Polish general
Stanisław Franciszek Sosabowski
CBE
(
Polish pronunciation:
[sta??iswaf
s?sa?b?fsk?i]
; 8 May 1892 ? 25 September 1967) was a Polish general in World War II.
[1]
He fought in the
Polish Campaign
of 1939 and at the
Battle of Arnhem
(
Netherlands
), as a part of
Operation Market Garden
, in 1944 as commander of the
Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade
.
Early military career
[
edit
]
Early years and studies
[
edit
]
Stanisław Sosabowski was born on 8 May 1892 in
Stanislau
(
Polish
:
Stanisławow
), in what was then
Austria-Hungary
and is now Ivano-Frankivsk in western
Ukraine
. His father was a railway worker. Sosabowski graduated from a local
gymnasium
and in 1910 he was accepted as a student of the faculty of economy of the
Jagiellonian University
in
Krakow
. However, the death of his father and the poor financial situation of his family forced him to abandon his studies and return to Stanislau. There he became a member of
Dru?yny Strzeleckie
, a semi-clandestine Polish national
paramilitary
organisation. He was soon promoted to the head of all Polish
Scouting
groups in the area.
[
citation needed
]
World War I
[
edit
]
In 1913, Sosabowski was drafted into the
Austro-Hungarian
Army. After training, he was promoted to the rank of
corporal
, serving in the 58th Infantry Regiment. After the outbreak of World War I he fought with his unit against the
Imperial Russian Army
in the battles of Rzeszow, Dukla Pass and
Gorlice
. For his bravery, he was awarded several medals and promoted to
first lieutenant
. In 1915, he was badly
wounded in action
and withdrawn from the front.
In November 1918, after
Poland regained its independence
Sosabowski volunteered for the newly formed
Polish Army
, but his wounds were still not healed and he was rejected as a front-line officer. Instead, he became a staff officer in the Ministry of War Affairs in
Warsaw
.
Interwar period
[
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]
After the
Polish-Soviet War
Sosabowski was promoted to major and in 1922 he started his studies at the
Higher Military School
in
Warsaw
. After he finished his studies he was assigned to the Polish General Staff. Promoted to
lieutenant colonel
, in 1928 he was finally assigned to a front-line unit, the 75th Infantry Regiment, as commanding officer of a battalion. The following year he was assigned to the 3rd
Podhale
Rifles Regiment as its deputy commander. From 1930 he was also a professor of
logistics
at his alma mater.
In 1937 Sosabowski was promoted to
colonel
and became the commanding officer of the 9th Polish Legions Infantry Regiment stationed in
Zamo??
. In January 1939 he became the commander of the prestigious
Warsaw
-based 21st "Children of Warsaw" Infantry Regiment.
Invasion of Poland 1939
[
edit
]
According to the Polish
mobilisation
scheme, Sosabowski's regiment was attached to the
8th Infantry Division
under Col.
Teodor Furgalski
[
pl
]
. Shortly before the German
invasion of Poland
started his unit was moved from its garrison in the
Warsaw Citadel
to the area of
Ciechanow
, where it was planned as a strategic reserve of the
Modlin Army
.
On 2 September the division was moved towards
Mława
and in the early morning of the following day it entered combat in the
Battle of Mława
. Although the 21st Regiment managed to capture
Przasnysz
and its secondary objectives, the rest of the division was surrounded by the
Wehrmacht
and destroyed. After that Sosabowski ordered his troops to retreat towards
Warsaw
.
On 8 September Sosabowski's unit reached the
Modlin Fortress
. The routed 8th Division was being reconstructed, but the 21st Regiment was attached to the corps led by general
Juliusz Zulauf
. After several days of defensive fights, the corps was moved to Warsaw, where it arrived on 15 September.
Instantly upon arrival, Sosabowski was ordered to man the
Grochow
and the
Kamionek
defensive area and defend
Praga
, the eastern borough of Warsaw, against the German
10th Infantry Division
. During the
Siege of Warsaw
the forces of Sosabowski were outmanned and outgunned, but managed to hold all their objectives. When the general assault on Praga started on 16 September, the 21st Infantry Regiment managed to repel the attacks of German 23rd Infantry Regiment and then successfully counter-attacked and destroyed the enemy unit.
After this success, Sosabowski was assigned to command all Polish troops fighting in the area of Grochow. Despite constant bombardment and German attacks repeated every day, Sosabowski managed to hold his objectives at relatively low cost in manpower. On 26 September 1939, the forces led by Sosabowski bloodily repelled the last German attack, but two days later Warsaw capitulated. On 29 September, shortly before the Polish forces left Warsaw for German
captivity
, General
Juliusz Rommel
awarded Col. Sosabowski and the whole 21st Infantry Regiment with the
Virtuti Militari
medal.
France
[
edit
]
Following the Polish surrender, Sosabowski was made a
prisoner of war
and interned at a camp near
?yrardow
. However, he escaped and remained in
Warsaw
under a false name, where he joined the
Polish resistance
. He was ordered to leave Poland and reached France to report on the situation in
occupied Poland
. After a long trip through
Hungary
and
Romania
, he arrived in Paris, where the
Polish government in exile
assigned him to the
Polish 4th Infantry Division
as the commanding officer of infantry.
Initially, the French authorities were very reluctant to hand over the badly needed equipment and armament for the Polish unit. Sosabowski's soldiers had to train with pre-World War I weapons. In April 1940, the division was moved to a training camp in
Parthenay
and was finally handed the weapons awaited since January, but it was already too late to organise the division. Out of more than 11,000 soldiers, only 3,150 were given arms. Knowing this, the commander of the division General
Rudolf Dreszer
[
pl
]
ordered his unit to withdraw towards the
Atlantic
coast. On 19 June 1940, Sosabowski with approximately 6,000 Polish soldiers arrived at
La Pallice
, whence they were evacuated to Great Britain.
Great Britain
[
edit
]
Colonel Sosabowski, c. 1942
Upon his arrival in London, Sosabowski turned up at the Polish General Staff and was assigned to 4th Rifles Brigade that was to become a core of the future 4th Infantry Division. The unit was to be composed mainly of
Polish Canadians
, but it soon became apparent that there were not enough young Poles in Canada from which to create a division.
Then, Sosabowski decided to transform his brigade into a Parachute Brigade, the first such unit in the
Polish Army
. The volunteers came from all the formations of the Polish Army. In Largo House in
Fife
, a training camp was built and the parachute training was started. Sosabowski himself passed the training and, at 49 years of age, made his first parachute jump. According to relations of Sosabowski's former subordinates, the colonel was a strict yet just commander. Impulsive and harsh, Sosabowski could not stand any opposition.
[
citation needed
]
This made the creation of a Polish parachute brigade possible, but also made contacts with his superiors problematic.
In October 1942 the Brigade was ready for combat and was named the
1st Independent Parachute Brigade
. Since the Polish General Staff planned to use the Brigade to assist a national uprising in Poland, the soldiers of the
1st Polish Para
were to be the first element of the Polish Army in Exile to reach their homeland. Hence the unofficial motto of the unit:
by the shortest road
(
najkrotsz? drog?
).
In September 1943,
Lieutenant-General
Frederick Browning
proposed that Sosabowski reform his unit into a division and fill the remaining posts with British troops. Sosabowski himself would be assigned to the newly formed division and promoted to general. However, Sosabowski refused. Nevertheless, on 15 June 1944 he was promoted to
Brigadier General.
Warsaw Uprising
[
edit
]
In early August 1944, news of the
Warsaw Uprising
arrived in Great Britain. The Brigade was ready to be dropped by parachute into Warsaw to aid their comrades from the underground Polish
Home Army
, who were fighting a desperate battle against overwhelming odds. However, the distance was too great for the transport aircraft to make a round trip and access to Soviet airfields was denied. The morale of the Polish troops suffered badly and many of the units verged on mutiny. The British staff threatened its Polish counterpart with disarmament of the Brigade, but Sosabowski retained control of his unit. Finally, Polish Commander in Chief
Kazimierz Sosnkowski
put the Brigade under British command, and the plan to send it to
Warsaw
was abandoned. It was not until after the war that General Sosabowski learnt that his son,
Stanisław "Stasinek" Sosabowski
[
pl
]
, a medic and member of the
Kedyw
, had lost his sight during the uprising.
Battle of Arnhem
[
edit
]
Gen. Sosabowski (left) with Lt-Gen
Frederick Browning
, commander of the
British 1st Airborne Corps
.
During the planning for Operation Market Garden, Sosabowski expressed serious concerns regarding the feasibility of the mission.
[2]
Among Sosabowski's concerns were the poorly conceived drop zones at Arnhem, the long distances between the landing zones and Arnhem Bridge and that the area would contain a greater German presence than British intelligence believed.
[3]
Despite Sosabowski's concerns and warnings from the Dutch Resistance that two SS Panzer Divisions were in the operations area, Market Garden proceeded as planned.
[4]
The Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was among the
Allied
forces taking part in Market Garden. Due to a shortage of transport aircraft, the brigade was split into several parts before being dropped into the battle. A small part of the brigade with Sosabowski was parachuted near
Driel
on 19 September, but the rest of the brigade arrived only on 21 September at the distant town of
Grave
, falling directly on the waiting guns of the Germans camped in the area. The brigade's artillery was dropped with the
British 1st Airborne Division
, commanded by
Major-General
Roy Urquhart
, while the
howitzers
were to arrive by sea, which prevented the brigade from being deployed effectively. Three times Sosabowski attempted to cross the
Rhine
to come to the assistance of the surrounded 1st Airborne Division. Unfortunately, the ferry they hoped to use had been sunk and the Poles attempting to cross the river in small rubber boats came under heavy fire. Even so, at least 200 men made it across the river and reinforced the embattled
British paratroopers
.
Despite the difficult situation, at a staff meeting on 24 September, Sosabowski suggested that the battle could still be won. He proposed that the combined forces of
XXX Corps
, under
Lieutenant-General
Brian Horrocks
, and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade should start an all-out assault on the German positions and try to break through the
Rhine
. This plan was not accepted, and during the last phase of the battle, on 25 and 26 September, Sosabowski led his men southwards, shielding the retreat of the remnants of the 1st Airborne Division. Casualties among the Polish units were high, approaching 40%, and were at least in part, the result of Lieutenant-General Browning's decision to drop the paratroops 7 kilometres from the bridge at Arnhem.
[
citation needed
]
After the battle, on 5 October 1944, Sosabowski received a letter from
Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery
, commander of the Anglo-Canadian
21st Army Group
, describing the Polish soldiers as having fought bravely and offering awards to ten of his soldiers.
[
citation needed
]
However, on 14 October 1944, Montgomery wrote another letter, this time to the British commanders, in which he
scapegoated
Sosabowski for the failure of Market Garden.
[
citation needed
]
Sosabowski was accused of criticizing Montgomery, and the
Polish General Staff
was forced to remove him as the
commanding officer
of his brigade on 27 December 1944.
[
citation needed
]
In the opinion of historian
Michael Alfred Peszke
, "The worst thing that a subordinate can do is to question orders and to be proved right." Sosabowski had expressed doubts about the feasibility of the Market Garden Operation.
[5]
At the
Moscow Conference
in October 1944, a turning point came in Anglo-Polish relations. On
Prime Minister
Churchill
's request, the Polish delegation arrived in Moscow on 12 October 1944. Upon arrival, Churchill told them to be present at the discussions between himself,
Joseph Stalin
and the
Communist
Polish Lublin Committee. Consequently, Churchill coerced Polish Prime Minister
Stanisław Mikołajczyk
into cooperating with Stalin's disciples, or else risk losing Britain's support for the remainder of the war.
[6]
From the British perspective, any news that could be beneficial to their coercion tactics would be welcome. The information came on 16 October in a telegram to Field Marshal
Sir Alan Brooke
, the
Chief of the Imperial General Staff
, who was present in Moscow as Churchill's military advisor.
[7]
[8]
The message stated that Sosabowski's brigade performed badly. Churchill could use this claim to put more pressure on Mikołajczyk to cooperate, because it could be argued that one of his most valuable assets, Sosabowski's elite brigade, was no longer useful to the Allied war effort. Montgomery's telegram is exceptional to his behavior in that timeframe. Two days prior to the telegram he was praising the Polish contribution to the war, while six weeks later he awarded a
Distinguished Service Order
to General
Stanisław Maczek
and decorated members of the
Polish 1st Armoured Division
.
[9]
In addition, war correspondents spoke highly of the Polish contribution to Market Garden in the same period as Montgomery was expressing his negative experiences, via Field Marshal Brooke, to Prime Minister Churchill.
[10]
[11]
Sosabowski was eventually made the commander of rearguard troops and was demobilized in July 1948. He was portrayed by
Gene Hackman
in the 1977 war film
A Bridge Too Far
.
[12]
After the war
[
edit
]
The resting place of General Sosabowski and his family,
Pow?zki Military Cemetery
, Warsaw
Shortly after the war Sosabowski succeeded in evacuating his wife and only son from Poland. Like many other Polish wartime officers and soldiers who were unable to return to Communist Poland he settled in West London. He found a job as a factory worker at the
CAV Electrics
assembly plant in
Acton
.
[13]
He died in London on 25 September 1967. In 1969, Sosabowski's remains were returned to Poland, where he was reinterred at
Pow?zki Military Cemetery
in
Warsaw
.
In
The Hague
, on 31 May 2006, Queen
Beatrix of the Netherlands
awarded the
Military Order of William
to the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. The brigade's commander, Sosabowski,
[14]
was posthumously awarded the "
Bronze Lion
".
[15]
In part this was the result of a Dutch TV documentary depicting the brigade as having played a far more significant role in Market Garden than had been hitherto acknowledged. In this film by
Geertjan Lassche
,
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
said the Poles deserved to be honoured with at least a medal.
[16]
The following day, on 1 June, a ceremony was held at
Driel
, the town where the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade fought. Among the speakers at the ceremony were the mayor of
Overbetuwe
, as well as Sosabowski's grandson and great-grandson.
In the summer of 2012 1st Airborne Major
Tony Hibbert
made a video appeal for Sosabowski to be pardoned and honoured.
[17]
His bust was unveiled on 1 September 2013 in Krakow's
Jordan Park
.
[18]
Sosabowski is one of many Polish historical figures honoured in the Park.
Awards
[
edit
]
He was awarded many military honours, including:
See also
[
edit
]
- ^
Sosabowski Stanisław at Encyclopedia PWN.
- ^
"Market Garden 65 Years On: Reflections of a Tragedy | Armchair General | Armchair General Magazine - We Put YOU in Command!"
.
armchairgeneral.com
. Retrieved
30 September
2018
.
- ^
Beevor, Antony (11 September 2018).
The Battle of Arnhem: The Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II
. Penguin.
ISBN
9780698409408
.
- ^
"Lessons Learned from Operation Market Garden"
(PDF)
.
Air War College
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 19 February 2017.
- ^
Olson, Lynne` (2017).
Last Hope Island
. New York: Random House. p. 397.
ISBN
978-0-8129-9735-4
.
- ^
Churchill, Winston (1959).
Memoirs of The Second World War. Vol.IV Triumph and Tragedy 1943-1945
. London. p. 885.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
"Sosabowski and the Polish position after Operation Market Garden"
. 6 January 2016.
- ^
Source document (Imperial War museum, London)
Telegram from Bernard Montgomery to Sir Alan Brooke (16 October 1944)
- ^
Pictures of this event available at the archive of the city of Breda (25 November 1944). Picture shows Montgomery decorating soldiers from the Polish 1st Armoured Division.
- ^
"Sosabowski and the Polish position after Operation Market Garden"
. 6 January 2016.
- ^
Richard Lamb, "Polish at Arnhem", in: ""
The Times
"" (25 February 1984) [unknown author], "Rescue party at Arnhem", in: The Times (14 November 1944) [unknown author], "2,000 men return from Arnhem", in: The Times (28 September 1944) and [unknown author], "Work of Polish Troops in Arnhem", in: The Times (9 October 1944).
- ^
"
A Bridge Too Far
"
.
Internet Movie Database
. Retrieved
22 October
2006
.
- ^
"TracesOfWar.com"
.
SOSABOWSKI, Stanislaw Franciscek
. Retrieved
22 October
2006
.
- ^
"FilmPolski.pl"
.
- ^
"Royal Honours ? Military williams Order for Poles"
. Archived from
the original
on 16 July 2011
. Retrieved
16 September
2009
.
- ^
"The process of Polish rehabilitation in 2006"
. 6 January 2016.
- ^
PublicEnquiry (5 August 2012).
"Market Garden 1944 - Major Tony Hibbert's call to honour Polish General Sosabowski"
– via YouTube.
- ^
"Odsłoni?cie pomnika gen. Sosabowskiego w Krakowie. Zobacz zdj?cia!"
.
References
[
edit
]
- George F. Cholewczynski (1993).
Poles Apart
. Sarpedon Publishers.
ISBN
1-85367-165-7
.
- George F. Cholewczynski (1990).
De Polen van Driel
. Uitgeverij Lunet.
ISBN
90-71743-10-1
.
- Stanislaw Sosabowski (1982).
Freely I served
. Battery Press Inc.
ISBN
0-89839-061-3
.
- Juliusz L Englert and Krzysztof Barbarski (1996).
General Sosabowski/Major Sosabowski
. Caldra House.
ISBN
0-85065-224-3
.
- Honor Generała ? documentary TV POLONIA 2008, directed by Joanna Pieciukiewicz
External links
[
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]
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