OF WW2: Introduction

When asked who were the greatest allied generals of World War II, most people would immediately think of Patton, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Montgomery, among others. And rightly so. Their brilliant strategies paved the way towards impressive victories for which they will forever be remembered and glorified.

During World War II all eyes were on the superpowers - the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union but the war was not won by a handful of generals. Many other Allied Generals equally meritorious of recognition had made invaluable contributions to the allied war effort. Beneath the veneer were veritable legions of smaller armies of great soldiers led by generals who served with every bit of courage, military brilliance, and greatness, but whose names have since been forgotten.

Poland was one such nation. Polish military officers of WWII, and the men who followed them have become legendary for their ability to wage battle against even the most powerful of foes. It has always been so. Napoleon Bonaparte had once remarked upon seeing the Polish Legions in battle, that the power of 1,000 Polish soldiers was like that of 10,000 men, so fierce was their motivation to fight and win, whatever the odds.

Germans march into Warsaw WW2

When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, they expected the Poles to surrender in a matter of days, if not a week. But the Soviet invasion on the 17th of September made it imperative for Polish armies to withdraw immediately. Though Poland was jointly occupied in the west and east, and Warsaw had capitulated on September 29th, multitudes of Polish armed forces had re-assembled on foreign soil to continue to do battle against the enemy. To the world, Poland had been conquered. But to the Polish armies, the battle was just beginning.


Numerous Polish generals had served Poland with great distinction in both world wars, including the Polish-Soviet War. This special series focuses on four of Poland's greatest generals of WWII, the battles they fought, (both on and off the battlefields), their struggles, and the men whom they led to victory.

SIKORKSI, ANDERS, MACZEK, and SOSABOWSKI were Polish Generals during World War II. What made them so great lay beyond immediate perception. History has taught us a standard that a great general is one who has been able to conquer, subdue, and destroy the multitudes of peoples. But true greatness does not portend invasion and destruction, but rather the ability to face calamity head on and fight against it with valor and honour.

Unbeknowst to much of the world, the Polish made very significant contributions to assisting the allies towards victory. Their names and the names of their beloved leaders will forever be remembered, as their monuments stand in testament to their Greatness. The following are a few of the other Polish Generals whose valor and self-sacrifice have earned them admiration and respect. (Please note that there will be four other posts in this series.)

POLISH GENERALS OF VALOR

Gen.Wladyslaw Bortnowski

Wladyslaw Bortnowski (1891-1966) was one of the highest ranking generals in the Polish army during WWII. He commanded the Pomorze army, and managed to save a large number of his troops from enemy fire, withdrawing southwards with them to take part in the Battle of Bzura in the September Defensive wars. Initially, the Polish forces achieved success but ultimately failed under a barrage of German counter-attacks. Bortnowski was heavily wounded and taken prisoner by the Germans. He survived the Nazi POW camps and was liberated in 1945.

Awards and Decorations: Virtuti Militari (Silver Cross); Commander of Legion of Honour (France); Cross of Independence, Commander's Cross with Star of Polonia Restituta; Cross of Valor (4x) and Gold Cross of Merit.

General Antoni Chrusciel

Antoni Chruściel(1895-1960) was commander of the Polish underground forces which fought in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, as well as the Chief of Staff of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army). Chrusciel and General "Bor" Komorowski had ordered the full mobilization of troops on August 1st at 17:00 hours. The objective to liberate Warsaw, and all of Poland ended tragically 63 days later. Despite promises by the British and American allies to provide assistance and military intervention to the Polish insurgents, none ever came. Chrusciel was captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in POW camps until liberation in 1945.

Awards and Decorations: Knight's Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Gold Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Silver Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restitua; Cross of Independence; Cross of Valor (4x); Gold Cross of Merit; Armia Krajowa Cross; Medal of Ten Years of Regained Independence Commemorative Medal for War 1918-21; Bronze Medal of Valor (2x); and the Yser Medal (Belgium).

Gen. Boleslaw Bronislaw Duch

Boleslaw Bronislaw Duch (1885-1980) was a Major General. When Poland was invaded in 1939, Duch was able to evade capture by the enemy and withdrew to western Europe, where he served in France as commander of the Polish 1st Grenadier Division in 1940, the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 1st Polish Corps in Scotland (1942-43), and the 3rd Carpathian Infantry Division of the 2nd Polish Corps (1943-46).

Awards and Decorations: Knight's Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Gold Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Silver Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Commander's Cross with Star of the Polonia Restituta, Cross of Merit with Swords, Cross of Valour (8x), Cross of Independence, Gold Cross of Merit with Swords, Gold; Cross of Merit, Military Cross, and Inter-Allied Medal.

Emil August "Nil" Fieldorf

Emil August "Nil" Fieldorf (March 20, 1895 - February 24, 1953) was a Brigadier General and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army). During the invasion of Poland, he commanded his regiment but was defeated by the Germans on the night of September 8-9, 1939. He attempted to escape, dressed in civilian clothing but was arrested at the Slovak border and interned. Several weeks later he escaped and joined the Polish army in France. After several months he made a perilous circuitous route back to Poland and joined the Polish Underground. A year later he was given command of the Kedyw (Special Operations executive). He planned and instigated the successful assassination of Nazi SS Franz Kutschera on February 2 1944. After the tragic collapse of the Warsaw Uprising, Fieldorf was arrested by Soviet NKVD and sent to a labor camp. At the time the Soviets did not know his real identity and had released him in 1947. But he was recaptured in 1948 as a result of a false offer of "amnesty" subjected to a mock trial. He was executed on April 16, 1952.

Awards and Decorations: Gold Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Silver Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Cross of Independence; Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Cross of Valour (4x); Gold Cross of Merit; and Merit Forces Central Lithuania.The Order of the White Eagle was conferred posthumously in 2006.

 Michal T. Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski

Michal Tadeusz Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski (January 5, 1839-May 22, 1964) was a General who founded the resistance movement "Polish Victory Service". During the September Campaign of 1939 he commanded the Operation group of the Armia Pomorze (Pomeranian Army). He fought in the Battle of Bzura and the Defense of Warsaw, serving as second-in-command of Armia Warszawa, under the command of General Juliusz Rommel. At the end of September he became commanding officer of the "3rd Lwow area of the ZWZY" but was arrested and imprisoned by the Soviet NKVD. After his release from prison in 1941, Michal was given command of the "6th Infantry Division" of the Polish Army in Russia, that came to be known as "Ander's Army". From March 1943 until the following year he served as second-in-command of the Polish Army in the East, and in 1944 became commander of the 3rd Polish Corps formed in Egypt. After the war he remained in London in exile.

Awards and Decorations: Commander of the Virtuti Militari Order; Commander of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Cross of Independence with Swords; Cross of Valor (4x); Gold Cross of Merit with Swords (2x);and the Order of the White Eagle (conferred posthumously in 1964).

General Tadeusz Pełczyński

Tadeusz Pełczyński (February 14, 1892-January 3, 1985) was a General, intelligence officer and Chief of the Polish General Staff, Section II (Military Intelligence). He was also Chief of Staff, and Deputy Commander of the ZWZ Armia Krajowa (Home Army). Pelczynski commanded numerous sabotage operations conducted by special Kedyw units which succeeded in destroying thousands of enemy targets, including railway lines and transport vehicules of the German Wehrmacht. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising, but five weeks into the fighting he was gravely wounded when the PKO bank on Swietokrzyska Street was bombed. When the Uprising came to an end, Pelczynski was taken prisoner by the Germans and interned at concentration camps at Langwasser and at Colditz. He was liberated by the allies in 1945. Pelcyznski's greatest contribution to the war effort occurred just shortly before WWII broke out. It was his wish that the Enigma Secret (which the Poles had cracked) should be smuggled out of the country and given to the British as a gift. Had it not been for the Polish contribution, the war might have been lost.Gordon Welchman, former mathematician-cryptologist of Britain's Bletchley Park wrote thus: "Ultra would never have gotten off the ground if we had not learned from the Poles, in the nick of time, the details both of the German military [Enigma Machine] and of the operating procedures that were in use."

Awards and Decorations:  Gold Cross of Order of the Virtuti Militari; Silver Cross of Order of Virtuti Militari; Cross of Independence; Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Cross of Valour (3x); Gold Cross of Merit; and Home Army Cross.

General Ludomił Antoni Rayski

Ludomił Antoni Rayski (1892-1977) was a Polish pilot, engineer and military officer. During the interwar years he served as Commander of the Polish Air Force and was instrumental in the modernization of Polish military aviation. He also served in the Austro-Hungarian Army, Polish Legion, French Air Force, French Foreign Legion and Royal Air Force. Despite his illustrious military career he was a controversial figure. Thrust into circumstances beyond his control, he refused to submit to allegations of wrong-doing.

After the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, Rayski along with many other high-ranking officers evacuated and headed for France through Romania and Hungary. Many Polish soldiers and officers never made it to France as they were captured and interned. When Rayski finally arrived in France he reported to General Zajac, ready for duty in the PAF, but was flatly refused. Apparently, Rayski and many other Polish officers were made scapegoats for the Polish defeat in the September Campaign. In protest, he wrote a memo to all the Polish officers criticizing the matter. Polish Command ordered him to report for duty at Carisay, but when Rayski refused he was court martialled and sentenced to ten months imprisonment for insubordination. The sentence was not carried out but instead Rayski was demoted and left without a job.

Though he attempted to volunteer for active duty elsewhere he was rejected, first by the French L'Armee de l'Air, and then by the Finnish Air Force after they had employed him only briefly. After the German invasion of France, Rayski escaped to England along with many other Polish forces, but met with more tribulation, and was interned at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, in Scotland. After two months he was released and was permitted to transport planes for the allies between Asia and North Africa.

With the tragic accident of General Sikorski on July 4, 1943, the new commander, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski allowed Rayski to return to active service. At the same time Sosnkowski resumed the court martial proceedings and in the following year after a trial by jury, Rayski was finally acquitted of all charges and the verdict declared him not guilty. Throughout his service with the RAF, Rayski flew a total of 1,519 hours of combat. However, he was never given back his rank as General.

Awards and Decorations: Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari; Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Officer's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Cross of Independence; Cross of Valor (4x); Gold Cross of Merit (2x); Warsaw Uprising Cross; Order of the Cross of the Eagle Class II (Estonia); Officer of the Legion of Honour (France); Distinguished Service Order (UK); Air Force Cross (UK); Italy Star (UK); Gallipoli Star (Ottoman Empire); Field Pilot Badge; and Badge for wounds and injuries (3x).

Józef Ludwik Zając

Józef Ludwik Zając (1891-1963) was a Polish pilot and General. He had graduated from Jagiellonian University with a PhD in philosophy in 1915. In 1912 he joined the Riflemen's Association and enrolled in an officer's training program. During World War I he commanded several regiments of the famous Polish Legions, and joined the Blue Army of General Jozef Haller.  Zajac fought in the latter phase of the Polish-Soviet War and became Chief of Staff of the Operational Group "Wisla" of several Polish army divisions.

During the interwar period he attended the military college in France, Ecole Superieure de Guerre and in 1924 he was promoted to Brigade General.  By February 1939 he had replaced General Ludomil Rayski as Commander of the Polish Air Force. Zajac was a firm proponent of the theory of air superiority in which he placed greater emphasis on fighter planes than bombers, but there was no time to exploit these ideas. When WW2 broke out, Zajac escaped and made his way to France. When France was invaded he evacuated to England and was appointed Deputy Commander of the Polish 1 Corps. The following year he was commander of the Polish Air Force in the Middle East, then promoted to Division General. He served also as Deputy Commander of the Polish Army in the Middle East until 1943.  At the end of WW2 he settled in Edinburgh where he earned another PhD in philosophy and devoted his life work to academia. During his career he published numerous books on the subject of psychology, military science, as well as his memoirs.

Honours and Awards: Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari; Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Cross of Independence; Cross of Valor (4x); Gold Cross of Merit with Swords; Merit of the Forces in Central Lithuania; Military Merit Cross (Austro-Hungary); Companion of the Order of the Bath (UK); and the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (France).

Brg. Gen.Elzbieta Zawacka

Elżbieta "Zo" Zawacka (March 19, 1909 - January 10, 2009) graduated from the University of Poznan majoring in mathematics and worked as a teacher. At the same time she was working secretly as an instructor for an underground paramilitary organization for women, the Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet (PWK). When World War II broke out she became the Commander of the the PWK and led the defence of the city of Lwow.  A month later she joined the Silesian branch of the ZWZ and the following year relocated to Warsaw to begin working as a courier transporting documents from nazi-occupied Poland to London and back. She also organized routes for the other couriers. She was appointed Deputy of Zagroda, the Department of Foreign Communication of the Home Army. Zawacka was retained as SOE agent for England and travellied across perilous routes through Germany, France, and Spain to Gibraltar. From there she was transported by plane to London where she commenced intensive training in parachute jumping. On September 10, 1943 she was dropped into Poland and was the only woman to have been a member of the famous Cichociemni. Zawacka fought in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.After Warsaw surrendered, she relocated to Krakow and continued her underground activities. In 1945, she joined an anti-communist organization called Freedom and Independence but resigned soonafter to commence a teaching position.

In 1951 Zawacka was arrested and tortured by the notorious Soviet Urzad Bezpieczenstwa (Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). She was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for treason and espionage but sentence was commuted and she was freed in 1955.

Henceforth she resumed her academic studies enrolling at Gdansk University for a doctorate degree, Zawacka became a tenured professor at the Institute of Pedagogy at Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń where she founded the department of Andragogy. During the 1980s she participated in the Solidarnosc movement.

On May 3, 2006 President Lech Kaczynski promoted Elzbieta Zawacka to rank of Brigadier General of the Polish Army. She was the second and last women in the history of the Polish Army to have received such an honour.

Awards and Decorations:  Order of the White Eagle; Order of Virtuti Militari; Silver Cross (2x); Cross of Valor (5x); Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Officer's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta; Gold Cross of Merit with Swords; Home Army Cross; Army Medal; Medal Pro Memoria.

NEXT:

GENERAL WLADYLSAW SIKORSKI
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REMEMBRANCE: BATTLE OF ARNHEM

Stanisław Sosabowski: Niepokorny generał 

Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade

The Battle of Arnhem code-named Operation Market Garden was fought in The Netherlands from September 7 to 25, 1944 by Allied forces of the United Kingdom, United States, Free Polish, Dutch Resistance, and Canada. It called for the seizure of bridges across the Meuse River and two arms of the Rhine (the Waal and the Lower Rhine) as well as several smaller canals and tributaries. The Allies hoped that by crossing the Lower Rhine that they would outflank the Siegfried Line and encircle the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland.

The Operation was the largest airborne operation in history, delivering over 34,600 men of the 101st, 82nd and 1st Airborne Divisions and the Polish Brigade.  Over 2,000 transport aircraft and 478 gliders including the famous Polish 303 Squadron set off as an airborne armada to breach the western defences and open up the German plains for the final assault on Berlin.  14,589 troops were landed by glider and 20,011 by parachute. Gliders also brought in 1,736 vehicles and 263 artillery pieces. 3,342 tons of ammunition and other supplies were brought by glider and parachute drop.

C-47s Loading

Allied High Command were convinced that German resistance had broken as most of the German Fifteenth Army was withdrawing without sign of any Panzergruppen. Allied Command assessed that the XXX Corps would face only a limited resistance along Highway 69. (The German army had suffered heavy losses and a string of defeats between June 6 and August 14: 23,019 killed in action, 198,616 missing or taken prisoner and 67,240 wounded.)

However, German Command was receiving intelligence reports of a planned Allied attack and intensified their positions with reinforcements. By September 16th, Panzer divisions were mobilizing towards Nijmegen and Arnhem. British intelligence detected an increase in movements and relayed the information to senior Allied Commanders, but the news was not passed further down the chain of command. On September 10, General Eisenhower immediately sent his Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, to raise the issue with Montgomery but Montgomery refused to change the plans for the landing of 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem.

Major Brian Urquhart, the Chief Intelligence Officer of the Allied Division attempted to intervene and arranged an emergency meeting with Browning to apprise him of the present danger to the men of the 1st Airborne Division, but was rebuffed. Browning had subsequently ordered the senior medical officer of the division to send Urquhart on sick leave on the grounds of "nervous strain and exhaustion." Aerial photographs of Arnhem taken by reconnaissance confirmed the location of German Panzer Divisions.

General Sosabowski’s rebuff and criticism of the plans for Market Garden set the tone of a long campaign under Browning’s direction to discredit the Polish contribution and undermine the leadership of Sosabowski.

Left: Polish General Sosabowski and Gen. Browning

Initially Operation Market Garden opened with Allied success all round. On September 17, the first landing, almost all troops arrived on top of their drop zones without incident. In the 82nd Airborne Division, 89% of troops landed on or within 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) of their drop zones and 84% of gliders landed on or within 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) of their landing zones. In the south the 101st met little resistance and captured four of five bridges. To their north the 82nd arrived and the small group dropped near Grave took the bridge in a rush. They also succeeded in capturing one of the vitally important bridges over the Maas-Waal canal, the lock-bridge at Heumen

The 1st Airborne Division landed at 13:30 without serious incident but problems associated with the poor plan began soon after.

Only half of the Division arrived with the First Lift and only half of these (1st Parachute Brigade) could advance on the bridge. The remaining troops had to defend the drop zones overnight for the arrival of the Second Lift on the following day. Thus the Division's primary objective had to be tackled by less than half a brigade. While the paratroopers marched eastwards to Arnhem, the Reconnaissance Squadron was to race to the bridge in their jeeps and hold it until the rest of the Brigade arrived. The unit set off to the bridge late and having travelled only a short distance the vanguard was halted by a strong German defensive position; the squadron could make no further progress.

This had grave consequences. Five hours after the initial landing, feeling that the British were tied down in Arnhem, the Reconnaissance Battalion of the 9th Waffen-SS Panzer Division was able to cross the Arnhem bridge and drive to Nijmegen and the bridge over the Waal branch of the Rhine. No British airborne unit was at the bridge.

Two of the three battalions of the 1st Parachute Brigade were slowed down by small German units of a training battalion which had quickly established a thin blocking line covering the obvious routes into Arnhem. Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost's 2nd Battalion, advancing eastwards along the southernmost road into Arnhem near the Rhine, found its route largely undefended. They arrived at the bridge in the evening and set up defensive positions at the north end. Two attempts to capture the arched steel bridge and its southern approach failed. Of the other battalions, the 3rd had only covered half the distance to the bridge when they halted for the night, the rear of their column being under attack and needing time to catch up. The 1st Battalion was similarly fragmented, yet pushed on around the flank of the German line throughout the night. Frequent skirmishes resulted in their making little more progress.

The 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions pushed towards the Arnhem bridge during the early hours of September 18 and made good progress but they were frequently halted in skirmishes as soon as it became light.  By the end of the day the 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions had entered Arnhem and were within 2 km (1 mile) of the bridge with approximately 200 men, one-sixth their original strength. Most of the officers and non-commissioned officers had been killed, wounded or captured. The Second Lift was delayed by fog and jumped onto a landing zone under heavy attack but landed at full strength (the 4th Parachute Brigade consisting of the 10th, 11th and 156th Battalions of the Parachute Regiment, commanded by Brigadier-General John Winthrop Hackett) and C and D Companies of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment.

During the early morning hours of September 19, the 1st Parachute Brigade began its attack towards Arnhem Bridge, with the 1st Battalion leading supported by remnants of the 3rd Battalion, with the 2nd South Staffordshires on the 1st Battalion's left flank and the 11th Battalion following. As soon as it became light the 1st Battalion was spotted and halted by fire from the main German defensive line. Trapped in open ground and under heavy fire from three sides, the 1st Battalion disintegrated and what remained of the 3rd Battalion fell back. The 2nd South Staffordshires were similarly cut off and, save for about 150 men, overcome by midday. The 11th Battalion, (which had stayed out of much of the fighting) was then overwhelmed in exposed positions while attempting to capture high ground to the north. With no hope of breaking through, the 500 remaining men of these four battalions withdrew westwards in the direction of the main force, 5 km (3 miles) away in Oosterbeek.

The 2nd Battalion and attached units (approximately 600 men) were still in control of the northern approach ramp to the Arnhem bridge. The Germans recognized that they would not be moved by infantry attacks such as those that had been bloodily repulsed on the previous day so instead they heavily shelled the short British perimeter with mortars, artillery and tanks; systematically demolishing each house to enable their infantry to exploit gaps and dislodge the defenders. Although in battle against enormous odds, the British clung to their positions and much of the perimeter was held.

September 20: British positions around the north end of Arnhem bridge had weakened considerably. Casualties, mostly wounded, were high from constant shelling. An acute lack of ammunition especially anti-tank munitions, enabled enemy armour to demolish British positions from point-blank range. Food, water and medical supplies were scarce, and so many buildings were on fire and in such serious danger of collapse that a two-hour truce was arranged to evacuate the wounded.

At Arnhem the British 1st Airborne Division met far stronger resistance than anticipated. When ground forces failed to relieve them in time, they were overrun on the 21st. The rest of the division were trapped in a small pocket west of the bridge and had to be evacuated on the 25th. The Allies had failed to cross the Rhine in sufficient force. It remained a barrier to Allied advance until March 1945. The failure of Market Garden ended Allied expectations of finishing the war in 1944.

101st Airborne Division

82nd Airborne Division

British Troops of the 1st Airborne Emplaning

Polish Paratroopers

Aerial View of Glider Landings Arnhem

British XXX Corps cross bridge at Nijmegen

The Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade under the command of Major-General Stanislaw Sosabowski entered the battle on the afternoon of September 21st. Two of the brigade's three battalions were caught in the midst of heavy German gun fire opposite the 1st Airborne Division's position on a new drop zone south of the Rhine near the village of Driel. Furthermore, badly coordinated drops by the RAF resulted in supplies landing 15 km (9 miles) off target on the opposite side of the Rhine.

Polish Soldiers at Driel

September 22 " Black Friday"  The Germans shelled and mortared the airborne positions heavily. By the end of the battle over 110 guns had been brought to Oosterbeek.. Attacks were limited, conducted against specific positions and even individual houses. The survivors of the 1st Airborne were outnumbered 4 to 1.

The Polish 1st Parachute Brigade at Driel, unable to cross the Rhine, nonetheless forced a redeployment of German forces. Fearing a Polish attempt to recapture Arnhem bridge or, worse, an attempt to cut the road to the south and so trap the 10th SS Panzer Division then blocking the route of the Guards Armoured Division to Arnhem, the Germans withdrew 2,400 troops from Oosterbeek. They were moved south of the river to engage the Polish paratroopers at Driel, making attacks to little effect through the day.

Lacking assault craft, British and Polish engineers on both sides of the Rhine had labored throughout the day to improvise a crossing using small boats linked by signals cable, but the cable kept breaking. An unsuccessful attempt was made that night to move Polish troops across the river. They resorted to slowly rowing across the strong current which brought them under enemy fire.

Of the 8th Polish Parachute Company, only 52 soldiers survived the crossing.

Though much of the corridor was firmly in Allied hands, German counterattacks were still being mounted along its length. During the previous night, two mixed armoured formations on either side of Highway 69 attacked between Veghel and Grave; one group managed to cut the highway and prevent any further advance to Arnhem.

September 23 The Germans had figured out what the Poles were attempting to do and they spent the rest of the day trying to cut off the British in their northern bridgehead from the riverside. The British managed to hold on and both sides suffered heavy losses. The Germans also attacked the Poles on the south side in order to tie them down but several tanks arrived from XXX Corps and they were beaten off. Boats and engineers from the Canadian army also arrived that day and another river crossing that night landed 150 troops of the Polish 3rd Parachute Battalion on the north bank of the Rhine.

September 24 Another German unit cut the road to the south of Veghel and set up defensive positions for the night. It was not clear to the Allies at this point how much of a danger this represented but the principal objective of Operation Market Garden, i.e. the Allied crossing of the Rhine, was abandoned this day and the decision made to go over to the defensive with a new front line in Nijmegen. Nonetheless, an attempt was made on Sunday night to reinforce the 1st Airborne Division with the 4th Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment. Two companies were put across the river but the location of the crossing point was ill-advised and the Dorsets landed among German positions. Fragmented by their landing and immediately pinned down, of the 315 men who crossed only 75 reached Oosterbeek; the remainder were taken prisoner. As a result of this failure, it was decided to withdraw the 1st Airborne Division from its bridgehead on the northern side of the Rhine.

September 25 The 1st Airborne Division received orders to withdraw across the Rhine. They could not do so until nightfall, and in the meantime struggled to survive.  Meanwhile the Germans formed two potent SS battlegroups and made a significant thrust along a narrow front in the eastern sector. They were able to break through and for some time the Allied division was in peril. The attack met with increasing resistance as it pushed deeper into the British lines and was finally broken up by a heavy bombardment of the 64th Medium Regiment.

Employing every ruse to give the Germans the impression that their positions were unchanged, the 1st Airborne Division began its withdrawal at 22:00. British and Canadian engineer units ferried the troops across the Rhine, covered by the Polish 3rd Parachute Battalion on the north bank. By early the next morning they had withdrawn 2,398 survivors, leaving 300 men to surrender on the north bank at first light, when German fire prevented their rescue.

Of approximately 10,600 men of the 1st Airborne Division and other units who fought north of the Rhine, 1,485 were killed and 6,414 were taken prisoner of whom one third were wounded.

To the south the newly-arrived 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division attacked the Germans holding the highway and secured it by the next day. Allied positions in the Nijmegen Salient were manned throughout the rest of September and October by airborne units, then handed over to the First Canadian Army in November 1944 and remained unchanged until February 1945 when Operation Veritable was launched on the Rhineland, advancing east instead of north towards Arnhem.

British 1st Parachute Battalion

After having failed to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine, the Allies launched offensives on two fronts in the south of the Netherlands in order to secure shipping in the port of Antwerp;  advancing northwards and westwards taking the Scheldt Estuary in the Battle of the Scheldt. They also advanced eastwards in Operation Aintree in order to secure the banks of the Meuse as a natural boundary for the established salient. This attack on the German bridgehead west of the Meuse near Venlo was for the Allies an unexpectedly protracted affair, which included the Battle of Overloon.

Nijmegen after battle September 28, 1944

In February 1945, Allied forces in Operation Veritable advanced from the Groesbeek heights which had been taken during Market Garden, and into Germany crossing the Rhine in March during Operation Plunder. Arnhem was finally liberated by I Canadian Corps on April 14, 1945 after two days of fighting. A surrender of the remaining German forces in the west of the Netherlands was signed on May 5.

People of the Dutch resistance helping to find Germans and guide the Allies in the fields

A tragic consequence of Operation Market Garden was the Hongerwinter (Hungerwinter). During the battle Dutch railway workers, encouraged by the Dutch government in London, went on strike with the intention of helping the Allied assault. In retaliation Germany blocked the transportation of food and in the following winter thousands of Dutch citizens starved to death.

Suggested Links:
Operation Market Garden
1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade
1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade - Chart
Sosabowski

Polish Greatness.com


sources:  Wikipedia