Life and death of Stanislaw Sosabowski, the facts
Early life
General Stanisław Franciszek Sosabowski was born on 6 May 1892 in Stanisławów, a town in Austrian Poland, then known as Galicia. At that time, Poland did not exist as an independent state. For more than 126 years it had been partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria. Today, Stanisławów lies in Ukraine. His father, a railway clerk, had four children: Stanisław, Andrzej, Janina and Kazimiera. When his father died early, young Stanisław was left with the burden of helping to look after and feed the family. It was a responsibility that shaped his character: disciplined, hard, dutiful and unyielding.
World War I: Przemyśl and the Austrian Army
At the outbreak of the First World War, Sosabowski was mobilized as a cadet corporal in the grey uniform of the 58th Infantry Regiment of the Austrian Imperial Army. He helped defend the fortress city of Przemyśl, one of the great strongholds of the Eastern Front. According to the recollections of his son, Stan Sosabowski, he was decorated with virtually every medal available to a non-commissioned officer. As a cadet sergeant, he was one of only three survivors from a company of 250 men. If a Russian bullet did not kill a man, starvation, disease or hypothermia might.
“World War I was an orgy of senseless death.”
Badly wounded, Sosabowski spent many months in hospital. He was later sent to convalesce in what is now the Czech Republic, where he was joined by his future wife, Maria Tokarska.
Promotion and the Rebirth of Poland
In 1917, Sosabowski was promoted to second lieutenant for conspicuous bravery. That same year, his first son, Stanisław Janusz, was born in Brno. Because of his war wounds, he was exempted from further active service and sent as a staff officer to the headquarters of Archduke Franz Joseph in the Tyrol. There he had access to confidential information and secret orders and it became clear to him that the Central Powers had lost the war.
In 1918, as Poland began to re-emerge from the ashes of the First World War, Sosabowski asked to be transferred to Lublin. He was promoted to captain and swore allegiance to the newly formed Polish state. One of his tasks was to organize and supervise the disarming and repatriation of Ukrainian soldiers who had formerly served in the Austrian Army. It was a delicate and dangerous assignment.
Colonel of the Children of Warsaw
By January 1939, Sosabowski had achieved high recognition in the Polish Army. He became Colonel-in-Chief of the 21st Infantry Regiment, known as “The Children of Warsaw”, one of the most prestigious regiments in Poland, stationed in the capital itself. In May 1939, he led the annual regimental parade through cheering Warsaw on his white horse. Six months later there would be a very different kind of parade: arrogant victors marching among a silent and vanquished people.
September 1939: The Invasion of Poland
On the 1 September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. The German Blitzkrieg brought tanks, motorized infantry and overwhelming air power against a poorly equipped opponent. Sosabowski’s regiment formed part of Army Modlin. After days of forced marches and skirmishes, his men found themselves behind enemy lines. Sosabowski led them to safety. For his inspired leadership and his role in defending the Warsaw suburb of Grochów, he was awarded the Virtuti Militari, Poland’s highest military decoration.
Two weeks after the German invasion, Poland was invaded from the east by the Soviet Union. The country was carved up between two totalitarian powers. As Sosabowski put it:
“A cat in hell stood a much better chance.”
The Polish Parachute Brigade
After the fall of Poland, Sosabowski escaped west and continued the struggle. He became the founder and commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, a formation created with one dream in mind: to return by air to liberate Poland. The brigade trained in Britain and became one of the most distinctive Polish formations in exile. Sosabowski was loved by his men, but he was also known for his bluntness and refusal to flatter senior Allied officers when he believed a plan was flawed.
Operation Market Garden
On 17 September 1944, Operation Market Garden began. It was Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s plan to shorten the war by bypassing the Siegfried Line and seizing key bridges over the Rhine, Maas, Waal and several canals. Elite American, British and Polish airborne forces were to capture the bridges, while XXX Corps advanced rapidly by land.
The most important objective was Arnhem Bridge over the Lower Rhine, the gateway toward Germany’s industrial heartland. Success depended on surprise, weak German resistance and a rapid link-up with the tanks of XXX Corps. General Sosabowski had grave doubts from the beginning. He objected strongly to the plan in staff meetings and in a private meeting with Lieutenant-General Frederick “Boy” Browning. His objections made him unpopular with Browning, who would later help make Sosabowski a scapegoat for the failure.
“Then, hell was unleashed.”
The Battle for Arnhem
On 17 September, more than 2.000 transport aircraft and gliders took off from airfields in England, protected by Allied fighters. It was an awe-inspiring sight: wave after wave of aircraft crossing the sky toward the Netherlands. In the south, the American airborne divisions achieved many of their objectives. The 101st Airborne Division fought around Eindhoven, while the 82nd Airborne under James Gavin captured key bridges around Nijmegen. But at Arnhem, Sosabowski’s fears began to come true.
The British 1st Airborne Division landed far from Arnhem Bridge. Communications failed. Only Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost’s 2nd Battalion reached the northern end of the bridge. The south side remained beyond Allied control. By the second day, the situation had deteriorated sharply. General Roy Urquhart was missing for a time, Frost’s men were fighting desperately at the bridge and the British forces around Oosterbeek were being encircled. Dropping zones fell into German hands. Reinforcements were delayed. Supplies failed to reach the men who needed them most.
Driel and the Polish Crossing Attempts
On Thursday 21 September, Sosabowski’s Polish Parachute Brigade was finally dropped at Driel, on the south side of the Lower Rhine, almost opposite the main British position at Oosterbeek. By then, Frost’s force at the bridge had been overwhelmed. The British airborne troops north of the river were trapped in a shrinking perimeter, shelled continuously from three sides. The Poles had no easy way to help them. The Lower Rhine was wide, fast-flowing and under German observation and fire. Attempts to cross the river were made under appalling conditions and at terrible cost.
On the night of 22 September, only around 50 men managed to cross. On 23 September, the Poles tried again using American pontoons, but under heavy German fire only about 200 reached the British perimeter. By 24 September, German artillery continued to pound the Oosterbeek pocket. A further crossing attempt by the Dorsets also failed badly. Boats arrived without oars; amphibious craft became stuck in the mud. By daylight, only about 100 men had made it across.
Operation Berlin: Retreat Across the Rhine
On Monday 25 September, the order was given for evacuation. Operation Berlin began: the withdrawal of surviving British airborne troops back across the Lower Rhine to the Polish positions on the south bank. Out of roughly 10.000 men who had gone into Arnhem, only about 2.000 returned. For Sosabowski, Market Garden was both a military disaster and a personal injustice. He had warned that the plan was dangerously flawed. After the battle, instead of being listened to, he was blamed.
Post-war Exile
In 1947, Sosabowski became one of the founders and honorary members of the Polish Airborne Association, the Związek Polskich Spadochroniarzy, created for former members of the brigade. In 1947 - 48, he was demobilized. At the age of 57, he faced the question shared by many Polish soldiers in exile: what could a Polish former general do in a foreign country after the devastation of war? Returning to communist-controlled Poland could have meant a show trial, prison, humiliation or worse. Britain was the only realistic choice.
He tried real estate with some success, but a second-hand furniture business in Maida Vale called Polycraft failed. From 1949 to 1966, he worked first as a storekeeper and then as a production worker at the CAV Electrics assembly plant in Acton.
“Weekdays meant anonymity, greasy overalls and clocking in as Stan with his mates for six pounds a week. Weekends and holidays the genuinely loved General was feted all over the world by ex-brigade members and grateful citizens whom he had helped liberate. What a contrast.”
He wrote two books in his spare time: his war memories and an autobiography. Both remained important records of his life and service.
Death and Burial
General Stanisław Sosabowski died of heart problems on 25 September 1967 at Hillingdon Hospital, Middlesex. He was buried with military honours in the family grave at Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw. It was the end of an extraordinary life: from Galicia to Przemyśl, from the rebirth of Poland to the fall of Warsaw, from airborne command to Arnhem and finally to exile and factory work in Britain.
Decorations and Honours
For his bravery, leadership and service, Sosabowski received many decorations, including:
- The Independence Cross
- The Cross of Valour
- The Order of Polonia Restituta, Class V
- The Golden Cross of Merit with Swords
- The Virtuti Militari Cross, Class V
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- The Officer's Medal of the Active Combatants Association
- Academic Laurels from the Polish Academy of Science
- Freeman of the Municipality of Heteren
- The Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, awarded posthumously
- The Order of Polonia Restituta
Legacy
Stanisław Sosabowski was a soldier of two world wars, a commander who warned against disaster at Arnhem and a Polish patriot who paid heavily for his honesty. His post-war life in Britain was humble and often unjust, but among his men and among the people he helped liberate, he was never forgotten. His story remains one of courage, exile, loyalty and vindication.
Based on the recollections and personal account shared by Stan Sosabowski.
