Customer Reviews

Poles Apart: Polish Airborne at the Battle of Arnhem

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Lets a admit one thing, in the movie "A Bridge Too Far" you favorite charater was General Sosabowski, played by Gene Hackman. If it was, or you have ever had any interest in The General, the Polish Independant Parachute Brigade, or the battle of Arnhem, you must read this book. The author is an expert on the Polish military, and his great writing comes through in this work. The book tells the tale of Sosabowski, and his men from the fall of Poland in 1939, to thier heroic action in Operation MARKET GARDEN. The book is told from the soldiers view, which graphically comes alive for the reader. It also cover the units history (Rather the personnel) up until 1992. One of the best unit histories that I have read.

This book is a must for fans of 'MARKET GARDEN'. The often under-rated and barely mentioned efforts of the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade have finally be justified with this highly engrossing book. It is actually surprising how much input the Polish had in the creation of the British airborne forces (especially in terms of training methods like the jump tower)as well as there efforts in trying to relieve the besieged British fighting across the Lower Rhine.
Gen Sosabowski's dream was to drop with his brigade into Warsaw and liberate it from both the Germans and the incoming Russians. Such zeal was not appreciated by the flamboyant British General Browning who wished to utilise the Poles for his own aspirations of power within the airborne world; the end result was having the Poles come under British command for the fatally flawed Operation 'MARKET GARDEN'.
All this is covered in detail and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in both the battle and the unfortunate politics that went on behind the scenes. It highlights very well the fact that the main reasion behind the often sluggish advances of the Allied armies in North-West Europe during 1944 was not caused by the Germans but by self-serving Allied generals who cared more for their reputations than actually winning the war - all at the cost of unnecessary casualties.
With so much written (and rightly so) about the Red Berets at Arnhem, it is refreshing to read a book on the Gray Berets. Tobie Ojczyzno

There have been hundreds off books written about the British airborne forces in the battle of Arnhem, but this authors have seem to forgot how important the polish contribution to the battle was.
Cholewczynski's book can be considered the gospel on this subject, its one of the only (if not the only) and most up to date books on the subject written by an outsider of the brigade.
With a lot of interviews with the members of the brigade and other people involved in the events, he has managed to create an easy to read day-by-day account that can be enjoyed by WWII enthusiasts as by new readers on the subject as well.