1st Independent Parachute Brigade (Poland)
The 1st (Polish) Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute brigade under command of Maj.Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski, created in Scotland in September 1941, with the exclusive mission to drop into occupied Poland in order to help liberate the country. The British government, however, pressured the Polish into allowing the unit to be used in the Western theater. Operation Market Garden eventually saw the unit sent into action supporting the British 1st Airborne Division at the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. The Poles were initially landed by glider from the 18 September, whilst due to bad weather over England, the Parachute section of the Brigade was held up, and jumped on the 21 September at Driel on the South bank of the Rhine. The Poles suffered significant casualties during the next few days of fighting, but still were able, by their presence, to cause around 2,500 German troops to be diverted to them for fear of supporting the remnants of 1st Airborne trapped over the lower Rhine in Oosterbeek.
Read more about 1st Independent Parachute Brigade (Poland): History, Post-war Honours, Brigade Order of Battle
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